The Estevan Sherritt Coal Miners' offence showed some signs of life in the atom team's 40-15 loss to the Regina Kats on Saturday.
The club was very much in the game throughout the first half before falling behind in the second.
"The kids played well. They went hard and then about the middle of the third quarter, they started to lose some gas," said Miners coach Garth Deitz.
The drive that led to the Miners' first touchdown of the season gobbled up eight and a half minutes of the first quarter as the visitors ran the ball consistently.
"We got first downs on anything other than penalties. We sustained our first downs, scored our first touchdown (of the year), our first convert," said Deitz.
Cameron Jones did the deed on a quarterback option.
"The whole side opened up and he ran in from about 10 yards out," Deitz said.
"(Then Regina) scored right away on that sweep again. They ended up scoring a couple of touchdowns on us, then we got another one before half."
The Miners' second major came on a 65-yard sweep by Kade Bachorcik, who was playing his first game at running back.
"It looked like it was stopped, then all of a sudden he took off out of nowhere," Deitz said.
The Miners trailed 20-15 at the half.
Deitz said the club was able to run inside on a regular basis and marched the ball well.
"Everything just clued in with them. We ran the inside and they could not stop it. We got between five and eight yards per carry. They'd score on the quick hit, we'd drive down the field, they'd score a quick one."
He added that while it was "nice to score some points," there's still a long way to go.
"We're going to work on the good stuff, fine-tune it, work on stuff with the defence and I think we'll be ready to go."
Following the game, the Miners got a visit from Kats coach Fred Perry, the former Roughrider and two-time CFL All-Star at defensive end.
"Their coach Fred Perry came over and talked to the kids about stopping the sweeps."
Meanwhile, Deitz said he is stepping down as the Miners' head coach, saying he was tired of "politics" following a combative Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football meeting recently.
Associate coach Evan Helfrick will take over the reins, with Deitz remaining on the staff in a smaller role.
