A strong first six minutes for the Estevan Century 21 peewee Chargers helped pave the way to a 40-14 win over the Moose Jaw Mustangs at Woodlawn Field on Saturday.
Chargers Boden Dukart and Klayten Piippo combined for a quarterback sack of the Mustangs Will Ansell on Moose Jaw’s first play of the game, which was followed three downs later by Chargers running back Conner Terness finding a hole down the middle for a 51-yard touchdown run. On the Chargers next possession, it was fellow back Rylan Hansen running in a major from the Mustangs five-yard line, which coupled with an Alec Waldegger convert, made the score 14-0 Estevan 5:31 into the first quarter.
“We came ready and we came to win,” said Chargers safety and special team’s returner Kolby Forseth. “It was a team effort.”
The Chargers pinned the Mustangs deep in their zone for the remainder of the first quarter thanks to an aggressive defence that forced fumble after fumble and a marching attack that refused to relinquish possession of the ball. Waldegger got the Chargers next touchdown 4:38 into the second quarter on a quarterback draw from the Mustangs 15-yard line to bring the score to 20-0 before both clubs settled into a back-and-forth short-yardage battle.
“Defence definitely got us the football back as many times as they could,” said Chargers head coach Jason Bresciani. “I know there was one point in time in the game they were upset because they couldn’t get back on the field because the offence kept on marching, but that’s the way it is and we want the offence to kill the clock and get some points.”
Receiver Kiera Merriman hauled in a 10-yard pass to cap off a near five-minute Chargers opening drive in the second half, which coupled with the Waldegger convert moved the score to 28-0. The Mustangs next possession ended with a Forseth pick-six from midfield, but Moose Jaw would drive the ball at the end of the frame with a quarterback sneak from Ansell and a subsequent convert from Layne Johnson 24 seconds into the fourth quarter getting the visitors on the board.
Hansen got that score back 9:16 into the final period on a nine-yard run to the corner of the end zone to put the home side up 40-8 before Mustangs receiver Liam Daly completed a long pass-and-run play for a touchdown with 46 seconds remaining.
Forseth said the win moves the Chargers to an even 2-2 record, which will help them make a push for a good position in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League (MJMFL) standings come playoff time. He said a strong showing on the road against the MJMFL leading Weyburn Ravens (4-0) this Saturday is now needed to keep the momentum going and they’ll be spending this next week in practice gearing up for it.
“We got to work on our tackling,” he said. “We got to work on (limiting our) penalties, so we can be ready for the game (and) get a good spot in the playoffs.”
