A slow start doomed the Estevan Elecs football team to a 48-30 first round playoff loss to the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones at Moose Jaw on Saturday.
The score in the game was 28-0 at halftime and 35-0 after three quarters. Then the Elecs did something unimaginable up to that point and put a major scare into the strong Cyclones club.
“We started fighting our way back,” said Elecs head coach Mark Schott. “We scored a touchdown (an 11-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Kehler to Donny Mortenson 47 seconds into the fourth quarter) and then kicked an onside kick and got the onside kick and scored another touchdown (a 14-yard pass to Mortenson) on that drive and kicked an onside kick following that, got the onside kick and scored another touchdown (a nine-yard pass to Keaton Tarnes).
“Then we kicked a third consecutive onside kick and we didn’t get that one and then (on) Central’s first offensive play after retrieving the kick they fumbled right into the hands of our linebacker (Jacob Shurygalo) and he ran it all the way back for a touchdown. So the score with two minutes to go in the game was 35-30.”
The Elecs tried a fourth onside kick after that score, but it was picked up by Central and led to a Moose Jaw offensive touchdown to put the score at 42-30 with 37 seconds left. A Hail Mary pass from Kehler with no time left on the clock ended up being intercepted and ran back for a score to finish the game at 48-30.
Schott said the Elecs didn’t come out with the urgency they needed at the start of the game and that was talked about at halftime. He said the coaching staff told the players these next two quarters will potentially be their last if they didn’t start executing on both sides of the ball and that is exactly what they did.
“It was impressive to see the fight back in our team and against the second best team in our league,” he said. “It was a nice second half. We were so close. It would have been nice if we could have pulled off the upset.”
The win or go home playoff game was the first match of that magnitude for a majority of players on the young Elecs squad. Thirteen players will graduate from the 32-member team in June that went winless in 2015, but did exhibit glimpses of what their potential could be this season with strong in-game performances against tough squads like the Cyclones, top-ranked Moose Jaw Peacock Tornadoes and third place Yorkton Raider Gridders.
Schott said Kehler, who completed 15 of 31 pass attempts for 226 yards against Central, will be returning next season. He said joining him in 2016 will be three of their four starting receivers in Mortenson, Tarnes and Cameron Rioux making for a very dangerous offensive core who are both athletic and fast.
“We had lots of success getting the ball out to them,” said Schott. “We have some guys returning on our offensive line, which will be nice. But the same thing happens every year where we get a lot of changeover. We’re losing some guys at some key positions and I’m hoping that with some of the success that we had with some of the top teams in the league at times, for stretches, that we can show kids that maybe aren’t playing football that there is a lot of potential in the program.
“A lot of good things are happening and we just need more bodies and more guys that are committed to the team and are willing to make that commitment and come out and play for the Elecs.”
Schott said they’ll be back on the field for a spring camp this May and the hope is more kids come out to it to find out what football is all about. Until that time the Elecs’ players have a solid last half of football to look back on.
“I’m still proud of the team and the way that they played against some really tough competition,” said Schott. “We definitely finished this season off on a memorable note.”
