The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs football team fell 75-28 to the Yorkton Raider Gridders Friday at Dana Quewezance Memorial Field.
The lopsided score is indicative of the first and fourth quarters of the game when the Raider Gridders held an advantage of 50 points to the Elecs zero. During the middle periods the Estevan boys led the charge and controlled the play to the tune of 28-25.
“We had a really strong bounce back in that second quarter,” said Elecs head coach Mark Schott, about the team’s effort to come back from the early 28-0 deficit. “We tightened things up and it was a one score game at halftime. Even partly through the third quarter they came out and scored and we answered right back. It was 35-28. Then just some bounces started going their way and we had some execution issues and they managed to pull away.”
In the first quarter and first part of the second, the Raider Gridders’ duo of quarterback Nick Payne and receiver/kicker Ben Koroluk ruled the scoreboard. Payne controlled the game through the air by throwing for three of Yorkton’s first four touchdowns, while Koroluk contributed by catching one of those throws and kicking all four converts.
Estevan’s Donny Mortenson got the Elecs on the board with 8:38 left in the second quarter with a 59-yard catch and run to the end zone off a pass from quarterback Andrew Kehler. Mortenson got another one back for the home side a little over five minutes later on another catch from Kehler, with this one occurring from 10 yards out, which was followed by a two-point convert from Dallas Dowhanuik.
The Elecs brought the score to 28-21 at the half when Cameron Rioux caught a pass from Kehler for a touchdown with 17 seconds remaining, while Prestin Bergen scored the convert. Ethan Veroba finished off the Elecs’ scoring with 6:06 left in the third quarter when he caught a short pass from Rioux for the touchdown before Bergen kicked his second convert.
Roby Sharpe, head coach of the Raider Gridders, said the game didn’t feature the best football by either side, but they’ll happily take the win. He said their victory can come down to Yorkton just having a more established program.
“We come in with the confidence that we’re going to win,” said Sharpe. “We execute well. Our offence is good. Nick Payne is a hell of a good quarterback. We got some real good offensive weapons. Defence, other than the second quarter, was pretty solid. It was a team effort.”
Schott said Yorkton has a big team and that seemed to help them take over in the second half through a strong run game. He said the good thing for his team is they didn’t back down and that has been showcased in all the games they’ve played so far this season and will hopefully continue to be shown in their next contest Oct. 3 at Swift Current against the Colts.
“We have a no quit attitude and I’m proud that our guys had that in them because they could have folded up and just played out the final quarter,” he said. “You could see it in their effort and they were still going hard out there despite the score.”
