The game couldn't have started on a much better note for the Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs on Saturday.
Then things unravelled quickly, and by the time the clock read zeroes at the end of the fourth quarter, the score was 72-6 in favour of the Yorkton Raiders.
Faced with a tough opponent on the road in their Moose Jaw High School Football League season opener, the Elecs got an ideal start.
On their first play from scrimmage, rookie running back Levi Pick ran the ball 65 yards downfield. Shortly after, quarterback Mitchel Clark punched it in from the one-yard line to give the Elecs an early 6-0 lead.
"That was a fantastic start for us. You march the ball down and score and get a lead right off the bat. Everyone was pretty fired up," said Elecs head coach Mark Schott.
However, the Raiders didn't make it to the last two league finals for no reason, and it was all Yorkton from that point on.
"We had a lot of miscues from there. They ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown. We had a number of turnovers. Our kickoff return team was out there quite a bit. We had numerous fumbles on that return team. That was frustrating because we were expecting our offence to get back on the field and then our defence heads right back out there," said Schott.
"They just seemed to make us pay. Any little mistake that we made was in our end zone shortly after. It was frustrating."
Any hope the Elecs had of making a comeback in the second half was dashed early after play resumed.
"It was 34-6 at half, which isn't out of reach by any means, but we gave up two touchdowns in the opening minute of the second half, and that really crushed any sort of energy or optimism that we had to try to get back into the game. We had a little bit of an unravelling in the second half," said Schott.
The offence never found the end zone again after that early scoring drive, but Schott said there were some encouraging signs there.
"At times we moved the ball decently. I wouldn't say we moved the ball well. But we had some success. Levi ran the ball really well for us. Mitchel Clark at quarterback made some nice plays. Yorkton's defence was right in both quarterbacks' faces. They did a great job withstanding the pressure and fighting for those tough yards."
The Elecs' defence was on the field for most of the game and gave up a staggering point total to Yorkton's high-octane offence, but Schott saw some positives.
"Despite what the score might imply, our defensive front seven was great. They were getting pressure in the backfield all game," he said, noting they had some sacks and tackles in the backfield, and also forced a fumble and came up with an interception.
Schott said it's important that Saturday's game is not repeated and that they "get a game like that out of the way at the start of the year. We've gotta refocus really quickly because we have five more games that are crammed in really tightly. We've gotta pick ourselves back up."
The Elecs' home opener is on Saturday against the Weyburn Eagles (3:30 p.m., Dana Quewezance Memorial Field) and Schott said he hopes some changes will pay off.
"I think the big area we need to address is our special teams and we're making some tweaks on both sides of the ball to put us in better position to have success.
"We're going to be making some tweaks in our defensive coverage, our secondary coverage, to try and help us out in that area. Offensively, we're making some personnel tweaks to give us more of a deep threat option in the passing game. Those changes will see improvements on both sides of the ball."
