Although they had their chances, the Estevan Sherritt Coal Miners were not able to get on the board in their last regular season game Saturday.
The atom Miners (1-5) lost 34-0 to the Regina Bengals in a morning game at Estevan Comprehensive School.
The Miners managed to stay within striking distance in the first half, maintaining a 7-0 deficit until the Bengals scored a touchdown in the last minute of the second quarter.
Estevan almost struck back on the last play of the half, with quarterback Cameron Jones taking off on a long run and almost making it to the end zone.
"We were just about at midfield there and we had the quarterback fake and he ran all the way down to about the 10 and got pushed out," said Miners head coach Evan Helfrick. "(It's a) tough break, if you score there, it's a little momentum going into the second half."
Helfrick said the Miners had trouble taking advantage of their trips to the red zone on Saturday.
"We got inside the 20 on the first possession we had and just weren't able to execute inside the 20. We've been really good at that this year, as soon as we're inside the 20 we've put it in, but this week we had a little difficulty with that."
The Bengals added two touchdowns in the third quarter to extend their lead to 27-0.
The Miners' defence shut them down for most of the fourth quarter, but Regina did break through for a short rushing major with a minute left in the game.
Rylan Erdelyan had an interception for the Miners in the fourth, but it was called back on a roughing the passer penalty.
"The defence actually really stepped up for us this week and made quite a few stops, so lots of gain was made. We had a couple of quarterback hits and that sort of thing on the passes," said Helfrick.
"They're making the play for sure, it's just up the middle we got burned a few times where we were crashing in hard to make the play, and they opened up a really big hole for the running back to get through and they outran us to the end zone."
The Miners do have one game left, a bowl game on Saturday expected to be against the Regina Lions at Estevan Comprehensive School. Game time had not been confirmed at press time.
Helfrick said the team's blocking needs to improve in order for them to win their last game of the year.
"We're always just that one block away. One guy misses that one key block and the guy's able to make the play in the backfield or stop you from getting the angle to get outside."
