The Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football atom Miners pulled out a 7-7 tie against the Weyburn Yellow at Jubilee Park on Thursday in an exciting first match for the learn-to-play club.
Kevin Mortenson, a coach of the Miners, said the staff was a little nervous going in about how prepared they were, but the two teams ended up being fairly evenly matched. He said Weyburn always seems to have Estevan’s number when it comes to football, so he was pleasantly surprised to see the effort the seven and eight-year-olds gave on the field to try and secure a win.
“Both teams scored on their opening drive,” said Mortenson. “Weyburn scored first. It took them two or three downs to get to the end zone. It was our turn with the ball. They just handed it off and (running back Rylan Hansen) went straight to the end zone.”
Mortenson said the sportsmanship exhibited by both teams in the game made him proud to be one of their coaches. He said the kids played hard, but also played together and helped each other up whenever someone went down from a tackle.
“It was a very entertaining game,” he said. “We had a turnover and we got an interception. That was Ash Michel. He got the interception, but he just fell to his knee and all the kids didn’t touch him and that was it. I think he was kind of shocked or surprised that he got the ball and didn’t know what to do with it.”
The Miners are hoping to host a home and home with Moosomin next, but that is dependent on everyone’s schedules considering hockey season is beginning for the kids.
Mortenson said it’s a short season for atom football, but all the kids have learned to work together as a unit and he is excited to see how they’ll progress over the next four or five years. He said they even have eight players from Oxbow on the Miners this year and the commitment their families put into travelling to Estevan for regular practices three times a week is great for the game in this area.
“I’m really pleased with that first game under the belt,” said Mortenson. “Most of the time in practice they seem like they’re paying attention. You have to remember they’re seven, eight years old and they do have a short attention span. The season has been going good with them.”
