The defence bent but it didn’t break in the Estevan Lions Club bantam Oilers 13-0 win over the Weyburn Falcons at Woodlawn Field on Saturday.
Paul Duncan, head coach of the 2-3 Oilers, noted this was the second-straight game their defence has posted a shutout with the first coming eight days earlier in the team’s 21-0 win over the Moose Jaw Raiders (0-4). However, the Falcons (3-2) presented a very different challenge from the Raiders as they are the Oilers’ Highway 39 rival and one of the top teams in the Moose Jaw Minor Football League.
“This is our house and today we made sure that we held our own and we set the tone,” said Duncan. “When teams come here we’re not playing their game, they’re playing our game and I think that is why we started off fast.”
After the Falcons had the best opportunity early in the first quarter with a first down on the Oilers 18-yard-line only to suffer a quarterback sack on Brett Bowler courtesy of Caleb Reetz, a stuffed quarterback draw and a missed field goal, the home side made strides in the second. Oilers safety and special team’s standout Hunter Eagles began the frame by making a long punt return to the Falcons 30-yard line where after a Weyburn penalty, running back Nigel Mack got Estevan on the board with a touchdown sprint.
“The blocks were there,” said Mack, who also kicked the convert. “I found the holes and just took it to the end zone.”
The Falcons pressed again after the touchdown with two straight drives that made it to the Oilers 48-yard line and 16-yard line, respectively, only to have their running attack stopped dead in its tracks by Estevan’s crushing defensive line and linebacking corps. With the ball back in the Oilers possession with two minutes to go in the half, quarterback Kaleb Bechtold pulled off a spectacular 50-yard run down the middle to the Weyburn 13-yard line. The quarterback then hit Rylan Erdelyan with a pass scrambling out of the pocket which the receiver ran in for a touchdown to make the score 13-0 heading into halftime.
“This is just the beginning,” said Bechtold. “We want to go all the way and with our team we’re all skilled enough and I think we can actually do it.”
Although neither club managed to get on the board in the second half, the action remained fast and hard-hitting. The Falcons best chance to score in the third quarter came on a long run along the sidelines by Bowler only to have Eagles force him out of bounds at midfield, which was followed shortly afterwards with a sack by Johan Bachorcik on the Estevan 30-yard line to force a turnover on downs.
The Falcons had another great chance to score midway through the fourth quarter, but Eagles made sure it would come to nothing with two straight low-gain stops on Weyburn running back Ethan West before tackling Ben Michel to force a turnover on downs that the Oilers would not relinquish.
“There were a couple of mix-ups, but that’s it,” said Eagles. “We just came out good and there was no slacking.”
Duncan said the hope is their few banged up players will be able to get back to full health over the bye week and be ready to go when the team takes Woodlawn Field again on Oct. 15 against the Moose Jaw Razorbacks. He said the kids believe in themselves and what they can accomplish, so that should keep them going strong for the rest of the season.
