You’re the Estevan Century 21 Bantam Oilers football team and you’re scheduled for a game at 4:30 p.m. on a chilly Saturday at Woodlawn Field.
You’re down to 17 players before the opening kickoff due to injury, illness, and appendicitis to one of your key players. Then, in the chilly, cold, damp wind, you have no choice but to sit and watch an additional 30 minutes while your high school game is completed on the same field.
Then you look across the other side of the field at a well-oiled 38-person Swift Current Steelers team hungry for the first victory of the season.
In this case, a 38-0 loss at home to the Swift Current Steelers
“We overcame a lot of adversity in that game,” said Oilers head coach Paul Duncan in an understatement. “The kids battled hard. It was probably the best complete game they played. The score wasn’t as indicative of how the game truly was.”
The Steelers played well, Duncan said, and Swift Current went up 12-0 by the end of the first quarter.
“You could just see the kids were getting a little bit gassed from being out there,” Duncan said. “Especially on the line. We rotated one kid through for pretty much the game, and then everyone else was pretty much out there non-stop. It was a big battle.”
The Oilers had a bit of a good thing going with Hayden Borhot at quarterback handing the ball off to Justice Guillas.
“(Borhot) did a fantastic job for having two days of preparation for it,” said Duncan. “The running back did a fantastic job as well. He picked up the most yards we’ve seen all season, he was running through kids and the offensive line started pushing off the ball for the first time and it was great to get some downfield trajectory for us.”
Graeson Nelson stepped up as a linebacker that really helped out, and the Oilers got some good games from those who were able to play.
“Kade Enns, I mean, that thunderclap that everyone must have heard was one of his hits,” Duncan said. “There was no lightning in the area but holy snap, you heard it all across the field.”
The Oilers have their work cut out for them once again as they play the undefeated Moose Jaw Razorbacks at Woodlawn Friday at 7:30 p.m. in their last home game of the season.
Duncan is confident his team can handle challenges.
“It gave me a lot of hope to see the kids face adversity like that (Saturday) and not back down,” said Duncan. “Even just going forward, not just this season but in life in general. They won’t shrink away from a challenge or run to mom and dad for help.”
Their regular season concludes Oct. 6 in Swift Current and their likely playoff opponent in the first round would be Moose Jaw the following week.
