The Estevan Lions Club bantam Steelers football team fought tooth and nail against the Moose Jaw Raiders on a stormy Friday night at Dana Quewezance Memorial Field, but a few bad breaks and early defensive miscues left them on the wrong side of a 43-20 score.
Paul Duncan, head coach of the 0-4 Steelers, said the offense had a good start against the Raiders (3-1) and were able to control the ball, but the defence came out a bit flat. He said they made some substitutions during the first half, during which the Raiders jumped out to a 28-0 lead, to wake the kids up and they came out firing on all cylinders in the second half.
“The kids fought really hard,” said Duncan. “When we made a couple adjustments on defence it seemed to get their butts in gear a little bit more. They pushed harder and it definitely kept us in it. It was a great learning experience for the team to come away with being able to put points up on the board and be able to see what it truly takes to hold yourself in a game for a full four quarters.”
Steelers running back Trevor Shaw led the way on offence through a dominant running game up the middle. Helped by great blocking from the offensive line, Shaw put together runs of 35 yards, 45 yards and one at 70 yards while scoring all three of Estevan's touchdowns.
Duncan said unlike their first game against the Raiders, a 29-0 road loss Sept. 23, both teams came ready to play on Friday. He said the tempo was probably two times greater than the first game due to both clubs playing for better playoff positioning and the hope is that drive shows itself again in the Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football team's next game Oct. 14 at home against the Moose Jaw Razorbacks (0-4).
“This week because we don't have a game we have the luxury of being able to have higher up tempo practices with more contact in them, so that way hopefully with this week off we're not slowing down,” said Duncan, noting their next game will also feature an auction of two tickets to next Roughriders' game. “The kids are still getting contact that they need to understand game speed. Then going into next week we'll have a walk through on Tuesday and then right into the game on Wednesday.”
