A slow start doomed the Estevan Lions Club bantam Steelers football team to an eventual 38-0 loss Saturday at Colts Field against the Swift Current Steelers.
Paul Duncan, head coach of the Estevan Steelers (0-3), said they faced a 31-0 deficit to Swift Current at halftime and only relinquished seven points in the final two quarters, but the damage was already done. He said the slow first half and strong second appears to be the tale of the tape for the team this season.
“This week the reason behind it is we had the game Wednesday night (a 29-0 road loss to the Moose Jaw Raiders at Elks Field), so it was a late night,” said Duncan. It’s “lots of travel once again to Moose Jaw on Wednesday and then to Swift on Saturday. Normally we only play one game a week and couple that with a really early morning bus trip, I think was the reason why we didn’t get out there right away.”
Duncan said their strong play in the second frame can be attributed to moving a few of their bigger bodies on the offensive line to dual roles with the defensive line as well. He said moving the pieces around helped ease the pressure on the defence.
“The other good thing about that is the guys who normally play defensive line were great teammates,” he said. “They understood they were a little bit outmatched in size and that by making this change that it was no reflection upon their play. It was just that it needed to be done.”
Next up for the Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football team is a rematch with the Raiders this Friday at Dana Quewezance Memorial Field. Duncan said the team is going to keep plugging away at mastering their game plan before the tilt and the hope is they’ll have the entire team at practice over the next week to get ready.
“Without having the continuity of having all of our players out all the time it does slow down the process a bit, but the kids are growing and they’re developing. It just a little bit slower then we’d hoped.”
