The YRHS Sr. Raider Gridders got revenge on Saturday afternoon at Century Field to the tune of a 49-22 victory over the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones in the Moose Jaw High School Football League semifinals.
A victory that already was a huge win for the program was made sweeter by the fact that Central handed the Raiders their only loss of the season during the Friday Night Lights game that nearly took home field advantage away from the Raiders and kept them out of first place and an undefeated season. Turnovers were a key difference in this game as the Raiders started the game with an interception returned for a touchdown by David Balysky, who is quickly becoming a ball hawking defensive back for the Raiders and now has two interceptions returned for touchdowns in the playoffs. On the next Cyclones drive, Dalton Fichtner came up with an interception playing in the secondary before driving the Raider offense to the endzone to start the game with two quick touchdowns in what was a rough day for Cyclones grade twelve quarterback Brenden Forbes.
Forbes found himself stymied by an inspired Raiders defense that got a huge boost from defensive end Adam McCannell, who stayed with the Raiders despite having commitments with the Midget AA hockey team. McCannell had a huge game in the win, getting to Forbes all game, before knocking him out of most of the fourth quarter with sent the Cyclones star quarterback out with a leg injury. McCannell then intercepted a pass at the line before taking it all the way to the end zone to cap off what was a memorable performance from the first year football player. Coach Sharpe credited Midget AA coach Evan Johnston for allowing McCannell to play with the team despite needing him for his own game saying, "Evan is truly about the kids and you usually don't see that in this situation, if he didn't allow McCannell to make the decision to play today, (McCannell) would have went to play with the hockey team because that is the kind of guy he is, but because of Evan the kid will have a memory that he will take to his grave."
Another key factor in the Raiders win over Central that did not factor in the previous game was the running of Tyson Haas. Haas, who has zero football experience heading into this season, has went from being a standout linebacker and special teams player for the Raiders to being the lead running back for the Raiders in the absence of Zack Kais, who missed his third straight game with a high ankle sprain. Haas moved the chains for the Raiders throughout the second half as offensive coordinator Jayson Boyda decided to go to a power running formation which proved to be too much for the Cyclones to handle. Haas rumbled off to a 150 plus yard performance mostly in the second half as Haas received handoff after handoff, demoralizing a Cyclones team that could never seem to make the first tackle on the power running of Haas.
Coach Boyda had nothing, but praise for the offensive line and his new running back adding, "We have a ground and pound philosophy and Haas went from playing strictly defense to working hard in practice everyday to learn the running back position and has really turned into a key player for our offense." Dalton Fichtner and Layne Hull also had their typically solid performances on offense connecting in the air on multiple occasions while Fichtner ran for over 100 yards on his own in the win. Hull also came up big in the second half as a fullback, blocking for Haas in the power formation.
Coach Sharpe was once again impressed with his teams performance and considered it to be a team effort. Sharpe also mentioned that the time the Raiders spent watching game film was vital to the win, mentioning that the Raider defense was keyed to the Matt Dominguez coached "pro style" offense the Cyclones ran on the first two interceptions of the game. Dominguez, who formerly played for the Roughriders and is now the offensive coordinator for the Cyclones, and the aforementioned Forbes at quarterback could not find the success that they found during the Friday night game and if not for two scores at the end of the game with the result already wrapped up, were completely shut down by a prepared Raiders defense.
An intriguing championship matchup has now been set as the Raiders will travel to Moose Jaw to play first place peacock, a team they beat earlier in the season at Century Field. The running game will be a huge storyline heading into the final as the Raiders potential two headed monster of Zack Kais and Tyson Haas will be matched with Peacock's brother duo of Nathan and Chris Fall. Younger brother Nathan ended up surpassing Kais for the rushing title despite also missing action, including Peacock's loss to the Raiders. Nathan ran for 765 with twelve touchdowns, but like Kais has missed the entire playoffs. Older brother Chris scored three touchdowns in Peacock's 29-7 victory over Weyburn in the semifinal and both will give the Raiders defensive corps a handful.
Quarterback play was a key in the regular season matchup as Fichtner and grade ten Peacock quarterback Sawyer Buettner both had success in the air with passing touchdowns. Buettner nearly led the Tornadoes to a fourth quarter comeback in the regular season encounter and has a big arm that can launch the ball downfield when required.
Despite being in second place, the Raiders were the best team on paper statistically during their first year in the MJHSFL. With the first ranked offense that averaged 34.5 points per game and 59 points per game in the playoffs, and the league's best defense the Raiders are nowhere close to being the underdog by any stretch of the imagination heading into Moose Jaw.
Coach Sharpe says like the Central game both teams will be different from when they saw each other in the middle of the regular season and that anything can happen when the two meet on Saturday.
The chance to win a league title is on the line as the Raiders have put themselves in the position to be just three weeks away from a provincial championship, a place that seemed like a distant dream after a string of first round playoff exits in the Regina league. A journey that started with an impressive road win in September over Moose Jaw Vanier has grown into one of the most successful seasons in Raider football history and a chance to come into a new league with a bang and secure its first ever MJHSFL title.
Both teams will be laying it all out on the line for the chance to represent their league in the provincial playoffs and have more than earned the right to have provincial championship dreams in their sights with identical 5-1 regular season records. A battle of first and second place is sure to provide an entertaining four quarters on Saturday afternoon, but if the Raiders can bring the momentum they have built in the first two rounds of the playoffs with the performance they had in the regular season win over Peacock, they should be able to come out of Moose Jaw with a league title and a chance to play for a provincial championship banner in November for the first time in twenty years.
