Opening their 2012 season at Century Field, the YRHS Junior Raiders were in tough against a very good Greenall Griffins team in a Regina League clash. The Raiders special teams arguably cost them a game that they were into for three of the four quarters in what ultimately ended up being a 28-6 defeat to open up their season.
With the senior squad leaving the RIFL for a new opportunity by way of league play in Moose Jaw the JR Raider Gridders are the last ties the YRHS has to Regina football and got the privilege to start their 2012 campaign at home with hopes of using the home crowd and travel advantage to their favour with an early season win over the Balgonie high school. The game was a defensive affair with both teams figuring out their offensive schemes and chemistry in the season's opening week as big scoring plays were nowhere to be found. However the Raiders did make a few key errors, including the aforementioned mistakes in the special teams game that saw them head into the fourth quarter down 14-3 and needing defensive stops to give them a chance to mount the comeback.
However a comeback was not in the cards for the hometown Raiders on the day as a stunning thirty yard lob from the Balgonie quarterback put the Griffins on the goal line, leading to a simple quarterback sneak to put the Griffins up 21-3 and put the final nail on the Raiders coffin as eighteen points in a quarter was simply going to be too much ground for the brand new Gridder offense to muster up. The Griffins added a score, before a Nick Payne screen pass went for a long touchdown gain before being called back for an extremely questionable holding call in what was an inconsistent at best day for the referees in their first action of the season as questionable calls and decisions were sent the way of both teams in the contest. A field goal came out of the drive after the holding call to make it a final score of 28-6 in a game that while being closer than the scoreline indicated, will hopefully not serve as the measuring stick for the JR Raiders season going forward.
Despite the momentum killing fourth quarter touchdowns the Raiders did not go down lightly on defence or offence as the Raiders continued to play hard nosed football and did not give up any ground when challenged by the physical Greenall team. The physical play finally escalated into a few after the play dustups at midfield after gang tackles that both teams took exception to some pushing and shoving between the teams and not escalating to any penalties or unsportsmanlike behaviour on the field.
Head Coach Mike Jarvis noted that while a few bounces could have went the Raiders way that would have changed the game's storyline, saying "The game was much closer than it will look, some good things on offense and defense were noticed and a few mental mistakes here and there but overall there were good things on display throughout the game." Jarvis attributed the loss not to the offense or defensive effort of the Raiders, but of the game's third facet, special teams, "Mental mistakes and special teams probably cost us the game." Jarvis insisted that the Raiders will be working on tuning up their special teams going forward to prevent further breakdowns down the road, especially in the punt game.
Mental errors and slip ups are to be expected at the beginning of any high school sports season and the Gridders should be able to eliminate those mistakes in the coming weeks as players get more reps at practice and gel more as a team. Special teams especially as it is the lesser focus of teams at the beginning of the season as offensive and defensive gameplans are much more complex and demand a higher focus, often leaving special teams reps low. Jarvis mentioned Caleb Bymak was a key player on defense.
The Raiders now head on the road this week where they will face the Regina Riders in their first road test. Things will not get easier for the Raiders as the Riders are typically one of Regina's best teams, and were one of the league's top two teams last season according to coach Jarvis. Jarvis had high praise for the Riders stating that they were "A very solid running team, and like to pound the ground game and run up the gut." Jarvis mentioned that the Raiders will be working on their inside defensive schemes and will be looking for a power football matchup when they head to Regina.
The Raiders-Riders road clash is Saturday in Regina and will serve as Week Two in the JR Raiders 2012 season.
