The first two seasons of the Yorkton Regional High School Raiders new era in the Moose Jaw High School Football League have been outstanding successes except when it has came down to winning a league championship, posting some of the best regular season records in the league and two trips to the MJHSFL Championship where they have fallen short both times to powerhouse AE Peacock of Moose Jaw in the quest for a first title in their new league home.
That has the Raiders motivated to get back to the title game once again, coming out flying against the Estevan Elecs in their opening game in which the hosts put up 72 points in a lopsided 72-6 victory at Kinsmen Century Field to kick off the 12 man high school football season in Yorkton. Blowing past the Elecs, the Raiders sent a message that they are back to try to avenge their new misses in what will be their third season in the league.
Even more impressive for the Raiders was that the win came without an exhibition tuneup game, something that used to be a staple of the YRHS' preparations for the season in the past that head coach Roby Sharpe mentioned has been scrapped to avoid any unneeded wear and tear of the Yorkton players.
"The past few seasons we have had players get hurt at the worst possible time which is in the playoffs and last year with the bye week to start the season we didn't have an exhibition game so we went with it again this year," explains the YRHS head coach who added the move was made with the playoff push come late fall in mind.
"It isn't about how you start it is about how you finish so it was good to get the first game out of the way with a win and we plan on getting sharper as the season progresses week by week."
That lack of preparation time has Sharpe extremely positive following a performance in which the Raiders dominated from beginning to end at Century Field, putting up a rare 70+ point performance. Mentioning that the team could improve on some things from the victory, Sharpe feels that the team proved their ceiling is again high.
"The positive about playing a good first game is that we can only build on that performance after watching the game film and improving the things that we need to be better at from there so things are definitely looking good again early this season."
Rookie quarterback Nick Payne shined in his debut with the Raiders after two years with the Jr. Raiders team that plays in the Bantam division of Regina Minor Football's ranks, drawing praise from offensive coordinator Jason Boyda who saw positives from the fundamentally sound Grade 11 talent.
"The thing about Nick is that he has played quarterback since he has played football which is something that shows in his fundamentals," explains Boyda who added that past quarterbacks Dalton Fichtner and David Balysky's athleticism made them successful. "Over the past two seasons we have put some of our best athletes at quarterback and they both led us to success so the hope is having a product of Yorkton Minor Football who has played the position since he started playing the game can add to our attack."
After a dominating performance to start the season there was of course a look-ahead to the Raiders true mission this season which is a first ever league title, something that Sharpe feels this team is built to push for again thanks to weapons on offence like Zak Kais and Alex Popoff who shined on Saturday.
"We have a lot of players who can make the jump to the next level after high school and it looks like another special group again this season," says Sharpe who praised Kais and Popoff's athletic abilities.
"We have a lot of freak (athletes) and Kais along with Popoff are two players who show the type of talents we are lucky to have again this season."
Despite the motivation to avenge what were two tough losses to swallow to Peacock in back to back championship opportunities, Sharpe maintains that the team will need to focus one step at a time to get there.
"We want to get back to the championship because that is the goal every fall and with two losses in the last two seasons we want to make the next step but we can't allow that to let us lose focus," Sharpe says while pointing out that looking too far ahead is a dangerous risk to their goals. "Looking too far ahead puts you in danger of a letdown so we need to be focused on every opponent and getting the job done week by week before we get to where we want to be at the end of the season."
That means maintaining focus and intensity on their first road trip of the season to play Moose Jaw Vanier in a game Sharpe expects to be tougher than their debut in a road environment.
"Vanier are going to be a lot tougher and playing on the road for the first time is always a challenge so we will need to go over Vanier's film on Monday and prepare from there to get another win this week."
