Having a bye week and no exhibition game to start their 2013 season, their second in the Moose Jaw High School Football League, the Yorkton Regional High School Sr. Raiders felt they would be able to show that their appearance in the League Championship was no beginners luck.
Losing league MVP and quarterback Dalton Fichtner and top linebacker Layne Hull to their 2013 graduating class left questions, but several new faces in new positions answered those questions in a hurry at Century Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Raiders, who had just one loss in the MJHSFL before their championship loss to Moose Jaw Peacock, started off 2013 with a bang. Putting the final nails in Moose Jaw Vanier's coffin before the second half even started. Three passing touchdowns from new quarterback David Balysky to the returning Raiders leading rusher in Zak Kais and new receiving weapon Alex Poppoff put the YRHS up 45-0 after two quarters.
In the second half head coach Roby Sharpe worked in the second teamers with the game in the bag, it didn't make much of a difference as the Raiders finished the game with a lopsided final score of 59-7. For Yorkton it was a reassuring result.
"I had mixed emotions about the game all week" says Raiders head coach Roby Sharpe.
"On one hand at practice we have looked really good and I felt that we would come out with a great start to the season but you never know what you have until you play a game."
Yorkton opted to forego the option of an exhibition game, deciding as far back as last spring that taking advantage of their first week bye was more valuable for a Raiders team that was banged up by the end of 2012. That longer wait to the season opener appeared to spark an inspired performance out of the Orange, who held Vanier scoreless until a fake field goal broke the ice as time expired.
Against a Vanier team that rallied to beat the Swift Current Colts in Week One, the result pleased Sharpe, who made sure it was clear that his team was by no means trying to run up the score.
"Being up 45-0 at halftime is a tough situation in football because it isn't like hockey or basketball where you can milk the clock or avoid getting hit and coast through things, if you slow down you can get hurt so we brought in some guys who didn't get a chance to play in the first half and we still made some plays which was great to see," says Sharpe who pointed out that the lack of a Week One game required the offense to get reps to catch up to the rest of the league.
Sharpe also wanted to remind his players that nothing should be taken for granted and that the Raiders still have a long way to go before they can think about lifting the league championship. "This league is going to be tough and we need to keep on working to get where we want to be by the end of the year," says Sharpe who pointed to the defending champions in Moose Jaw Peackock as the Raiders top threat to lifting the league title this season.
That didn't appear to be the case as the YRHS' numbers were the stuff of early league title contenders.
Zak Kais ran for 181 yards and two touchdowns and a caught a pass for a 35 yard touchdown to pick up where he left off for the Raiders before an ankle injury slowed him down in the 2012 playoffs. Grade 11 rookie Alex Popoff had two catches for 88 yards and a touchdown for the Raiders.
The catalyst for the Raiders high flying offensive put together by offensive coordinator Jason Boyda was their new quarterback in David Balysky. Balysky had 70 yards rushing and two touchdowns in addition to his aerial attack, working all winter and summer to learn the Raiders complex offensive schemes, Balysky was more than pleased with how his debut under center went.
"I was nervous before the game, but I knew that we had the right offense and the right players to execute and it was great to get out there and put up as many points as we did" says Balysky.
The Raiders will be back at Century Field this weekend, taking on the Swift Current Colts.
