It was a minor bump on what has been pretty smooth ride so far for the Yorkton Pee Wee Gridders.
However, in the long run, that might not be the worst thing.
The Gridders dropped a 30-0 decision to the Regina Wolverines on the road this past Sunday. The loss dropped their record to 3-1 in the Regina Minor Football league.
Gridders Head Coach Jason Farrell has an interesting take on how the loss should influence the young players.
"It was the best thing that could've happened to this team."
Farrell explains, "It's pretty tough to tell these kids that they need to start focusing more at practice and pay more attention to the game so long as they keep winning."
As the Head Coach points out, the lopsided result did all of the talking for him.
"I don't need to say that anymore. They got shown that they need to pay a little more attention at practice."
Buoyed by a diverse, complicated playbook and consistent pressure in the Gridder backfield, the Wolverines were able to carry a decisive thirty-point advantage into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the defence for Yorkton finally caught their stride and did not surrender a second half point. The same could not be said for the offence, however, as they were unable to find any semblance of consistency.
It is said that more lessons are learned in defeat than in victory.
Farrell took this message to heart when addressing his players post-game, "It's like I said to the kids after, I said, 'You guys don't come out here just to win a game, you're out here to become better football players. And today is the best lesson you'll get in becoming a better football player."
Therein lies the coaching philosophy of Jason Farrell and the rest of the Gridders staff - who have seen the program emerge from it's first-year struggles to became a powerhouse in the Regina Minor Football League.
Coach Farrell takes the success in stride, saying that a lot of has to do with better preparation by everyone.
"This year we've got eight returning veterans, we've got a playbook, we've got experienced coaches and it's translating into much better flow on the field which results in much better execution of the plays," he demonstrates.
After a largely unsuccessful first-year spent trying to accumulate experience, Farrell does not downplay the importance of this season's success.
"Put it this way, it's a lot more fun this year than it was last year," he offers, "We only do this because we love it but at some point you've got to have some level of success in any sport."
Farrell modestly attributes the Gridders turnaround to the personnel that surrounds him.
"Everybody truly loves this game and they're not doing it for any other reason, so it's translated into success much sooner than I would've expected."
With success coming much earlier than anticipated, one begins to wonder what the ceiling is for Minor Football in Yorkton.
There are several goals to be achieved, Farrell assuredly states, not the least of which is duplicating the Pee Wee success at a younger level.
"The next level of success is to win the Pee Wee championship. Then the next level of success after that is to create an Atom program so we can get these kids playing at an even younger age," he declares.
Replicating football programs in the major centres, where kids start playing as early as age seven, would be another big step for a Yorkton Minor Football program that's come a long way.
Farrell sees no reason why those barriers can not be overcome.
"There's no reason we can't create that in Yorkton," he insists.
After the Yorkton Regional High School program courageously paved the way into Regina Minor Football years ago, the model has certainly been established for how to build a football program in the city.
Farrell says that this model can be recreated at younger and younger ages as football is absorbed into the Yorkton cultural fabric.
"We're sowing the seeds to recreate that culture and it's pretty easy to get people involved when you have success," Farrell explains, "And we're experiencing that now."
