After an discouraging loss to the Moose Jaw AE Peacock Tornadoes on the final day of the regular season ended the YRHS Raiders undefeated season the Orange bounced back in a big way on Saturday, beating Moose Jaw Vanier 44-6 to set up a MJHSFL semifinal date with the Weyburn Eagles at Century Field on Saturday.
With their eyes set on a chance at redemption in the Championship against Peacock the Raiders took their frustrations out on Vanier early and often with familiar faces inflicting the punishment. Zak Kais rushed for 144 yards and quarterback David Balysky added 121 of his own on the ground as well as 118 yards in the air, including a touchdown pass to Alex Popoff as even cold wet weather couldn't stop the onslaught for the Raiders.
The defense did their job as well, scoring a defensive touchdown by the way of Logan Wiley as the Raider defense held Vanier to just six points on the day.
Still despite the blowout win the Raiders will have work to do as they prepare for the Weyburn Eagles who beat Estevan last Saturday to advance to play the Raiders at Century Field. The two squared off in the YRHS' annual Friday Night Lights game during the regular season with the Raiders coming out on top, but as Roby Sharpe mentioned after that contest he has a ton of respect for head coach Darren Abel and the Eagles team.
"Me and Darren are friends and we go back a long way, even coaching together on Sask Bowl teams in the past so whenever we play this team it is kind of special, but it is always fun to beat your friends to at the same time."
The Eagles had a down year in 2012, but are right back up there amongst the better teams in the Moose Jaw league after leaving the Regina ranks along with the Raiders last season. Despite being in fourth place there will still be the element of the underdog in this game as the Raiders are statistically superior to the Eagles in every category, something that bodes well for their championship game bid.
Sharpe will be counting on the hot play of his offensive weapons in Balysky, Kais, and Popoff to continue supporting a standout defense that has not given up much, if any ground this season. If the Raiders can do that and limit turnovers they should be booking a date in the league final on Saturday.
