For the Yorkton Regional High School Raiders football team, the absence of their head coach also meant the absence of one of their biggest cheerleaders when they took on the Swift Current Colts on Saturday at Century Field. With Roby Sharpe off to PEI as part of an SRC Leadership Conference, offensive coordinator Jason Boyda and defensive coordinator Ryan Effa were left to pick up the slack, with the vocal familiarity the team has with their head coach being the biggest change.
"It was a lot quieter today with Coach Sharpe not being on the sidelines," says Boyda. "He is always making sure guys are fired up to make plays and is usually saying something positive from the sidelines so it took a little bit of getting used to not having him there to lead the troops."
Still without Sharpe the Raiders still didn't miss a beat, scoring 58 points on the day as David Balysky continues to get more comfortable under center as the YRHS quarterback. In his second game in the pocket, he continued to look like a natural.
Balysky's biggest play of the first quarter came from the ground as the former receiver/running back took off for a rushing touchdown to make it a 17-0 Raiders lead.
An undisciplined string of penalties would let Swift Current make it 17-7 on the next drive after picking up half of their yardage towards the Regional end zone on penalties. It wouldn't be the last time the Raiders gave up real estate due to the yellow flags, but it didn't seem to matter at the half as Zak Kais racked up his rushing yard totals to lift the YRHS to a 40-7 halftime lead.
Swift Current would pick up another second half touchdown thanks to the YRHS' penchant for taking penalties, but it would be all of the offense the Colts could muster on the day as the Regional put it on cruise control for a 58-16 final score. Back up quarterback/starting receiver Ryan Krochak conceded a safety for the other Colts points.
At the end of the day offensive coordinator Jason Boyda was pleased with the continued execution, but he will want to see less penalties from the Orange when they head to Moose Jaw for a massive heavyweight tilt with Central next weekend. "I felt that we gave up far too many penalties today and that is something you can get away with when you have a 30 or 40 point buffer, but when we get into the must win games we won't be able to throw away yardage like that," says Boyda.
Boyda mentioned that most of the Raiders penalty problem stems from the passion of the Raider players, something that isn't always appreciated by high school officials. "We want guys who play with their heart on their sleeves and not choir boys," says Boyda. "But at the end of the day the officials will flag you if you cross the line and our players need to understand that there is a line and that those penalties cost the team."
Saturday's biggest revelation was kicker Bo Chiasson, who went 100% on his PAT attempts as well as missing just one field goal on the day. His ability to allow the Raiders to score on every drive has Boyda excited. "Normally in the Raider program we don't have the benefit of having a kicker who can ensure you points once the ball is near or inside the 30 (yard line) and now we have a guy who can do that."
Next Saturday will be the Raiders biggest test to date as they play the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones in their first road game of the season. Yorkton lost their only regular season game to the Cyclones in 2012, falling on the final drive of the game in what was a classic Friday Night Lights matchup at Century Field. In the playoffs the Raiders got revenge, intercepting the Cyclones quarterback on the first two drives of the game and advancing to the MJHSFL Championship in a stunning route. Boyda says that the Raiders know the importance of getting a win over the Cyclones next weekend.
"Central historically are one of the top teams in the MJHSFL and that is where we want to be, we had some close games against them last year and going on the road for the first time this season it will be a huge test for us in seeing where we are at in reaching our championship goal."
Yorkton will first be looking to get healthy, they lost the services of cornerback Darius Haberstock to a leg injury early on Saturday and will be hoping that the talented coverage man can return. "We picked up some nicks and bruises this week and we will be looking to heal those before we head to Moose Jaw Saturday morning, other than that we will be focusing on fine tuning some things and getting ready to play Raider football," says Boyda.
