The YRHS Raiders senior football team looked to serve notice to the rest of the Moose Jaw High School Football League (MJHSFL) teams as they kicked off their 2014 regular season on Saturday at home against the Estevan Elecs on Saturday afternoon at Yorkton's Century Field.
And serve notice they did. The Raiders completely dominated the hapless Elecs, putting 34 points on the board in the first half alone before adding another 38 in the second half for a punishing 72-6 victory.
Grade 11 quarterback Nick Payne led the dominant Raiders offence, which racked up a total of 456 yards, completing 21-of-28 passes for 284 yards.
Alex Popoff hauled down four passes for 84 yards while Riley McGill also had a strong offensive game, catching two passes for 40 yards and running the ball twice for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
Zach Kais, last year's star running back, proved to everyone that last year wasn't just a fluke, averaging just under seven yards per carry, picking up 55 yards on eight rushes.
Kais also had two kickoff returns for touchdowns, the first an 80 yard romp to the house in response to Estevan's opening touchdown and the second an 88 yard return, untouched, to begin the second half.
Also finding the end zone for the Raiders on the day were Ryan Krochak, QB Nick Payne and newcomer Greg Dutchak.
Kais in particular had a great day with 168 return yards on just two kickoff returns, prompting Raiders head coach to call him a freak in the nicest sense of the word. "Zach Kais is a freak," suggested a laughing Sharpe following the Raiders 66-point victory. "He's pretty darn good and he's as good as any player we've had at running back for sure."
Another player that Sharpe was particularly pleased with was his new quarterback Nick Payne, who is one of the first products of the Yorkton Minor Football program to graduate to the senior ranks of either high school team. "Nick Payne has played quarterback since peewee," offered the Raiders head coach. "He is one of the first players we've ever had come all the way through the system as a quarterback. You can see, if you look at his fundamentals and the way he throws the ball, he's a heck of a good player and he knows what he's doing out there."
Sharpe then compared Payne to last year's starting quarterback David Balysky, as well as the starting QB from a couple of years ago in Dalton Fichtner, saying that they play completely different styles. "He (Payne) is a little bit of a different style. He stands in the pocket a little bit more and has a look down field," mentioned Sharpe, continuing, "We had David last year and Fichtner the year before and you saw how those guys would roll out of the pocket but he's different. He's smart and throws a heck of a good ball.
"He's going to be awesome for us and there is no doubt about it."
Program success
It takes a while for a football program to become a success. And that's what Roby Sharpe's YRHS Raiders are.
Sure, they may not have won a league championship, losing in the Regina 3A Division final to Weyburn back in 2006 and most recently falling victim to Moose Jaw's A.E. Peacock Tornadoes in the MJHSFL final in back-to-back years, 2012 and 2013.
But they can still call themselves a success if you look at what they have actually done.
And what is it that they have done? They've graduated players to higher ranks.
Jordan Matechuk, now of the CFL's B.C. Lions, was one of the first prominent football players to come out of Sharpe's Raider program, however he's not the last.
Cam Redl and Logan Wilk of Saskatchewan Huskie fame are two former products of the YRHS, as are current Regina Rams players Dalton Fichtner, Eddie Schramm and Grey McKen.
Michael Kozushka of the University of Alberta Golden Bears, Regina Thunder's Paul Toth, Daniel Brenner of the Calgary Colts and Layne Hull of the Okanagan Suns are also YRHS alumni, all plying their trade with the high school team where they were scouted and scooped up by their current clubs. "We got guys at the University of Regina, the University of Alberta, we have guys in Okanagan, Regina Thunder," beamed Sharpe. "We're real proud of those guys and we're going to have more guys this year."
Some of the guys that Sharpe believes are scholarship material that are current members of the Raiders are running back Zach Kais, as well as wide receiver and defensive back Alex Popoff, diminutive defensive back Darius Haberstock and Riley McGill.
Next up
The YRHS Raiders senior football team (1-0) will be in action this Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the hometown Vanier Vikings (0-0). Kick-off is set for 3:15p.m.
YMF Results
The Yorkton Atom Gridders improved to 4-0 on the season with a hard fought 32-20 victory over the Regina Kats, while the Peewee Gridders fell to 1-3 on the season after a 52-46 loss to the undefeated Regina Huskies.
The YRHS Jr. Raiders picked up their second straight victory, this time beating the Regina Packers 41-32, to move to 2-1 on the season.
Next action for the three Yorkton Minor Football teams will be this Saturday when all three are in action at Century Field. The tripleheader kicks off when the Atom Gridders (4-0) take on the Regina Lions (2-2) at 11:00a.m., followed by the Peewee Gridders (1-3) hosting the Regina Mustangs (3-1) at 12:45p.m. and the YRHS Jr. Raiders (2-1) welcoming the Regina Mounties (0-3) to Yorkton. Game time in the final game is set for 2:30p.m.
