It was an offensive shootout at Regina's Liebel field on Saturday morning as the Yorkton Atom Gridder's second season fired off against the Regina Cats. Yorkton put up 7 touchdowns in a 52-48 victory against the Cats.
The Gridder Offense was lead by Quarterback Jordin Rusnak who rushed for one of the team's touchdowns himself. Due to strong offensive line play, they were able to ground it and pound it for all 4 quarters.
The offense was anchored well by Daniel Balysky, James Fleger and Spencer Welke.
Running Back Dylan Lepowick had a very successful outing using his speed and size to find his way to pay dirt 5 times. Slot Back, Garion Miller, looking like a young Weston Dressler, brought in 2 TD's. Connor Watrych provided key blocks on most of the TD's.
Gridder Defense powered through a strong Cat offense providing a couple of key turnovers on downs allowing the offense to clutch ahead. Gridder defenders played well as a team with key plays by Tyler Harasymuk, Kayden Pfeifer and Brad Heskin.
The game was a back and forth effort for the first half which ended 36-34 in favour of the Gridders. The second half key stops were what really made the difference.
Defensive coach Rick Kozachenko is very impressed with "this year's improvement in intensity" which has made a big difference on the field.
Both Offense and Defense have been working really well together as a team with every player contributing to the improvement of the entire team. Acting Head Coach explains,
"Two weeks of hard work at practice payed off today. The players with the big plays couldn't have done it without the efforts of every player who did his or her job. All of our coaches are very proud of the efforts of our players in all 4 quarters."
