A come-from-behind 19-17 win and a hard fought 16-16 tie saw the YRHS Jr. Raiders wrap up the busiest part of their 2015 schedule with a respectable 1-1-1 record after the team played three games in eight days.
The Jr. Raiders dropped their season opener to the Regina Lakers 56-26 on Sunday, August 23, but rebounded on Wednesday, August 26, against the Balgonie Greenall Jr. Griffins with a thrilling 19-17 comeback win.
The YRHS then held off a strong Regina Renegades squad this past Sunday, battling the club from Regina to a 16-16 draw.
The 1-1-1 record leaves the Jr. Raiders in fourth place in the Regina Minor Football League (RMFL) Bantam Division, one point back of both the Regina Sun Devils (2-0-0) and Regina Stampeders (2-0-0) and three points back of the league-leading Regina Lakers (3-0-0).
The Greenall Jr. Griffins (1-1-0) and Lumsden Jr. Devils (1-1-0) sit in fifth and sixth respectively with two points, the Renegades (0-2-1) are in seventh, while both the Regina Eagles (0-2-0) and Regina Packers (0-2-0) occupy the league basement with zero points.
Winning Wednesday
It seemed as if the Balgonie Greenall Jr. Griffins had their second win of the 2015 season all wrapped up.
Leading the YRHS Jr. Raiders by nine, 17-8, with less than four minutes to go and holding possession of the ball, all the Griffins had to do was slowly kill the clock.
But someone forgot to tell the Jr. Raiders that the game was already decided, as the orange-clad defence swarmed in on the Griffin quarterback, pressuring him enough to cause him to throw the ball away 鈥� right into the outstretched hands of a Yorkton defensive back. 鈥淭hings didn鈥檛 look that good there, down by two scores without the football,鈥� YRHS Jr. Raider head coach Al Kyle told Yorkton This Week, continuing, 鈥淏ut the defence was able to come up with a huge interception and the offence was able to march down the field to get us a field goal and get us back in it.鈥�
Still, the field goal only made it 17-11 and, with time running out, the Griffins once again had the ball. All they had to do was pick up a couple first downs and kill the clock.
And once again the YRHS defence did not allow them to do so, forcing a turnover with just over 40 seconds remaining in the game to send the Raider offence back on the field.
But with 40 seconds remaining and half the field to cover, things were looking bleak. Until, of course, running back Braden Kitchen broke several tackles and turned what looked to be a 10-yard run into a 40-yard gain to set the Raiders up for their second touchdown of the game with just seconds left on the clock. 鈥淜itchen came through and he ran the ball hard,鈥� noted coach Kyle. 鈥淥n that last drive he could have been stopped for a 10-yard game but instead he busted it all the way down to the five yard line for a 40-yard gain to really set us up for the touchdown for the win.鈥�
A two point conversion immediately following the touchdown made it 19-17 for the Jr. Raiders, who ended up picking up their first win of the 2015 season in comeback fashion.
Coach Kyle said that one of the big reasons the team managed to battle back was the relentlessness of the team captains for the game. 鈥淭hey (the captains) really kept us in the game,鈥� mentioned Kyle, adding that the captains for that game were Jordin Rusnack, Zack Fleury, Ivan Gawryliuk and Dustin Murray. 鈥淭hey kept things energetic on the sidelines and they made sure the energy was up and made sure that we had the ability to come back and win the game.鈥�
Sunday鈥檚 draw
A fatigued Jr. Raider squad hosted a hungry Regina Renegades club on Sunday afternoon at Yorkton鈥檚 Century Field.
Undermanned and overworked, the Raiders could have easily crumpled against a strong Renegades side, but instead the plucky Raiders battled valiantly, opening the scoring on a four-yard plunge in the first half.
The Renegades responded quickly with a rushing touchdown of their own, however YRHS Jr. Raider quarterback Jordin Rusnack regained the home team advantage before the end of the half, breaking several Regina tackles and eventually finding the end zone after a 60 yard run. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a heck of a player,鈥� offered the Jr. Raider bench boss on his starting quarterback. 鈥淗e can throw the ball and he can really run the ball. A few times it looked like their defence had us bottled up, and he was able to make a couple of guys miss and go all the way for us for a touchdown and that鈥檚 what he did for us today.
鈥淗e continues to lead, not only on the field but off of it as well, whether that means he鈥檚 cheering on the defence or getting the guys ready for practice.鈥�
It looked as if the Renegades had drawn even with less than three minutes remaining in the first half when the Regina quarterback found his receiver all alone in the Raiders secondary, however a Renegade holding penalty took six points off the board, resulting in a 16-8 YRHS lead midway through the game.
A Renegade passing touchdown in the second half, quickly followed by a two point conversion, drew the visitors even with the Jr. Raiders at 16-16 before both teams鈥� defences took over, keeping the opposing offences off the board for the remainder of the game. Final score: 16-16.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been a big fan of ties because you always want to go out and get that win, but I told the guys that this is the most proud that I鈥檝e ever been of a team,鈥� said coach Kyle, continuing, 鈥淲e played three games in eight days, we were missing six guys that usually start for us and we were still able to earn that tie.
鈥淪ometimes you lose that tie but today we really went out there and earned that tie.鈥�
Kyle now says that the team has a few well-earned days off before getting back at it with practices on Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely going to get an extra day of rest in there. We鈥檙e going to take Monday and Tuesday off, come back on Wednesday and get back to work,鈥� suggested the coach. 鈥淲ith all of our games in quick succession we haven鈥檛 been able to get our full package in of plays on offence and defence, so it鈥檒l be pretty nice to be able to actually have a couple of practices to add a new wrinkle or two and be able to rest up for the Packers next weekend.鈥�
The next action for the YRHS Jr. Raiders (1-1-1) is this Saturday, September 5, when they take on the Regina Packers (0-2-0) at 7:30p.m. at Regina鈥檚 Leibel Field.
