The YRHS Jr. Raider football team picked up their third win of the season this past Saturday at Century Field, dropping the visiting Regina Eagles 33-24.
The victory improves the Jr. Raider record to 3-1-1, good enough for second place in the nine-team Regina Minor Football Bantam Division, one point back of the league-leading Lakers (4-1-0) and one point up on a trio of teams, the Stampeders (3-1-0), Lumsden Jr. Devils (3-2-0) and Balgonie Greenall Jr. Griffins (3-2-0).
The Sun Devils (2-2-0) and Eagles (2-3-0) are three points back of the Jr. Raiders, while the Renegades (0-3-1) are six points back in eighth place and the Packers (0-5-0) are seven points behind Yorkton in last place.
But while the Jr. Raiders eventually walked away victors on the day, much of the first half was played with them either trailing or tied, as the Eagles opened the scoring on their first possession of the game to take an 8-0 lead.
The Jr. Raiders responded with a touchdown of their own when quarterback Jordin Rusnack took advantage of the hard work of Braden Kitchen to finish off a 60-plus yard drive with a one yard plunge for the Raiders鈥� first touchdown of the game.
The visiting Eagles regained their eight point lead with six minutes remaining in the first half on a nice passing play and were looking to score again until the Raider defence came up big, forcing and recovering one of three fumbles in the game to take control of the ball late in the first half.
The Jr. Raiders then orchestrated an impressive drive capped off by a three yard run by Luke Reid to once again knot the game at 16. 鈥淟uke Reid, he鈥檚 the guy that lead blocks for Braden most of the time, but in those short yardage situations we know we can give him the ball and it鈥檚 going to take at least three or four guys to bring him down,鈥� said YRHS Jr. Raider head coach Al Kyle when asked about his fullback. 鈥淗e really played hard again today and came through for us with his running and his blocking.鈥�
The second Raider touchdown of the game seemed to spark the Regional offence as Rusnack found a receiver wide open for a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown only to have the play called back after first down yardage was gained due to an unnecessary illegal blocking penalty.
The Raider offence then ran out of time in the first half, settling instead for a field goal to take a 19-16 lead into half-time; something that they have not been able to do all season long. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have ever led at half-time this season, so this was new for us,鈥� offered coach Kyle. 鈥淲e鈥檙e more of a second half team, so to take a lead into half-time was a big plus for us and we knew we were in control.鈥�
Once the second half began it was evident that the Jr. Raiders were indeed a second half team, scoring on their very first play of the third quarter when Ivan Gavryliuk caught the ball on the kickoff and ran it all the way back for a score, only to once again have the touchdown stricken from the books due to an illegal block. 鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating because it鈥檚 something they know they shouldn鈥檛 do,鈥� said the Jr. Raider head coach. 鈥淥n both touchdowns that were called back, the penalty had nothing to do with the play, so that鈥檚 something we鈥檒l look at on film and explain to them so it doesn鈥檛 happen again.鈥�
Luckily for the Raiders the call did not hurt them in the long-run, as they managed to find the end-zone two more times in the game, one on a six yard touchdown pass from Rusnack to Carson Sveinbjornson and the other a Luke Reid rumble to the end-zone for what ended up being a 33-24 victory.
The nine-point win is the third victory of the season for the Jr. Raiders, who are now undefeated in their last four games. 鈥淲e started off kind of on the wrong foot this season,鈥� the Jr. Raider head coach told Yorkton This Week, referring to the Regional鈥檚 56-26 opening day loss to the Regina Lakers on August 23. 鈥淏ut since then we鈥檝e managed to pick up a few wins and things are looking pretty good right now.鈥�
Next action
The next action for the YRHS Jr. Raiders (3-1-1) will be this Sunday, September 20, when they visit the Regina Sun Devils (2-2-0) for a Sunday evening game.
