The Yorkton Minor Football (YMF) Gridders high school aged football team made up of players from all throughout Zone Four hosted Brandon鈥檚 Crocus Plains Plainsmen for their final spring football exhibition game Friday, May 22, and proved to be horrible hosts, hammering Crocus Plains 65-0.
鈥淭he boys came out firing right from the opening kickoff right to the end,鈥� offered YMF assistant coach and offensive coordinator Jason Boyda following the game. 鈥淭he nice thing is that the score is one-sided but yet we repped all of our guys equally both offensively and defensively.
鈥淥ffensively I went with our starting quarterback for three series and then our backup for three series. We also did that with the skill positions and on defence we did the same thing so what that score really speaks about is our depth that we have.鈥�
The Gridders utilized their depth to score early and often on Friday as both quarterbacks, Yorkton鈥檚 Nick Payne and Foam Lake鈥檚 Brayden Faye, tossed multiple touchdown passes while young receivers Matthew Mandziuk and Matthew Balysky both showed why they are two of the more promising offensive talents that Yorkton Minor Football has seen in years by hauling down pass after pass, many of the highlight reel variety. 鈥淏oth of those guys (Balysky and Mandziuk) could still play bantam or Junior Raiders football but with their skill set and their maturity, we decided in the offseason to pull them up and have them play senior football and they don鈥檛 look like they鈥檙e junior players at all,鈥� said Boyda, adding that Balysky and Mandziuk, or Matthew squared as he calls them, are not only talented but also able to work with one another very easily. 鈥淥ne guy is running a low route and the other guy is running over the top.
鈥淭hey mix it up and teams just can鈥檛 key on just one Matthew so it鈥檚 been great for us and great for me as the offensive coordinator.鈥�
Another player that Boyda says has really shown improvement throughout the exhibition season has been linebacker-turned-defensive end and fullback Caleb Bymak, who Boyda is very familiar with. 鈥淐aleb鈥檚 a stud. I have had the pleasure to teach and coach him at Yorkdale since grade seven and he鈥檚 just a phenomenal player. He has great work ethic, he鈥檚 got great character and he鈥檚 awesome on and off the field,鈥� mentioned Boyda. 鈥淗e鈥檚 kind of like our core. We like to work around him. Everything鈥檚 centred around him whether he鈥檚 getting the ball or not and on defence we put him on the end from linebacker hoping he鈥檒l cut the field in half and so far he鈥檚 done that.
鈥淗e鈥檚 just a phenomenal athlete and it鈥檚 a pleasure to coach him.鈥�
With spring football now all wrapped up the players will return to their respective schools for spring camps while Boyda, Roby Sharpe and the rest of the YRHS coaches put their heads together and go back to work. 鈥淓ven though this isn鈥檛 a YRHS program, we kind of use it as a game opportunity to see what works and what doesn鈥檛,鈥� said the offensive coordinator. 鈥淪o now we鈥檒l go back to the drawing board and analyse film and see what works and put together a little blueprint for next YRHS season.
鈥淔ourth time鈥檚 the charm.鈥�
