Yorkton Peewee Gridder running back Willen Paligan made sure that the now 6-0 Yorkton Peewee Gridders remained perfect on the 2015 season, finding the end zone a total of seven times while rushing for over 300 yards in a 54-23 Yorkton win over the previously 4-1 Regina Razorbacks Sunday afternoon at Regina鈥檚 Leibel Field.
鈥淲illen is a special talent and when he gets put into those situations more times than not he steps up and delivers,鈥� said Peewee Gridder head coach Grant Edgar. 鈥淗e was very strong for us again this week. We went into a full house package and ran some different plays out of it and Willen definitely came up with some big plays again.鈥�
The speedy Yorkton running back scored his first touchdown of the day on the Gridders鈥� first possession of the game, scampering 35-yards to the end zone to give Yorkton an 8-0 lead very early on.
Paligan then doubled the Yorkton lead to 16 in the second quarter, taking advantage of great field position thanks to a very impressive 20-yard run by Carter Pawliw, breaking a couple of tackles on a third down run to pick up his second touchdown of the game, this one on a 13-yard run.
The Razorbacks tried to respond by scoring their first touchdown of the game on a long touchdown run of their own to make it 16-8, however Paligan quickly regained the Yorkton two score advantage, running the ball through the heart of the Razorback defence before finding the sidelines for an eventual 62-yard touchdown run for a 24-8 Yorkton lead with 6:42 remaining in the first half.
A special teams trick play by the Peewee Gridders on the following kickoff resulted in Yorkton regaining control of the ball and completely seizing the momentum from the Regina squad.
A Razorback pass interference penalty meant the Gridders were once again within scoring distance, just 18-yards away from the end zone, when Gridders鈥� quarterback Riley Clarke handed the ball off to Paligan for his fourth touchdown of the first half to make the score 30-8 Yorkton with 4:14 remaining in the quarter.
The Razorbacks then marched the ball down the field late in the second half with the hopes of scoring their second touchdown before the end of the second quarter. However, a strong defensive stand by Yorkton deep in their own end finished off by a Brad Heskin and Fayden Gramyk combined tackle on the three yard line with zero seconds remaining in the second quarter ensured that the Gridders led by 22 heading into half-time. 鈥淧aligan played well, but our defence was strong again and that stand to end the half was huge,鈥� mentioned Edgar, adding that the Gridder defence has been strong all season long. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been one of the best defensive teams in the league and although the Razorbacks scored 23 points, they still put together a strong game because their running back was tough to bring down.鈥�
The second half started much the same way the first one did, with Paligan once again finding pay dirt, this time finishing off an extended Yorkton drive with a one yard plunge into the end zone for a 38-8 Gridder lead.
A pair of Razorback touchdowns cut the Yorkton lead to 15 at 38-23, but two more impressive Paligan touchdown runs 鈥� a 66-yard run and a 46-yard scamper 鈥� made the score 54-23 and put the game completely out of reach for the Regina side.
The win moves the Peewee Gridders to 6-0 on the season and first place in the 13-team Regina Minor Football Peewee Division. The Balgonie North Griffins and Regina Riders are tied for second and third with identical 5-0 records, while the Razorbacks (4-2) and Mustangs (4-1) both have eight points and remain tied for fourth and fifth respectively.
The Thunder (3-2) hold down sixth spot with six points, while the Patriots (2-3) and Vikings (2-4) round out the top eight with four points each.
Four teams have one win with the Argos (1-4), Huskies (1-4), Balgonie 麻豆传媒AV Griffins (1-4) and Rams (1-5) all finding the win column once, while the Golden Hawks remain in the Peewee Division cellar at 0-6.
Next up
The next action for the Yorkton Peewee Gridders (6-0) will be this Saturday when they host the visiting Regina Huskies (1-4). Kickoff is set for high noon (12:00p.m.) at Century Field.
