The Raiders put together three touchdowns in the final quarter of the Moose Jaw High School Football League final Saturday afternoon at Gutheridge Field in Moose Jaw, however it wasn't enough to overcome the 49-7 deficit they faced going into it.
The Raiders started the game just the way they wanted, about two minutes into the game, says head coach Roby Sharpe.
They opened the scoring with a touchdown from Dalton Fichtner when he found Michael Balysky in the end zone to strike first blood in the 3A 12-man high school football championship between the Alfred E Peacock Tornadoes and the Yorkton Regional High School (YRHS) Raiders in senior football action.
However the Tornadoes scored seven straight touchdowns which put them in the driver's seat with a 49-7 lead to start the fourth quarter and went on to a 49-29 victory.
Sharpe, who had coached the YRHS senior squad to nearly a perfect record over the course of the season, was almost at a loss to describe the feeling of the championship game.
Sharpe's Raiders won the regular season meeting between the two teams, and cleaned up with almost everybody else that they faced.
In the league finals, however, the Raiders were hit by the injury bug harder than Buck Pierce takes sacks.
"We just couldn't do it," says Sharpe, who noted that there were a handful of key players who had come up big all season long.
Defensive specialist Grey McKen and offensive sparkplugs Zach Kais and Tyson Haas were among those playing injured.
Kais, however found the end zone late in the game, a two-yard run which helped close the gap.
After a strong season overall, Sharpe said it wasn't much fun watching the game on the sidelines. It was hard, he said.
"Yeah, for sure."
The Raiders lost by 20 points but their overall numbers weren't as bad. They had more first downs than Moose Jaw (21-15), they had 40 yards more offence (367-328) and their pass efficiency was better (170-70)
Fichtner's air attack was better than that of Peacock's Sawyer Buettner. His receiver corps of Ryan Krochak, Layne Hull, Michael Balysky, Zack Kais and Tyrell Ulmer were more dominant than Peacock's, picking up 170 yards in the receiving department and Kais also had 19 carries for 149 yards on the ground. Fichtner's passing efficiency was graded at 68 per cent and Buettner's at 61.2 per cent.
Quarterback Fichtner also ran the ball in from four yards out, and Ryan Krochak caught a pass from just inside the red zone, thrown by Fichtner, which rounded out the scoring for the Raiders.
Fichtner and teammate Layne Hull were among the recipients of MJHSFL awards, a ceremony held, honouring the players of the league for outstanding accomplishments, at the half.
Sharpe said the best part of the entire season came when his team earned the right to host two playoff games in the friendly confines of Century Field as a result of a 5-1 finish (split with two other teams) and coming after a quarter final victory over the Elecs of Estevan.
"Just being able to host the home playoff games (this year)," he closed.
