As baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once said, "It's like déjÀ vu all over again."
For the third year in a row the YRHS Raiders faced the Moose Jaw A.E. Peacock Tornadoes in the MJHSFL final only to fall to the Moose Jaw powerhouse, this time by a 34-20 score.
However things looked good early on for the Raiders as Zach Kais opened the scoring for the Boys in Orange with 7:44 left in the first quarter when he ran the ball into the end zone from 14 yards out, diving into the promised land to make it 6-0 Yorkton.
A failed convert by kicker Matias Castillo meant the score remained 6-0. However it didn't remain that way for long.
The Raiders quickly got the ball back when defensive back Rylan Jasper picked off Sawyer Buettner's pass in unconventional fashion, much to the delight of his coaches and fellow Raider teammates. "He stuck with it and ended up catching it between his knees," laughed Raider head coach Roby Sharpe. "He stuck with it and did a great job."
Yorkton's offence then went back to work, first with quarterback Nick Payne hooking up with Greg Dutchak for a long reception to get his team inside the red zone.
The Raiders quickly followed up the Payne and Dutchak connection with Kais' second rushing touchdown of the opening quarter, this time from nine yards out, to make it 12-0. A failed two point convert kept the score 12-0. "Yeah we started out great with two quick touchdowns on the road," offered Sharpe. "But then we failed to capitalize in the red zone to make it a three score game early on and that let them back into it."
That it did, as the Tornadoes scored the next 10 first half points, first with an Austin Taylor 22 yard field goal with 1:55 left in the first quarter and a Buettner five yard pass into the end zone to Chase Griffin with 1:52 left in the second to cut the Raider lead to two, 12-10.
The hometown Tornadoes wasted little time in the third quarter, scoring on their first possession when running back Kyle Arndt found the end zone with a one yard plunge on a drive aided by Raider penalties to make it 17-12 Moose Jaw.
Taylor made it 20-12 Peacock late in the third quarter with his second field goal of the game, this time from 17 yards out.
The score remained that way until late in the fourth quarter when Buettner, who had been pressured heavily by the Raider defensive line all game long, found Taylor wide open down the sidelines for a 47 yard pass and run touchdown to make it 27-12.
It looked like it was all over for the Raiders, however they too proved they had a quick strike offence as Payne found Popoff down the middle for an eventual 58 yard catch and run touchdown of his own to make it 27-20 with 1:38 remaining in the game.
However a poorly executed onside kick by the Raiders gave Peacock phenomenal field position and just 18 seconds later the dagger was delivered as Arndt ran the ball 26 yards and into the end zone to make it 34-20 Tornadoes with just 1:20 left in the game.
And as the seconds ticked down, it became clear that history had repeated itself with the YRHS Raiders falling in the Moose Jaw High School Football League championship game to the A.E. Peacock Tornadoes.
"The guys played tough. It was a heck of a good football game. I'm proud of all the guys, every single one of them," mentioned an emotional Sharpe immediately following the game. "They battled their hearts out and gave everything they had and to say I'm proud of these guys is an understatement."
Sharpe then commented on his team's inability to win a championship football game, losing in the last three seasons to the Tornadoes. "We're like the Buffalo Bills of the MJHSFL. Remember when the Bills went to the Super Bowl four times in a row and lost each time in the 90's? We're like that," joked Sharpe, continuing, "Yeah we didn't win the championship, but there were lean years at the Regional where we couldn't buy a win. So to make it to the league final three years in a row, sure it would be nice to win, but it's still hard to complain."
Controversy
"Let 'em play! Let the boys play!"
That's a quote from the football film made in the year 2000 that starred Denzel Washington titled 'Remember the Titans'.
But it could also be a quote taken from any of the Raider supporters that were at Gutheridge Field in Moose Jaw this past Saturday, because the Raiders seemed to get penalized far more often than their Tornado counterparts.
And while many were clearly penalties, some were not. Even more intriguing was the amount of non-calls against the Tornadoes; some seven holding calls and two face mask penalties, among others, that should have no doubt been called were instead casually ignored.
And then there were the official decisions.
Twice the Raiders had seemingly scored touchdowns, only to have the play either called back or ruled a turnover. Once in the third quarter on a phantom holding penalty that would have possibly made it 19-17 Raiders (18-17 without an extra point) and again in the fourth quarter when Raiders star running back Zach Kais appeared to cross the goal line to cut the Peacock lead to one (would have been 20-19) only to have the out of position officials deem that he fumbled on the two yard line with Peacock recovering.
"To have two touchdowns called back, it's mind blowing," offered a downtrodden Raider head coach Roby Sharpe after the game. "Two touchdowns called back at key times. If that doesn't happen, we win this football game.
"But it did and we didn't."
Domination in defeat
Sawyer Buettner and the A.E. Peacock Tornadoes may have won the game 34-20, but it's safe to say that they escaped with that title.
The Raiders, for all intents and purposes, really did outperform the Tornadoes for much of the game.
Grade 11 quarterback Nick Payne set a new MJHSFL playoff passing record, completing 20-of-26 passing attempts for 365 yards, 59 more than the previous record of 306 held by Vanier's Matt Stefanovic for a total of one week, as Stefanovic set the previous mark against Yorkton in the league semi-final match up on Saturday, October 25.
Payne's 20 completions is also a playoff record, once again knocking Stefanovic out of the top spot in the record books after one short week. "We always talk about Sawyer Buettner and how great a quarterback he is at Peacock," said Raider head coach Roby Sharpe. "Well Nick Payne is right there too as one of the top quarterbacks in the province and we're glad to have him for another season."
In fact Payne vastly outperformed Peacock's Buettner in every aspect of the quarterback position on Saturday, throwing for 168 more yards and completing 77% of his passes as compared to the 50% completion rate of Buettner.
However Payne can't take all the credit for outperforming Buettner. It was actually the Raider defensive front four that really aided Payne in outplaying the Team Canada quarterback. "Earl Langan, Talon Chupa, Jonny Muir, Riley McGill, our d-line was stellar," offered Sharpe, continuing, "They had a tough time handling our front four all game and although we lost they had pressure on Buettner all day long and he was limping around and taking shots all game.
"They really pressured him and made him uncomfortable."
Three year Raider veteran and graduating player Earl Langan echoed his coaches comments, but added that he and the rest of the defensive line were simply following the game plan, which included causing all sorts of trouble for Buettner. "That was our game plan coming in, keep hitting him," mentioned the 300-pound interior defensive lineman. "We just needed to get lots of pressure on this guy (Buettner). We knew he was the best quarterback in the country but we knew what we had to do.
"We had to make it tough for him and although we lost, we did."
