The YRHS Raiders senior boys' football team did what they do best on Saturday, October 18 at Yorkton's Century Field: win.
The Raiders ran roughshod over a hapless Estevan Elecs squad, scoring three first half touchdowns, two by star running back Zach Kais and another by Darius Haberstock, to take a 21-6 lead into halftime.
The Raiders continued to pile on points in the second half, amassing 532 yards of total offence (342 rushing, 190 passing) throughout the game while adding four more touchdowns, two by Kolby Lang and one each by Greg Dutchak and Kais for a 49-6 final.
Kais once again led the Raiders offensively, running for 196 yards on 17 carries and picking up another 103 yards on six catches.
Caleb Bymak also did well in limited action, rushing the ball four times for 35 yards and hauling down two catches for 23 yards.
Quarterback Nick Payne completed 15-of-28 passes for 190 yards and one interception in the Raiders victory. Payne also scampered for 54 yards on just five carries, averaging over 10 yard per rush.
Chilean import kicker Matias Castillo was once again perfect on the day, adding seven points to the Raiders final score via conversions.
Following the game Raiders head coach Roby Sharpe said that while his team didn't overlook Estevan, they fully expected to win convincingly. "We didn't look past them that's for sure because there's that old saying, 'any given Sunday any team can beat any other team', now I know it's not Sunday, but we still didn't look past them," offered Sharpe, continuing, "But we expected to beat them like we did last time."
Sharpe then commented on the fact that, while the Raiders sights are set on the League Championship, they aren't looking past their semi-final opponent, the Vanier Vikings. "Vanier has some good coaches there so we know it'll be a battle," offered the Raider bench boss, adding that his team will sit down and review film on Vanier sometime during the week leading up to the game. "Obviously our sites are set on the City Championship but we still have to take it one game at a time.
"We don't want to get caught looking ahead and overlook the team we're playing."
Next action
The YRHS Raiders will be in action this Saturday at 2:00p.m. when they welcome the Vanier Vikings to town for MJHSFL semi-final action.
The Vikings upset Weyburn 23-16 in their first round game. Yorkton shutout Vanier 29-0 in their only meeting of the season back on Saturday, September 13 in Moose Jaw.
