The YRHS Raiders senior football team stormed out of the gates in 2014, destroying the Estevan Elecs 72-6 at home before shutting out the Vanier Vikings 29-0 on the road at Moose Jaw's Gutheridge Field.
Now the Raiders are in the middle of a bye week; which may just be one of the most dangerous 'opponents' on their entire 2014 schedule.
Because the bye week has been the destroyer of momentum for many a team before them, from Pop Warner and high school football through to the NCAA, CIS and professional ranks.
But the Raiders, or rather the Raider coaching staff, are fully aware of that. So instead of taking it easy and letting the time flow by without a care, the Raider brass are using this time to work on fine tuning their game ahead of next weekend's showdown with league rival Weyburn. "This bye week is a time where we'll fine tune the little things that we need to fix up and make corrections on stuff that we saw on film," mentioned Raiders offensive coordinator Jason Boyda. "We had a really hard time going on three the last little while where we'd take a few procedure calls so we have to fix up what we call our Omaha and Tennessee calls."
Boyda also mentioned that he will be installing a new offensive formation, codename 'Beast', into the already potent Raider offence. "Our new formation, Beast, will definitely work to our strengths," stated Boyda. "This will really allow us to take advantage of the size we have with our offensive line and control the opposing defence easily."
But while the majority of the Raiders are busying working on their game, a handful of them are busy working on their health.
First year Raider Greg Dutchak, out with a shoulder injury, is looking to be involved in Saturday's game in Weyburn, while defensive lineman Talon Chupa is simply hoping to get ahead of schedule while recovering from a broken hand.
Friendly rivalry
It's all too common for two high school teams to have a heated and hated rivalry with one another.
What's not common, however, is two high school teams having a friendly rivalry with each other, especially when those two teams have met in very important games over the past decade.
But that's exactly what the YRHS Raiders and Weyburn Eagles have: a friendly rivalry. "We respect those guys over there (Weyburn)," offered Boyda. "The coaching staff are a bunch of good guys and we have a good friendship with them."
In fact the friendship between the two coaching staffs is so good that when Weyburn considered leaving the Regina Intercollegiate Football League (RIFL) for the Moose Jaw High School Football League (MJHSFL) in 2012 Yorkton decided to join them. "Basically what happened was we were kind of joined at the hip with them (Weyburn)," offered Boyda, continuing, "We really valued their decision so we basically said 'if you guys are leaving then we're with you'.
"We did that because of the good rivalry we have with them and the good friendship we have with them over there."
So in 2012 both the Raiders and Eagles joined the MJHSFL, bringing with them a friendly rivalry and one of the strangest mid-season bowl games in Canadian football: the Toilet Bowl. "It's almost a little inside joke as we're good friends with the guys over there but what it is, is the losing team gets a toilet bowl as a trophy and it has to stay in their school for the year as a reminder that they lost to the superior team," mentioned Boyda, adding that for the last three years the superior team has been the one that wears orange and white.
Boyda hopes the Raiders will continue their recent trend of handing the Toilet Bowl to the Eagles this season, however he is aware that it won't be that easy, especially with how well both teams tend to match up against one another. "They're big, we're big. Weyburn has done a great job with their program," suggested Boyda, noting that two of the top CFL offensive linemen, Brendon LaBatte and Brett Jones, came from Weyburn. "They also have good farm kids and their offensive line is coached up really well.
"We've got good farm kids, big and strong kids and our offensive line is coached up really well so it makes for a good trench battle between both teams."
Next action
The next edition of the Toilet Bowl will be this Saturday when the YRHS Raiders (2-0) take on the Weyburn Eagles (2-1) in Weyburn on Saturday, September 27. Kickoff is set for 2:00p.m.
