The YRHS senior boys football team closed their debut season in the Moose Jaw High School Football League with a 42-12 win over the Estevan Elecs at Century Field last Tuesday.
The game went from warm to cold awfully fast, but according to Regional head coach Roby Sharpe, that didn't cause them any problems.
Heavy snow fell near the end of the second half with the YRHS up by a 28-6 score.
"The weather's going to be our friend," he said after the game, also answering the question regarding possible weather conditions.
Against Estevan four days earlier (Tuesday), YRHS got on the scoreboard early as both teams had trouble holding onto the football early.
Both teams turned the ball over in the first quarter but Estevan did it again on the one-yard line which gave Yorkton a first down going the other way.
Sharpe said it was no surprise.
"We work on stripping the ball all the time. It was nice to see."
The YRHS ended the first half with a collection of touchdowns. Quarterback Dalton Fichtner threw for one and ran for one; Layne Hull was the recipient of the team's first score, a 35-yard pass and the special teams unit added the single, to go up 7-0.
After a pair of fumbles both ways, Estevan would tie the game with 4:13 left in the first quarter.
A couple minutes later, Tyson Haas broke two tackles to find the end zone from 15 yards out while Ryan Krochak found Michael Balysky for a two-point conversion, before Fichtner ran for the last major score of the first quarter.
Following the game, Sharpe said he thinks that Estevan should be a much stronger team when the teams get together for a re-match in the playoffs (see related story on Page C1 of the Sports Section).
"They're going to be a different team come Saturday. We have to be ready."
The YRHS team has completed the regular season with a record of 5-1 and the idea of the Raiders contending for a league championship has already begun to sunk in.
The attitude amongst the coaching staff is that they have a team that could do it.
"Yeahobviously," responds Sharpe to the question.
Other teams vying for contention include the three Moose Jaw schools (CCI, Peacock and Vanier), as well as Estevan and Weyburn.
From Tuesday's win over Estevan, RB Zach Kais went down with a lower body injury and Haas was forced to step in.
In the second half, Estevan got one back, but David Balysky rushed for a touchdown before Hull picked up his second rushing major from nearly midfield to cap the scoring.
