Not a lot went right Friday afternoon for the YRHS Raider senior football team, and the few things that did go right don't ever show up on the scoreboard.
Head coach Roby Sharpe said after the game that it gets harder and harder to talk about games that went the way this one did.
"The defence looked awesome," he said at halftime, when his Yorkton Raider senior football team trailed visiting Luther College by a score of 6-3.
Then everything went south.
Tyler Nagy was huge throughout the game after recording multiple hits and quarterback sacks. Michael Nagy was named the official player of the game, albeit in a losing cause, given the Game Helmet by Sharpe, following a 20-3 loss to open the 2010 Regina Intercollegiate Football League season-opening loss to Luther.
Everything was just fine going into the half, Luther opened the scoring on an early touchdown as Yorkton defenders missed their tackles. Coach Sharpe said it was one they shouldn't have been able to get. Late in the half, Luther fumbled the football on their own 12-yard line on a third-down-and-inches, setting up Yorkton with their best field position. YRHS also continued their ability to block field goal and convert attempts.
Both Luther majors came off of rushing yards of 18 and 10 yards and they made good on both accompanying converts.
Yorkton's Michael Nagy also had a quarterback sack late in the third quarter and a teammate got one off the next play.
He said after the game he expects himself to come up with big plays like that and the fact YRHS lost the game made it hard to feel good about making those plays.
"It's still hard," he said outside the team locker room inside the YRHS. He said one of his hits put the Luther quarterback of of play for awhile.
"I'm just doing my 1/12 part," he said with a small grin. He said it's good to have more guys out now that school has started, but he says the team is going to "need some breaks" to get itself back on track.Nagy finished the home opener with a pair of quarterback sacks to go with two fumble recoveries.Coach Sharpe said it never gets easy talking about games that somehow got away.
"Oh yeah," he said right away. "It should have been 3-0 going into the half."
"He had him in his grasp," he said of the last Yorkton tackler who missed the Luther ball carrier who danced into the end zone for the game's first touchdown.
"We're a young team. It's frustrating after a game like that. We have to (find some way) to get the offence going."
"We were beating them in the first half."
Sharpe has a few weapons at his disposal this year, and he hopes they all come out to play next Saturday when YRHS travels to Weyburn for a date with one of the strongest teams from last year. He said the practice schedule for the team was scheduled to begin yesterday after school and they will likely take advantage of today and tomorrow before departing Yorkton Friday.
