MOOSE JAW - The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team lost 21-8 to the Moose Jaw Peacock Tornadoes on Saturday afternoon in Moose Jaw.
Estevan gave up two touchdowns in the first few minutes of the game, said coach Mark Schott, but from there, they played Moose Jaw evenly. The score at half time was 13-2.
“Our defence forced a safety after making a big tackle for a loss, and pinning Peacock at their own five. So Peacock took a knee when they sent out their punter,” said Schott.
The defence also accounted for the Elecs lone touchdown. They forced a fumble on a sack, and J.T. Schrader scooped up the ball and ran it back 40 yards for a touchdown.
The offence struggled to get anything going, Schott said. They did have a couple of big plays, but couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone.
Schott noted that Lucas Rooks, who has been Estevan’s starting running back this season, suffered a broken ankle the week before in the a against Moose Jaw Vanier, and will miss the rest of the season. Luis Tusoy came on in relief and played fairly well, but the team found out the day before the Peacock game that Tusoy is moving away.
“We had Friday’s practice to try to sort out our running back personnel, and we had … Daniel Armstrong in at running back. He played decent. He had a nice big run for us, I think a 40-yard run,” said Schott.
The Elecs will look at some options for running back, but Armstrong deserves credit for stepping in on 24 hours notice.
Estevan’s next game is Oct. 16 against Moose Jaw Central – the strongest of the three Moose Jaw programs. They opened the season with convincing wins over Vanier and Peacock, but suffered close losses to Yorkton and Weyburn.
“They have a high-octane offence, and so our defence has been the strength of our team, so we’re definitely going to be tested there,” said Schott.