The Estevan Steelers remain winless through four games, but gave the home crowd a few things to cheer about during a 27-7 loss to the Regina Renegades on Saturday.
The bantam team's lone touchdown came in the third quarter on a one-yard plunge by Kaleb Memory.
Estevan had manufactured a lengthy drive, one of several on the afternoon, before facemask and unnecessary roughness calls on the Renegades took the ball to the one-yard line.
"Our offence played great. (In) 30-degree heat, marching it down the field like that was just great," said Steelers head coach Preston Majeran.
The Steelers flirted with the red zone several other times, including a drive in the first quarter that saw a 40-yard run by Noah Kocoy come back on a holding call.
They also pieced together a drive late in the fourth that died with a turnover on downs at the Regina 30.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Renegades burst loose for three majors in the second. The only bright spot for the Steelers was a blocked convert on the second touchdown. That gave the Renegades a 20-0 lead at the half.
Memory's touchdown came with 2:22 to play in the third quarter.
Regina added another major in garbage time on a three-yard run with 31 seconds left in the game.
The Steelers had recovered a fumble off a bad Regina pitch at the Estevan 19 earlier in the quarter.
Majeran said he was impressed with his defensive line, which produced a sack in Saturday's game.
"We finally got some pressure on the quarterback. We're just going to have to do a little work on our pass defence and our tackling and see where we go from there."
Majeran identified tackling and blocking assignments as the two major areas his players need to work on.
The Steelers are home to the Regina Dinos on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m.
Estevan will also play an exhibition game on Sept. 28 against Notre Dame's bantam program. The team attracted only 24 players this year and had to drop out of the league.
"We thought it'd be a nice little thing to let them come down and play with us. Hopefully that'll bring some exposure to them so they can get some more players out next year," Majeran said.
