WEYBURN – Saturday saw the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Rural Football League start its playoffs with the semi-final, with the Weyburn Comp Eagles coming away with a decisive 45-21 win over the Moose Jaw Tornadoes to advance to the south finals.
In Moose Jaw, the Central Cyclones took on the Yorkton Raiders, where Yorkton came out for revenge after being shut out in the regular season by the Cyclones. At the half, the Raiders held a slim 8-6 lead but the Cyclones ruled the second half, taking the game 28-14.
In Weyburn, the Eagles came in as the No. 1 seed having a 5-0 record through the season, while the Tornados came off a tight win versus Swift Current last weekend to claim the No. 4 seed for the semi final.
After Weyburn controlled the opening kickoff, a first possession opening drive by the Eagles ended with a touchdown pass from Conner Kerr to Isaiah Sanderson to put the Eagles up 7-0.
A determined Tornado offense came out running and pushed the Eagle defense for a few first downs but ended in a punt situation as the Eagles got the ball back. Kerr put together a quick score drive ending in a Jarret Hayward 33-yard catch for the second score of the quarter to put the Eagles up 14-0 early.
A second strong defensive stand got the Eagles offense back on the field near the midfield stripe looking for more. This time the Tornado defense come up tough and the Eagles drive stalled at the 25, resulting in a field goal to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead.
The Tornados fell behind quick and had to change strategies a bit, and looked to the air more in the following series, but Chace Kradovill got his hand on a pass and Carson Baumgartner came away with an interception to give the Eagles back the ball.
The Eagles took to the ground and Owen Istace led the charge, finishing off with a touchdown on a seven-yard run to push the Eagles ahead 24-0 in the second quarter. The Eagles punched another in before half with Conner Kerr going for a 40-yard run down the sideline to cap off the scoring and gave the Eagles a commanding 31-0 lead going into the half.
The second half started with a Peacock possession, but the Eagles defense came up big and forced a punt. On the return, Maddox Taillon took it to the house and the Eagles extended their lead to 38-0.
The Eagles defense and offense looked a bit different on the next possessions as playing time and substitutions allowed some younger players some time to show their stuff. This sparked the Tornados and they engineered a couple of scoring drives in the third quarter to cut the lead to 38-14.
The Eagles offense struggled a bit to move the ball with some newer bodies on the field, but stayed composed as a young crew took the leadership role.
With Nolan Uhren as quarterback for the Eagles for the second half, he brought his crew together and led the charge with a few great runs. He connected with Asher Knox and capped off a drive with a Vaughn Wendle touchdown.
With the final horn sounding, a 45-21 Eagle win will send them to the League championship game for the third straight year. The Eagles will host the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28th at Darold Kot Field for the right to represent the league in the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Regional final versus the Regina champion.
Some of the key statistics for the game are as follows: In passing, Conner Kerr went four for five for 121 yards, and Nolan Uhren threw four for six for 45 yards.
In rushing, Owen Istace had seven carries for 72 yards; Conner Kerr had three carries for 44 yards; Markus Paquet had six carries for 36 yards, and Max Vennard had five carries for 30 yards. For receiving, Asher Knox had three catches for 80 yards.
On defense, Alex Junk led the way with seven tackles and a sack; Jarret Hayward had three tackles and an interception, and Chace Kradovill finished with one tackle, two QB sacks and a pass deflection.
