MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- The Central Cyclones have won the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Rural Football League championship.
The Cyclones put together one of their most complete performances of the season to take a 32-7 victory over the Balgonie Greenall Griffins at Leibel Field in Regina on Saturday afternoon.
The victory gives Central their first SRFL title since 2007 and sees the local squad now advance to face Saskatoon 5A champion Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney next Saturday in Saskatoon.
“It was a massive team win, everyone was playing for everybody,” said Central head coach Colin Belsher. “I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have better teams in the past, but this team has a different feel to it. They’re playing for each other and know that everyone has to contribute to find success and they’ve bought into that lunchpail-type attitude where everyone has to work to be successful… When that stuff happens, the results happen that you’re looking for.”
Central scored all their points through the air as Grade 9 quarterback Traeten Potvin had another stellar game behind centre. Standout receiver Keaton Belsher was his target for the first two majors in the first half, with Sidney Nancarrow and Donovan Harkness adding receiving touchdowns in the second half. Ciaran McCulloch tacked on a field goal late in the first half as Central took a 17-7 lead into the break.
Considering it was only the second start at pivot for Potvin since taking over from senior Wyatt Craik, the results have been outstanding.
“The kids are really rallying around him,” Belsher said. “We don’t look at him as a Grade 9, we’re really treating him as another player on the team, and that’s a pretty key position at quarterback. One of the best traits for Traeten is he sees what was practiced and what we prepped for and he just goes out and does.
“From the start of the season to now, it was just a matter of getting used to the pace of high school football compared to minor football, getting the arm strength as the season went on.
It was a tough decision to make with our starting quarterback being in Grade 12, but I think it’s worked out for the best.”
While the passing game picked up the points, those opportunities likely wouldn’t have come without running back Kayden Nightingale chewing up over 100 yards on the ground and getting the ball into a position where Potvin could strike.
“Kayden was an absolute man out there,” lauded Belsher. “A lot of really tough yards, he had some really big first downs that helped us control the clock and field position.”
And then there was the defence.
The Cyclones were without two of their standout linebackers in the regular-season loss to Balgonie -- Tanner Duncan was away competing in a rodeo and Ben Barth had suffered a broken wrist in the week leading up -- but both were in the line-up Saturday. Barth even ‘clubbed up’ and opted to play the game with a cast on his broken wrist.
It all led to as complete a defensive showing as Central could have hoped for, especially against the Griffins’ lethal offence.
“Having both those guys back in the mix made a huge difference, because our defence was amazing,” Belsher said. “They played lights out and it was just one of those games where you knew the defence was always going to come up big with a stop. Our defensive line played awesome, our DBs were great and it was definitely a whole team effort.”
Now the attention turns to Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney, with the teams meeting in the SHSAA provincial semifinal on Saturday afternoon in Saskatoon. A win there will see Central host the provincial final against either Prince Albert Carlton or Regina Johnson on Saturday Nov. 12 at Gutheridge Field.
“That would be huge,” Belsher said. “We’ll exchange film with Bishop Mahoney and go over some things and look for weaknesses and they’ll do the same, and hopefully we can come away with the win next weekend.”
Bishop Mahoney advanced to the semifinal with a 42-6 win in the Saskatoon 5A city final, while Carlton downed Martensville 40-22 in the North Saskatchewan League title game and Johnson took a 44-3 win over Thom in the Regina 5A city final.
