Halfway through the second quarter, the Estevan Century 21 Chargers were very much in it against the Regina South Griffins.
The game quickly unravelled for them after that en route to a 52-0 loss on Sunday.
The peewee Chargers (0-4) got a strong effort from their defence early on, trailing only 6-0. That score held well into the second quarter.
That all changed in a hurry, however, with the Griffins striking for three touchdowns in the final six minutes of the half, including a pair of passing majors that went for 20 and 30 yards, respectively.
As a result, the Griffins had a 27-0 lead at the end of the first half.
Chargers head coach Paul Duncan said the defence was doing its job properly in the early going.
"The defence was doing a fantastic job. They were in the right lanes, watching their responsibilities and playing aggressively, which was exactly what we wanted them to do."
With only 20 players, however, he said having to play on both sides of the ball eventually caught up with them.
"With the number of players they had, they were able to expose some downturn of play. It slowed down, is what it was. The kids were going up against (being outnumbered two to one) here. It was a hot day. They gave it their all, but it's tough to play two-way football."
The Chargers made some big plays defensively, including several sacks.
"We had some stellar highlights on the defensive side of the game. There were a lot of really good plays by Caleb Reetz. Jordan Bachorcik was able to strip a ball from an opposing player and took off with it for a bit of a return," said Duncan.
On the other hand, the offence wasn't able to get a lot going against the Griffins.
"Our offence had some good plays too, but they sputtered throughout the game. That's something we'll be focusing on this upcoming week.
"The offence needed a little bit more push in the game. A second here for blocking, maybe a second faster getting out of their stance. The quickness of execution needs to increase a little bit and that's on me as a coach to make sure we can establish that."
The Chargers were playing four short of a full roster, and three players were missing. Duncan said it "seems to be a revolving door" of players at this point.
Estevan's next game is on Sunday, when they visit the Regina Thunder. The team will be busy in practice this week.
"As long as we have the appropriate amount of players, I'd like to incorporate a bit of a passing game to hopefully keep the defences on their heels a bit more."
