Skip to content

Chargers lose to Argos with 13 players

To say the Estevan Century 21 Chargers were shorthanded on Saturday would be an understatement. The peewee football team took the field for their season opener with only 13 players, and lost to 38-0 the Grenfell Argos. "The kids played amazing.


To say the Estevan Century 21 Chargers were shorthanded on Saturday would be an understatement.

The peewee football team took the field for their season opener with only 13 players, and lost to 38-0 the Grenfell Argos.

"The kids played amazing. We were outnumbered two to one. They had 30 kids and we only had 15 kids. Out of those, two weren't able to play, so we had 13 kids," said Chargers head coach Paul Duncan.

The team has upwards of 20 players registered, but Duncan said some players were on vacation.

He said the team's work ethic was strong on Saturday.

"The kids did extremely well for having to play two-way football. They gave it their all, so no complaints there.

"The kids were in the right spots at the right times when they needed to be, but there was just not enough gas left in that tank, having to play two ways," he said.

"It definitely puts a wrinkle into the game plan. We hope to have more kids coming out for our home opener (on Saturday against the Regina Rams), which will definitely help."

The Chargers' offence wasn't able to move the ball much, although Duncan said quarterback Shanelle Rioux and Rylan Trobert had strong games.

He said there was "a lack of being able to control the ball on the offensive side, to be able to control the clock a bit more. All things we look forward to working on more in practice, along with blocking schemes for the offensive line.

"They had a lot of pressure on us early on, so trying to get the running game going didn't quite work as well as we hoped. We're going to focus on the offensive line. We had a lot of new kids to the offensive line, kids who haven't played there before, so it's going to be a steep learning curve for them, but the kids we have are great and we should be able to pick it up."

Despite giving up 38 points, Duncan was happy with his team's defence, especially considering how hard they had to work with only 13 kids.

"The defence was lights out. There was a lot of good work there, especially from Jonathan Swirsky and Jonah Bachorcik," he said.

"We hope with better numbers, that'll translate into a win. I can guarantee you that our kids are probably the most conditioned kids in Regina Minor Football."

The team's home opener on Saturday will be played at 1:30 p.m. at Dana Quewezance Memorial Field.