The Estevan Century 21 U12 Chargers suffered their second loss of the season, dropping a 32-25 decision to the host Weyburn Eagles on Saturday.
Coach Matt Schell said the Chargers played very well defensively, forced a lot of turnovers, ran the ball very effectively and played a solid, all-round game.
But for the second straight game, they struggled early.
“We seem to have a little bit of problems getting started in these games. We seem to fall behind, and then we seem to have to play catch-up, which is something we’re going to address this week,” said Schell.
Cooper Pukas accounted for two touchdowns for the second straight week and Truman Ciepliski notched a couple of majors as well. Ciepliski stepped in after Pukas went down with an injury.
Schell noted three of the majors were at least 50-yard runs.
Payton Tendler also delivered some very good plays despite slippery conditions due to rain.
“This is a very good football team. Weyburn were the champions last year, and we took them right to the line. Last possession we had the ball and we were marching and unfortunately we just came up a little bit short.”
He also stressed the defence is playing great, as he believes they forced six turnovers during the game.
The Chargers will have their home opener on Sept. 14 at Woodlawn Athletic Park against the Moose Jaw Lions, starting at 2 p.m.
As for the Estevan Lions Club bantam Oilers, they made strides from the previous week, according to coach Paul Duncan, but still lost 47-0 to the Weyburn Falcons. The Oilers were down 40-0 at half-time.
“We made some adjustments in the second half for defence and we were able to stifle them a little bit. The kids had a better effort level than what we had previously in Moose Jaw the week before, so we’re building off of that,” said Duncan.
Estevan will need to be better at controlling the offensive and defensive lines, he said.
“At the end of the day, we have to pick up our socks and come ready to play some football and go out there and impose our will against other teams.”
They also threw some passing plays into their offensive scheme against Weyburn.
Their next game will be their home opener on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. against the Moose Jaw Vikings at Woodlawn Athletic Park.
