The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team wrapped up the 2019 regular season with a 55-26 loss to the Swift Current Colts Friday in Swift Current.
Coach Mark Schott said the Elecs had a tough start, and they never recovered. They were down 13-0 after the first quarter and 34-0 at one point in the second quarter before Jonah Bachorcik finally put the Elecs on the board with a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining in the first half.
Swift Current added 21 more points in the third quarter for a 55-6 lead, but the Elecs responded with all 20 points in the fourth quarter, with Bachorcik scoring twice and Kaleb Bechtold scoring once.
Bachorcik ran for 211 yards in the game.
Schott was pleased with how the Elecs responded in the second half. They struggled to execute offensively in the first half.
“In the second half, we came out with a lot more energy, and we were able to execute and put up some points. It was nice that we responded in the second half, it just would have been nice if we played the full four quarters.”
The defence had a really good game, despite the score, as they spent a lot of time on the field in the first half and often had to defend a short field against the Colts.
They stopped the Colts on a couple of third down gambles and forced the Colts to a couple of two-and-out situations.
James Knibbs had an interception in the first half as well.
“There’s only so much they can do when they’re on the field for that long,” said Schott.
Swift Current has a quarterback who throws the ball well, Schott said, along with a couple of really good receivers and some good athletic defenders.
The Moose Jaw High School Football League, which includes the Elecs, has a new playoff format for this year. The top four teams will be in Tier 1, while the bottom three teams, including ECS, are in Tier 2. Estevan finished sixth with a 1-5 record.
The Elecs will host the Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings in a Tier 2 semifinal Friday night at the Woodlawn Athletic Field, starting at 7 p.m.
ECS blanked the Vikings 35-0 during the regular season.
“It’s nice when you can experience some success against a team, but aside from that game giving us home field advantage for the playoff game, anything else that really happened in that game gets wiped out,” said Schott.
It will be the Elecs first playoff home game since 2011, and the first time they have had a playoff game at Woodlawn Athletic Field. The game in 2011 was played at ECS, since the Woodlawn field was damaged by the Souris River flood of 2011.
The winner of that game will visit Moose Jaw Peacock the following week.
