For the second straight week, the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team came out with a strong effort, but were just a little bit short.
ECS lost 34-26 to the host Weyburn Comprehensive School Eagles on Friday night in Weyburn. Coach Mark Schott noted it was a milestone for both teams, as it was the first time either had played under the lights on a Friday night.
New lights were installed in Weyburn to make that possible.
“It was a unique, memorable experience for everybody involved,” said Schott. “It was fun to play under the night, and it was a full moon that gave a unique background to the game.”
Estevan has lights at its field at the Woodlawn Athletic Park, but the distance that teams have to travel to get to Estevan makes it difficult to play games on Friday nights. The Elecs have had games under the lights on Saturdays.
Schott said the Elecs played better than in the opening week, when they lost at home to the Moose Jaw Peacock Tornadoes.
“We had success on both sides of the football. The defence made some big stops, and the game was tight when we still had a chance to tie it … late in the fourth quarter.”
Offensively they connected on some big passing plays from quarterback Kaleb Bechtold to receiver Nigel Mack, while running back Jonah Bachorcik rattled off some big runs.
Mack scored all four of the Elecs touchdowns, and finished with seven receptions for 142 yards.
Bechtold went 11 of 18 for 185 yards passing with the four touchdowns and two interceptions. Bachorcik wound up with 133 yards rushing on 14 attempts.
Defensively they forced a fumble and limited the Eagles to 300 yards of total offence.
“We’re definitely moving in the right direction. We played well against Peacock in Week 1, but we played significantly better against Weyburn. We’re making progress.”
ECS scored late in the second quarter to take a 13-7 lead, but Weyburn responded with a major of their own late in the first half to lead 14-13 at half-time.
In the third quarter, the Eagles had the only major to lead 21-13 after three frames, and they added another score early in the fourth to go up 28-13 before the Elecs started their comeback.
The Elecs will have their bye week this coming week, and then they will visit the Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings on Sept. 28.
“We need to shore up our offensive line blocking and some coverage on defence, but there weren’t any major breakdowns or anything like that,” Schott said.
