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There were good things in the Elecs most recent loss to a provincial 3A football powerhouse Saturday.
The Peacock Tornadoes defeated the ECS Elecs 76-22 in Moose Jaw High School Football League action, but the game was a much better played tilt both offensively and defensively than their 73-0 loss a week and a half ago to the Yorkton Raiders. The progress was something noted by players and coaches.
“Runs to the outside worked very well for us,” said running back Hunter Eagles. “We got some good blocking with the receivers, and then when we caught them off-guard with different snapcounts... it seemed to work.”
The effort was there in the loss, and the offence was able to create some scoring drives despite going down on the scoreboard early.
Moose Jaw's Payton Chow, always a tough receiver to play against, caught a 32-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage from Peacock quarterback Garrick Ward for a touchdown. Chow would have been in the end zone on the kickoff return had it not been for a blocking penalty.
The score was 34-0 after the first quarter, as Estevan preferred to go for it on third down instead of punting, giving Peacock fairly good field position early.
After a Jackson Woloschuk rushing touchdown made the game 41-0 Peacock, the Elecs snapped out of it with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Eagles from quarterback Rylan Erdelyan. The quarterback tossed a successful two-point conversion to Nigel Mack.
“It took us awhile to get going but eventually we had some success in the air and on the ground,” said Elecs head coach Mark Schott. “The defence started to make some plays and forced some turnovers.”
On their next offensive series, Erdelyan called his own number for a 26-yard touchdown run and a successful convert pass to Carter Davenport.
The Elecs forced three turnovers in the game, which teams generally don't do against the Tornadoes even in the time when the backups are on the field.
“We're definitely starting to pull stuff together and it's working out,” Eagles said.
“It's tough when you dig yourselves a 30- or 40-point hole, but it's nice that our guys continued to play hard and put up some points and had some success,” said Schott.
Confidence is an important part of their game as the Elecs head to their next pair of games to end the season.
“I think we should have a little bit of momentum,” Eagles said. “I think we could put up a good fight against Central.”
The team didn't quit compared to their 73-0 loss to Yorkton.
“We had a lot of talk about character and fighting through adversity over the last week and a half,” Schott said. “I think our guys showed that today. Regardless of the score, we need need to keep playing hard and execute our plays on both sides of the ball.”
The Elecs will close out their regular season next Tuesday (Oct. 10) in Swift Current.
