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Crusaders get set for Kobras

Sep 12, 2016 | 5:00 PM

The John Paul II Crusaders are coming off a 36-12 season opening win last Thursday, and they are now getting set to face off against the Kindersley Kobras on the road on Tuesday afternoon.

With only five days off between the two games, the team had a short of week of practice.

Head coach Bruce Yockey said he’s keeping the team out of full gear in practice, and instead focusing on film sessions. The team only plans on making minor adjustments.

“Anytime you go into another team’s home field, it will be tougher,” Yockey said. “They’ve had an extra week to prepare for us. It will be a good test.”

The Crusaders played Kindersley twice last season, beating them 23-4 in September and 34-21 in October. Those wins helped the team finish the 2015 season with a 4-3 record where they subsequently topped Esterhazy to make it to the provincial semi-finals. They ended up losing to Melfort in the semis, 45-14.

This year “I think our goal, first and foremost, is we would like to get out of our conference in playoffs,” Yockey said. “Our conference traditionally is probably the strongest, I think, top to bottom in the province. So if we get out of our conference, then everything after that is bonus.”

The Crusaders graduated a significant number of seniors last year, but Yockey said the effect hasn’t been influential.

“We actually had Grade 9 players last year playing substantial minutes so the loss of the Grade 12’s probably hasn’t been as big as we first thought,” Yockey said. “Going from nine to 10 is a big year, [a] big jump. The players get bigger and stronger. They’re still young but they’ve got the experience football wise.”

The Crusader’s running game, led by senior Jacob Stynsky, was phenomenal in Thursday’s win.

Stynsky ran for three touchdowns, including a 40-yard dash down the sideline to put the game out of reach.

Yockey said keeping up that running game will be a key going forward.

“If we’re running and we can get six, seven, eight yards a carry, I mean that just sets things up much better. Then you have all kinds of options on second down,” he said. “If you’re sitting at second-and-seven or second-and-eight, then that kind of forces you into the passing game, which kind of allows the defence to get the upper hand.”

One area he’s hoping the team improves on for tomorrow doesn’t actually fall on the players themselves.

In Thursday’s game “we had little bit of trouble – and this falls on us as a coaching staff – just swapping player personnel in and out at times,” Yockey said. “We’ll be better tomorrow for sure.”

The addition of defensive lineman Adam Fransoo should also help big time.

Fransoo missed week one because of a viral infection, but coach Yockey said the team’s best defensive lineman can’t wait to get into the action.

“He’ll be back and he’s ready to go,” Yockey said. “He’s itching to get into a game. We expect big things from Adam.”

Yockey also said Andrew Pyle should be an impact player this season. The coaching staff has used him at linebacker, fullback and offensive end, so his versatility is huge.

The game in Kindersley is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

 

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11