Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Crusaders improve to 2-0

Sep 14, 2016 | 10:32 AM

The John Paul II Crusaders followed up their big first week win last Thursday by narrowly defeating the Kindersley Kobras 29-20 on Tuesday afternoon.

Last year, the Crusaders beat the Kobras twice in the regular season by a combined point total of 57-24, but this game was much different.

It was a “really tight game, evenly matched,” Crusaders head coach Bruce Yockey. “Our defence played really well – we got a number of big stops when we needed to.”

It was a back and forth affair, with the Crusaders trailing by six, then leading by eight, then only leading by two late in the fourth at 22-20. But running back Jacob Stynsky sealed the deal with a touchdown in the final minute.

“We made big plays when we needed to,” Yockey said. “We marched the entire field on probably eight straight running plays. The line did a good job and [Jacob] Stynsky ran very hard.”

This was the first game of the season for Kindersley, making it a little tougher for the coaching staff to judge what effort they’d bring beforehand.

As it turned out, they stayed with John Paul II right until the end.

“Kindersley has got some good solid players there,” Yockey said. “They had one big fullback that, early in the game, was really hurting us. He was ripping off, eight, 10 yards a carry but we finally plugged the gaps and shut him down and then it was pretty even the rest of the way.”

With the Crusaders now sitting comfortably at 2-0, they are ready to face their first big test, as the next two games – both of which are at home – are against difficult opponents in the Martensville Royals and the Delisle Rebels.

Starting out undefeated though is extremely helpful because the Crusaders are a young squad.

“We graduated a lot of Grade 12’s, so for our guys that were in Grade 9 last year, now in Grade 10, it’s nice to get them some confidence,” Yockey explained. “Martensville and Delisle are two solid football teams so we have our work cut out for us.”

John Paul II will face Martensville first, at home on Sept. 22. Next up is Delisle, on Sept. 29, also at home.

 

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