Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Crusaders offence struggles against Kobras in season opener

Sep 8, 2017 | 10:00 AM

It was neck and neck throughout, but in the end, the John Paul II Crusaders senior football team couldn’t quite hold on in their season opener against the visiting Kindersley Kobras, falling 18-7.

Young running back Decklan Wychopen picked up a fumble and ran one into the endzone late in the fourth quarter to give the home side a 7-6 lead, but the Kobras responded with two late touchdowns of their own to hand the Crusaders a loss in their opening week.

“Probably the big thing is we’re just not quite ready to play a regular season game yet,” Crusaders head coach Bruce Yockey said of his team. “We’ve got a lot of young guys. We’re probably playing a half dozen Grade 9s out there, and regularly. So they need a little more time. We were really really rough, especially on offence.”

With just the one score, it’s not surprising that Yockey said his offence needs work.

But he said he’s sure it will come with time.

“It’s a lot of timing and things like that, so it’ll come around,” Yockey said.

Despite giving up the late touchdowns, Yockey was pleased with his defence.

He also said they were on the field too often, which goes back to the offence not being able to find a rhythym.

“I was really happy with the way the defence played,” Yockey said. “They held us in there. Really, if we hadn’t have thrown the interception [in the first half], it should have been 0-0 at half. They were playing well. We needed to get them off the field a little more. Just offensively we really struggled.”

 

 

There were flashes of strong play from many of the Grade 9s, particularly Hunter Priddle, who had two interceptions, and could have had three.

Yockey also singled out linebacker Latrell Fulston and Wychopen as guys who impressed on Thursday.

“Some good players for sure, it’s just they’re going to have to mature a bit, quickly,” Yockey said. “We’re going to learn some lessons this year but we’ll be better for it.”

The Crusaders will play on the road for their next two games, first in Martensville next Friday and then in Unity the following Friday.

The first step in improving their offence will be going over some game tape from Thursday to see some examples of what wasn’t working and why.

“It’ll be good for them to see themselves on video for sure,” Yockey said. “There were all kinds of mistakes. And just things you’re not going to be able to correct in-game.

“It’s not going to get any easier. Martensville is traditionally really phyiscal. They like to just pound the ball. So it’ll be another good test for us next week. We just need to get better executing. Big time.”

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11