For the first half of their South 5A 12-Man Rural Football League game against the Yorkton Raiders on Saturday afternoon, the Peacock Tornadoes looked like they might have something going.
While they weren’t putting up a lot of points, their defence was finding a way to get things done, and the Tornadoes went into the half holding an 8-6 lead against the perennial league title contenders.
Then the second half happened, and oh boy.
Yorkton’s offence began to click and then click some more, until 47 points were up on the board, 41 of those in the second 24 minutes.
All told, it ended up as a 47-8 loss, but one that Toilers head coach Bert Redstone could see plenty of positives from.
“Yorkton is good, the usual thing,” Redstone said. “We brought it and we kind of punched them in the mouth in the first half and stuck it to them. Then in the second half, they kind of counterpunched and we had some mental mistakes and guys just got tired. That’s just how she played out, it just fell apart on us.”
The Tornadoes had opted to go with a veteran line-up from the opening whistle to the final play, and that led to a steady wear down that the Raiders were able to take advantage of.
Redstone pointed to Yorkton’s vaunted double tight-end set as an example of how things went.
“The first half we had things figured out and we stopped them, then in the second they came out and got a couple quick touchdowns off it,” he said. “Then they started bombing the ball over us and the points started adding up.”
It certainly didn’t help that they lost standout linebacker, offensive lineman, special teams player and punter Brady Ross to injury during the contest, leading to a less experienced youngsters having to step into that role.
The Toilers’ veterans did their absolute best to keep things close while going both ways, but with Yorkton featuring more depth and an ability to rotate players in on a regular basis, things began to degenerate as things progressed.
“A guy like Malcolm Hunter, he’s playing slot receiver, middle linebacker and every special team. So in the first half he was flying around and making plays, in the second half he could barely breath,” Redstone said. “Then we had to start making substitutions with our younger guys, and they just kept putting up points.”
Even with how things turned out, Redstone pointed to how close things were in the first half as a sign of what could come as the Tornadoes vets gain more stamina through onfield reps -- especially once the playoffs hit.
“We want to be top four, get into the playoffs, and then with our best guys having played all season and being in great shape, we’ll see how long we can hold a game,” Redstone said. “That’s the goal right now… it’s the goal to improve every game and we’ll see what happens.”
The Tornadoes are back in action this week in one of the most anticipated games of the year -- a Friday Night Lights showdown with the Central Cyclones, who took a 52-7 win over Swift Current in their opener Saturday.
That contest kicks off at 8:15 p.m., immediately after the Conference 2 Nine-Man League season-opening game between the Vanier Vikings and Lumsden Devils at 6 p.m.
