The way things were going for the Moose Jaw Lions in the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football Under-12 league final on Saturday night at Elk's Field, it would have been easy to just shrug their shoulders at halftime and say it wasn’t their night.
The defending champion Estevan Chargers were moving the ball exceptionally well, taking advantage of every mistake the Lions made and as a result had staked themselves to a 26-6 lead heading into the break.
But Steven MacAulay’s crew went undefeated in the regular season for a reason -- they don’t quit. And a quick-strike touchdown on the first play of the third quarter made things interesting. A long fumble return a few minutes later made things dramatic. And wouldn’t you know it, the Lions would score their third major of the half late in the fourth quarter to tie the game 26-26.
That set the stage for overtime, with the two teams solving nothing.
Finally, each team scrimmaged from the five yard line, with the Lions scoring on a run to the right side on their possession. One defensive stop later, and the celebration was on for one of the biggest comebacks in league championship history -- the Lions had come all the way back for a 28-26 win.
“We were able to get the one score before the half and after that we played lights out on defence, we absolutely overcame all of our first-half problems on offence and started putting points on the board,” MacAulay said shortly after his crew’s raucous celebration calmed down. “It was intense and everything you want in a good football game, with the comeback from the early lead and that kind of stuff. It was a good overtime win, it’s great.”
Interestingly enough, the Lions didn’t change a thing at halftime despite their deficit. It was just a matter of going out and doing what had staked them to a 6-0 record through the regular season and rolling from there.
“We just told the guys to calm down and play like they have all season,” MacAulay said. “We went the whole season undefeated, we haven’t had that many points scored on us all year so all you have to do is overcome all those little jitters and problems and do your job, and they all did. We didn’t change anything, just ran the stuff we’d run all season and we did it 100 per cent effectively in the second half.”
MacAulay pointed to the touchdown right after halftime as a major shift in the action -- all of a sudden the Lions were down by only two scores and had life.
“You want to call a TSN Turning Point, that was it,” he said. “Basically that touchdown started to push our offence and let our defence know we can do this, we can win this. It boosted the whole team morale and once your morale is through the roof you can become unstoppable.”
To say the least, the Lions coaching staff was exceptionally proud of their troops, with MacAulay even going so far as to label the crew one of the best he’d ever worked with.
“Individually I’ve coached some great players over the years, but this has been one of the best complete teams I’ve ever coached,” he said. “They all play with intensity and so much heart and passion for the game and it’s great to have a group of players like that."
