And sure enough, the contest ended up as a hard-fought battle between two teams on a rebuilding path.
In the end, the Tornadoes emerged with a 21-6 win, marking the first victory of the season for Peacock and another solid step forward for Vanier.
Things were close from start to finish, as Peacock’s Josh Johnson scored the game’s first major with 5:56 remaining in the first quarter. It would be the first of three touchdowns on the day for the Tornadoes running back, as he’d add another one-yard plunge before the half was out and add some key insurance points with another goalline dive with five minutes remaining.
The Vikings, meanwhile, managed to stay in touch with the Tornadoes all game, finally breaking through when Hudson Tallon scored on a one-yard run of his own with 2:36 to play in the third quarter.
Johnson finished the game with 12 carries for 51 yards, while Braxton Hooper had 10 carries for 115 yards to lead Peacock’s rushing attack. All told, the Tornadoes rolled up 286 yards of their 362 yards on the day on the ground.
Keaton Doerksen was 4-for-13 passing for 76 yards for Peacock; Kevin Martin had their longest reception at 40 yards.
Tallon capped the contest with 13 carries for 61 yards for the Vikings, while Teagan Bennett had 10 carries for 34 yards.
Tayden Hardwicke was 2-for-4 passing for 12 yards, with Natan Shiferaw making their longest catch at 10 yards.
Vanier had a total of 97 yards of offence, 85 of those on the ground.
The contest was originally scheduled for Sept. 25, but the short-manned Vikings ran into COVID concerns and the contest was postponed.
The Tornadoes improved to 1-2 with the win, while Vanier fell to 0-3-1 -- with their tie coming on Oct. 1 when they battled the Estevan Elecs to a 12-12 draw.
League action continues on Friday when Central (3-1) travels to Yorkton, while Saturday games will see Weyburn (3-0) taking on Vanier at 1 p.m. and Estevan at Peacock at 3:15 p.m. Both games are at Gutheridge Field.
