Central Defeats Unbeaten Yorkton

Photo and Story By Robert Thomas

In what may end up being the biggest upset of the South 5A 12-Man Football League regular season the Central Cyclones defeated the visiting Yorkton Raiders 24 - 13.

Lead by Javin Boynton’s 223 yards in rushing on 20 carries the Cyclones managed to add key defensive plays combined with Raiders penalties while in the end zone to record the victory.

Coming off a victory against the Peacock Tornadoes the week prior the on paper superior and favored to win Raiders found themselves up against a well rested and prepared Cyclone squad.

Central Cyclones Javin Boynton presses for extra yardage against Yorkton Raiders Joey Palagian - MJ Independent photo

Statistically Speaking

Yorkton beat Central on the offensive statistics.

The first half would see both teams scoring identically - field goal, then a touchdown followed by a successful conversion. The score at the half was tied 10 - 10.

Statistically the teams were closely matched in the first half.

The Raiders had 121 yards total in rushing and 46 yards in the air.

The Cyclones had 108 yards total in rushing (100 by Javin Boynton in ten carries) and 43 yards in the air.

Yorkton Raiders Owen Effa takes off on a successful run - MJ Independent photo

The second half statistics would show the Cyclones with 129 yards in rushing and 39 yards in the air.

The Raiders would respond with a rushing game in the second half racking up 126 yards and 96 yards in the air.

Despite the increased success in their passing game the Raiders would complete only 6 of 16 passes with the Cyclones defense stepping up to thwart many attempts.

The total offense for the Central Cyclones was 82 yards passing and 237 yards rushing for a combined offense of 319 yards.

The total offense for the Yorkton Raiders was 142 yards passing and 247 yards rushing for a combined offense of 389 yards.

Raiders Aiden Leslie (left) is tackled by the Cyclones Rylan Schaffer - MJ Independent photo

The Cyclones would kick a field goal and Brody Ansell would rush and score a touchdown in the first half.

The Raiders would kick a field goal and Effa would reach the end zone in first half Yorkton scoring.

Scoring wise the Cyclones in the second half relied upon the running efforts of Boynton who either powered his way through or managed to get outside and simply run away from the Raiders defenders and into the end zone.

Late fourth quarter penalties helped hurt Yorkton’s chances of coming back from behind against Central.

The Raiders Aiden Leslie managed to get behind the Cyclones Jaxson Bowerin and score what looked like a touchdown only to have the play called back due to penalty.

In a subsequent play a missed pass and a frustration penalty would push the Raiders further back from the end zone.

Weyburn would have to settle with only scoring a field goal in the second half.

Cyclones Jake Wilson (left) attempts to evade a block to tackle Raiders ball carrier Rhyeem Hurd - MJ Independent photo

Post Game Coach’s Comments

It was a happy but humble Central Cyclones head coach Colin Belsher in the post game media scrum.

“The focus this week was just ab out character. We really wanted to know what we were like as a team. We want to know,” Belsher said, adding “you know we struggled against Weyburn. We know Yorkton is good, The other teams in the league as well. Yorkton has always been at the top and they always have people gunning for them as they have always been a strong team.”

“You know we gave them all of the respect in the world. And we really worked our butts off this week and worked hard this week. You know it was character. I didn’t care about the score. I wanted to know could we fight back. Could we play with the big teams. I am very proud of these kids they did a good job today,” he said.

Cyclones Brady Oxborrow successfully tackles the Raiders Rhyeem Hurd - MJ Independent photo

Asked about the play of Javin Boynton the coach responded it was a team effort to set up the plays.

“He is a horse. You know our whole line blocked really well for him. We had a kid come in Jake Wilson, a senior, come over and play for us on the side of the ball due to injury and you know he made some crazy good blocks that would free Javin (Boynton),” Belsher said.

The game wasn’t all about running though with the air game adding much needed variety. The Cyclones would move the ball 82 yards on 10 completions.

Keaton Belscher would make seven receptions for a gain of 73 yards.

“I think our pass game was good which sort of balanced it out. You know (quarterback) Brodie (Ansell) is still learning and he made a couple of mistakes he knows that. But when you can lean on Javin to set up the pass or vice versa you get pretty excited as a coach it makes it a little bit easier sometimes.”

Cyclones quarterback Brody Ansell calls his own number sweeping to the right side and runs the ball across the goal line in the first half - MJ Independent photo

Asked if the team had worked on penalties over the past couple of weeks Belsher said they had.

“When you get into these high intense games, these are teenage kids, and it doesn’t take much for them to get super excited and maybe flex on somebody and that is a penalty and they know that. So we talked all week about being disciplined. We talked all week about when teams get down or teams are up and boys start saying stuff just walk away.”

“I think my kids did a great job at knowing what the task at hand was and that is try to come out and win a football game,” he said.

Central Cyclones Owen Kosior brings down the Raiders Owen Effa. Kosior would have three key tackles - amongst others - that thwarted Raiders drives - MJ Independent photo

Asked about the effect of winning for the first time in seven years against the Raiders in the regular season and the impact on the team Belscher said it was still a game of respect.

“As I said Yorkton has been great for years and everybody has been gunning for them. It has been a while so it has been a while and we just wanted to know where we fit in in the league. We are relatively young and we only have eight grade twelves. So we are a really young team still. For these guys to learn what it is like to beat a really good team is, a strong Yorkton team I think it really bodes well for our club.”

Raiders Owen Watych (left) tries to evade Cyclones Tate Macdiarmid - MJ Independent photo

Cyclones Javin Boynton takes off on his way to a touchdown - MJ Independent photo

Belscher was asked about the competitiveness of the entire league that the Cyclones could defeat the league leading Raiders while having close games against other teams.

“Absolutely. There is a lot of parity in the league this year. It is one of those things where you kind of lean on your big time players and you hope they shine and it happened today.”

Asked about their matchup against the Peacock Tornadoes and how the Cyclones won that game by one touchdown as a sign about the league’s competitiveness he said more goes into it.

“When it is a Peacock and Central game there is a lot more to it than that. It doesn’t matter the ability on the field Peacock always plays us hard. We always play them hard, They are buddies. It is a cross town rival. Lots goes into that game.”

He said defeating Yorkton does not mean the Raiders are not a great team.

“Hats off to Yorkton. They are always good. They are going to come back and fight in the playoffs as are we. We are going to get ready. This gives us some confidence moving forward. We have one more regular season game to get healthy and push for the playoffs.”