Tornadoes Win By A Toe
Photos and Stories by Robert Thomas
It may not have been the way they expected to win but they’ll take it as the Peacock Tornadoes defeated the Swift Current Colts and are heading to the playoffs.
But strangely enough the points that lead to the Tornadoes victory and playoffs matchup against powerhouse Weyburn came off a kicker’s toe.
Thanks to a strong defensive effort the Tornadoes would defeat the Colts 18 - 14.
Peacock Tornadoes quarterback Owen Varjassy is brought down after another huge running play. Varjassy had 22 carries for 183 yards for the afternoon - MJ Independent photo
The First Quarter saw the Colts take a 7 - 0 lead over the Tornadoes.
The Owen Sletten would score on a five yard touchdown pass.
The Second Quarter saw the Toilers get on the scoreboard as quarterback Owen Varjassy would run 75 yards for a touchdown.
The play saw the teams tied 7 - 7 at the half.
By far the most controversial and deciding play of the game came with no time left on the last play of the half and the Colts elected to go for the touchdown.
In the ensuing play the Tornadoes defence held firm and the Colts failed to put any points on the board.
It left the big question in such a close game why didn’t the Colts elect to kick a field goal and then simply kick it through the end zone for a single point?
Swift Current Colts Derric Dulatre makes a catch behind Peacock Tornadoes Brady Ross - mj independent photo
The Third Quarter saw no scoring. The score remained tied 7 - 7.
The Fourth Quarter saw the Colts retake the lead on a Kaleb Snyder touchdown.
The Tornadoes would tie the game when perennial workhorse Josh Johnson would score on a three yard run after a lengthy drive.
Then the Tornadoes would win the game literally off of their toes as they would score to safetys and the Colts would concede two points.
On a punt by Josh Johnson the ball would be kicked deep into the Colts end zone and Malcom Hunter would almost immediately be after the ball resulting in the tackle.
Swift Current would attempt to make a comeback but failed to do so and after a mistake on a time out by the Tornadoes bench Peacock simply ran the clock out for the 18 - 14 victory.
Despite being beat by Swift Current Colts Derric Dulatre on the pass Brady Ross came back to make the tackle - mj independent photo
“Oh my god. A huge coaching mistake by me at the end of the half. I screwed up and had an illegal substitution and brought on a guy on too late. We took a penalty and gave them first down. Thank God my defence held,” Tornadoes head coach Bert Redstone said in the post game media scrum.
The play lead to the Colts third and short with no time left on the clock and they elected to try to score a touchdown instead of a field goal attempt.
A second mistake Redstone said he made from the bench came in the final minute.
“End of game I’m picturing the clock running but they hadn’t whistled it in. I called my time out too early so we had to play a little bit of D (defence) at the end. But again the defence bailed me out,” he said.
“The defense played amazing. Josh Johnson is a total stud. Swift Current came in here and just gave us one hell of a game as we hoped to have.”
Peacock Tornadoes Landon Ryall reaches for the ball as the colts try to push downfield late in the fame - mj independent photo
Asked about the final play of the first half and if he thought the Colts should have elected for a field goal attempt instead of going for a touchdown Redstone was philosophical about it.
“Yeah that’s the gamble you play. As a coach in the end the three points wouldn’t have mattered because we did get a single but the four point spread would of held. But you have to make these decisions what’s the best thing in the situation.”
Asked further about the potential momentum shift for the Colts leading at halftime Redstone said “absolutely does it make us play a little bit more desperate later. Who knows? These are the decisions coaches make and literally as I say this is the difference between sleeping at night and not sleeping at night.”
“They come back to haunt you. That’s just the role of a coach man - tough.”
Redstone said once again the Tornadoes Josh Johnson came through when called upon.
“Brady Ross our regular punter got dinged up a little so he wasn’t able to punt so we bring in our other guy in Josh Johnson, who is a standup guy who bailed us plenty of times over the last three years, he comes in a puts it way in the end zone unreturnable.”
Peacock Tornadoes Malcom Hunter (right) is in hot pursuit of the Swift Current Colts ball carrier leading to a tackle and a single point safety - mj independent photo
Redstone said “players have got to step up and play. We put game plans into place but in the end players have to execute even when coaches screw up. Great job by the players.”
Asked if he thought the game would turn out to be a kicking game Redstone said “No. You never hope for it to be. But again both defences played hard so what else do you want? You have to adjust in the game and come out with the win like we did.”
About the play of quarterback Owen Varjassy the Tornadoes couldn’t ask for more Redstone said.
“In early season when you start to transition your starting running back into your starting quarterback you hope the guy can carry the load and he does. Calm under fire and he is learning a lot.”
Redstone would go on to list a plethora of players who gotten credit for their play on the Tornadoes this year - Brady Ross, Owen Varjassy, Josh Johnson - but there were others who “don’t get mentioned they just play the game.”
“You can’t say much more about players who step up and play.”
Asked by MJ Independent who was the player who steps up, plays the game consistently Coach Redstone never lost a beat and replied grade eleven student Ryan Duncan.
Duncan drives in everyday one hour from Avonlea to play football and is trying to get credits for school.
“He is losing study time. He’s on the road. He plays O line for us. His brother played for us, Kyle, and you know they never get any mention,” Redstone said, adding “and here is this guy that plays from the beginning of the game to the end of the game you can’t take him off the field. He wants every single rep. He plays his ass off. He is just a standup guy.”
Peacock Tornadoes Payton Kell (left) is about to tackle the Swift Current Colts ball carrier - mj independent photo
Playoff Hopes
This coming Saturday afternoon the Tornadoes will face an undefeated Weyburn team in Weyburn.
“We just said to the guys you have to go up and play…we have a lot of scenarios if we travel to Weyburn,” Redstone said.
At the time of the interview unconfirmed reports out of Weyburn had them defeating Yorkton.
“We hung with Yorkton for a half. We played well against Central in stretches and we had a heck of a stretch against Weyburn. Weyburn is obviously an amazing team, undefeated this year they took to everybody they played against,” Redstone said.
The Peacock Tornadoes Brady Ross makes one of his numerous individual tackles of the afternoon- mj independent photo
Despite their regular season unbeaten record Weyburn is not unbeatable. They can lose and it’s not over until it’s over Redstone said in the philosophy of Yogi Berra.
“But isn’t that what you play sports for? You don’t play sports and expect you’re going to win and stomp guys and say ‘we always win.’ That’s not how it is. Everybody has got to show up and play.”
“That’s our mentality everybody shows up and just play the best that we can. As you saw today guys can step up and play,” Redstone said.
