Spartans Pull Off Convincing Win Over Ravens

Story and Photos by Robert Thomas

Saturday was a tough row to hill for the visiting Weyburn Ravens as they were in tough against the Moose Jaw Spartans.

Despite a never quit attitude and additionally the enthusiasm from the coaches the Ravens fell 52 - 6 to the Spartans in a wild card game in the U12 division of the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League.

The game saw the 1 - 5 Ravens up against the 4 - 2 Spartans in a bid by both teams to advance to next weekend’s semi-final.

Moose Jaw Spartans Kenton Minchin misses a tackle on a Weyburn Ravens ball carrier

Asked if the game ended up as he had expected Moose Jaw Spartans head coach Brock Montgomery said it wasn’t a take for granted victory.

“I wouldn’t say it’s never what I expect. But I expected us to play a good game and we did that so I mean (I’m happy). In that sense the Weyburn team it looked like they had a pretty good game against Assiniboia leading up to this game. They switched it up a little bit on defence and offence. They put some players around but I think we adjusted well and were able to come out with the win,” Montgomery said.

The Spartans had a regular season 4 - 2 record versus the 1 - 5 Ravens.

Moose Jaw Spartans Bennett Dunlop (center) intercepts a pass intended for Weyburn Ravens Rhys Fowler for a pass

The key to the win were fundamentals and adapting to players missing from the ranks.

“As I said we were missing our running back today so we had some kids filling in some different positions and it was just like sticking to the fundamentals,” he said.

He said they ran the ball hard all game.

Weyburn Ravens Rhys Fowler tries to evade being tackled

“We ran inside well. The boys executed it and we came out on top.”

Asked if he expected Weyburn to push the game into the dying minute despite being six converted touchdowns behind - Montgomery said it was to be expected.

“I did of course. They’ve got good little players on that team…they just gave to take the small things. They were getting some first downs late. They scored on the second half on us,” Montgomery said.

“There was no reason for them to quit.”

Moose Jaw Spartans Bentley Dumbowski (right) pulls away from Weyburn Ravens Ryker Walliser

Facing the Moose Jaw Bulldogs in one of this coming weekend’s semi-final matchups he said the team was looking forward to a “good week of practice and coming out and having some fun on Thursday.”

Weyburn Ravens Landon Leroux heads downfield

For Weyburn Ravens head coach Brad Hillstead despite the lopsided result the issue of quitting never crossed the team’s mind.

“That’s one thing they’ve done all year is kept enthusiasm all game long,” he said.

During the last two minutes of the game, the Weyburn bench - coaches - were highly emotional and encouraging the team to finish strong. Their defence responded with a couple of major tackles.

Along the sidelines at the Spartans bench

“The defence really started coming back in that second half and I was pretty happy with the way that went. Not quite the way we wanted the day to go but it is OK.”

Asked who was more enthusiastic on the team - the players or the coaches - said he didn’t know.

“I don’t know I think it was possibly me…my heart rate is still up pretty high right now.”

The Weyburn coaches were reminded by the officials to stay within the assigned bench area late in the game. They responded with an apology saying they were unaware of the rule.

Moose Jaw Spartans quarterback Leo Montgomery evades Weyburn Ravens tackler Maclean Hillstead

Given how well the team played he said the future is bright with a season under the team’s belt.

“I think the future looks good for Weyburn football. We had a lot of new green guys this year. They’ve come a long way in the whole season. There’s a lot of kids out there making plays they wouldn’t have even tried (earlier in the season),” Hillstead said.

“The improvement has just been phenomenal.”

Moose Jaw Spartans quarterback Leo Montgomery takes off on his own

“We try to pound that into kids all season long. Just keep it, keep it going and that’s all no matter what,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the next game. I’m definitely looking forward to next year.”