Riding a three-game win streak, and coming off their most complete football game in the regular-season finale, the Swift Current Comp Colts football team will have to continue that trend today to keep their season alive.

The Colts (4-2) are in Moose Jaw for a 3A 12-man Rural League semi-final against the Central Cyclones (4-2).

The Colts’ starts are something the Colts coaching staff has been trying to hammer home all season, doing so right from Week 1, after Swift Current fell behind this very Cyclones team 14-0 in the blink of an eye.

They did go on to recover and tie it up at 14 apiece, but went on to lost 35-30.

Swift Current finally found that long-evasive start they were after in the regular-season finale last Saturday, as they used it to smack Estevan 55-26.

"It's been the message for so long - whether it just finally set in, or just happened to be the right day, the guys came out and were firing on both sides and on special teams. They just have to do it,” said Colts head coach Derek Murdoch.

Jumping back to that Week 1 loss to Central, head-to-heads as of late seem to tilt in the Cyclones favour.

The last time the Colts came out on top was a regular-season game on October 15, 2016 – before any of the current roster was a member of Colts football.

Since then, including Week 1, Moose Jaw has found success in three regular-season games, as well as last year’s league semi-final contest.

Lost 35-14 in 2017 regular season Lost 37-10 in 2018 regular season Lost 8-2 in 2018 league semi-final Lost 35-30 in 2019 regular season

"I didn't even know about that stat until coach told us, but it helps a little bit,” said grade 12 lineman, and co-captain Noah Steinley. “Another reason we want to win - obviously there's a bunch of them."

"Central is really well-coached, I've got a ton of respect for coach Belsher and his guys,” Murdoch said. “They've had our number obviously the last couple years."

Though, despite the recent set of results against the Cyclones, snapping that streak and getting revenge is more an added bonus than the primary objective.

"These guys are just motivated to win a football game. They want to go to a league championship game,” said Murdoch. “It doesn't really matter who it is, we want to get to a championship, and it just happens to be Central.

“They beat us last year and ended our season, hopefully we can turn it around and do the same."

With such a long gap between meetings this season, Murdoch, Steinley, and the Colts know both teams are going to be in a different rhythm this time around, making in-game adjustments that much more crucial.

"We feel watching film from Week 1, while obviously Central's going to get better, because everybody gets better throughout the season, we've got some personnel changes, and guys in different spots,” Murdoch said.

“We feel like we'll rally to the ball a little bit better than we did in Week 1. I think we're clicking offensively, and we've got some things that we want to try and work on to build off what we've been doing, but we'll probably stick to what's been working for us.”

“The first game of the season this year, I think that was just first-game jitters,” added Steinley. “If we come out strong, we can do what we need to do."

While both teams’ seasons are on the line today, so is the high school football career for Steinley and the grade 12s.

“If we don't have a good start, it might be their last one,” said Murdoch. “That's part of the message too - the clock's ticking, and if you want to keep playing, you've got to earn it."

"We just don't want to stop playing football,” said the graduating Steinley. “We all love the game here, and we want to do everything we can to keep playing it for as long as we can."

Last in a league championship in 2017, the Colts look to advance back there once more this afternoon.

Kickoff between the Colts and Cyclones is 1 p.m. from Gutheridge Field.

Catch all the action on The Eagle 94.1. The Redhead Equipment Local Sports Live broadcast is underway with the pregame show at 12:45.