The Swift Current Comp Colts football team is off to the Moose Jaw High School Football League final after taking down the Moose Jaw Peacock Tornadoes Saturday afternoon in Moose Jaw.
The Colts led through the first 12 minutes of the game, as a 22-yard run by Nic Bachiu and an Ethan Kurtz extra-point were the lone numbers on the board.
In the second quarter, the home side had a scoring burst, as a safety was the first score of the game for the Tornadoes, and was followed by two unanswered rushing touchdowns - the latter coming with 33 seconds left in the half.
However, down 15-7, the Colts would need just 21 seconds to march back down into Moose Jaw territory, as quarterback Austin Beverly-Collins connected with Bachiu with 0:12 on the clock, but failed on the 2-point conversion to try and tie the game up going into halftime.
"We scored a big touchdown right before the end of the half," said Colts head coach Derek Murdoch, who shared a brief synopsis of the halftime speech from the coaching staff. "We just talked about being in a good place and just to stick with the plan. We came out in the third quarter and just kind of pulled away... we didn't leave much doubt there."
The third quarter certainly was kind to the Colts, as Beverly-Collins and Bachiu connected once again on a pass from 22 yards out, adding a 2-point convert from Parker Strojwas.
Again, before the end of the third, Swift Current found the end zone out of their power run formation, with starting middle linebacker Josh Keller getting the carry on offense, and rumbling into the end zone from one yard out. The Colts converted on the 2-point try once more on a pass to Bachiu.
Up 29-15, Strojwas put the game out of reach with a rushing touchdown from 12 yards out. A Kurtz convert closed the scoring out, with the Colts emerging victorious in a slightly lop-sided 36-15 contest.
Beverly-Collins finished the game 7-of-13 for 76 yards and two touchdowns, while Strojwas carried the ball 17 times for 90 yards to lead the ground game.
Bachiu was the dynamic Colt on the day, combining for 104 yards on offense (45 rushing, 59 receiving) and three touchdowns.
The Swift Current defense continued a stretch of dominant play the last three games, as the 15 Peacock points in the second quarter were the only points surrendered by the defense in the last 12 quarters. Swift out-scored opponents 104-15 in that stretch.
With the win against the historically dominant Moose Jaw high school, the Colts football program can finally breathe easy - the last time Swift Current topped the Tornadoes in a Moose Jaw High School Football League game was in 1999.
"In some ways, it's just a playoff football game and in other ways, it's obviously more than that for our program," Murdoch said. "There's a lot of guys who have tried to get things done against that football team - sometimes it's been close and sometimes it hasn't been. That win was kind of for all of those guys too. We had talked about that (as a team) and what it would mean to former players - it was a big deal."
Looking ahead to the final, the Colts are off to eastern Saskatchewan for the second time this season, in another tough test against the Yorkton Comprehensive High School Raiders.
The league's top team finished the regular season unbeaten, while outscored opponents 322-25 - including a 65-13 win at home over the Colts on September 23.
"They're going to be pretty excited to host that game and we know it's not going to be an easy place to go play," said the Colts head coach. "We're going to have to go in there and just tune out everything around us, stick together, and play football. We're going to give them everything we've got."
The Colts and Raiders face off in the league final October 28.
Sat, Apr 20, 1:00 PM
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