The Raider Gridders added another championship to its growing resume as a team, but this one did not come easily.
Playing a shortened spring season – only five games – Yorkton was undefeated through the regular season, but played the final in Moose Jaw Sunday.
And it was a nail biter, with the Raider Gridders winning 37-36.
“Moose Jaw came to play. They are a well-coached team with good players,” noted Yorkton head coach Jason Boyda. “And the championship was played in their own backyard so we wouldn’t have expected anything less.”
Still the close score was something the Raider Gridders had not experienced in years, admitted Boyda who noted they have tended to secure wins by multiple touchdown margins the last several years.
But, the tight score, and unusual season just made the championship one to be remembered.
“Each championship is special in its own unique way,” he said, adding for the Grade 12 players who graduate it was just getting to play, overcoming adversity along the way.
“It was a difficult year. They didn’t have fall football. They didn’t have regular classes. They didn’t have a regular graduation,” said Boyda, adding it was a year of adversity the players have to get through on and off the field.
The close final was just one more hurdle to overcome.
“It was another challenge ... The players didn’t back down. They took it head-on,” he said.
Of course just getting to play this spring was huge.
Boyda said back in May when Premier Scott Moe first tweeted that outdoor sports were going to be allowed, he wasn’t even sure it was real, so he did some digging and it was a go.
“It kind of caught us off guard,” he said, but they managed to get five games set up.
“Five games, obviously we’ll take it after thinking it wasn’t going to happen at all,” he said.
Now the attention turns to the fall with a more regular football program expected. The Raider Gridders will start camp Aug. 23, with 20 players from the spring championship team expected back, and about 15 players from the Junior Gridders moving up to round out the roster.
The only difference this fall is there will be no semi-final game. The top two teams after the regular season will play for the championship, explained Boyda, adding eliminating the game gives them a week of flexibility should anything happen this fall.
