Young Rifles take pounding in opener

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This article was published 23/08/2021 (1832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After nearly two years off the field, the Winnipeg Rifles weren’t firing on all cylinders in their return, dropping a lopsided battle to the Regina Thunder by a score 37-0 Sunday afternoon at Maple Grove Park.

Rifles head coach Geordie Wilson says their first game established a learning curve for much of the Canadian Junior Football League team’s young roster.

“We were just talking to the kids, the average age on our team is probably 19.5,” said Wilson, who is ecstatic to be back on the gridiron following the COVID-induced interruption to sports of all manner.

“We’re pretty young and we knew we had to go out here and see what was going to happen.”

Despite the one-sided result, Wilson believes if his team can clean up certain mistakes, they can recover nicely.

“When you look at it, at the half we had five dropped passes, four procedure calls, and those increased,” said Wilson.

“I think we had 10 drops, seven procedure calls, I mean when you have pre-snap penalties they kill you. In Canadian football we don’t have an extra down, and a lot of our drops were on second down. A lot of those converted would have given us a first down.”

The Sunday afternoon season opener saw Mother Nature drench the field starting at the 1 p.m. kickoff and keep at it most of the game, leaving the Prairie Division rivals to fight the elements as well as one another.

In the first quarter, both defences exchanged two-and-outs. Following an early interception thrown by Rifles starting quarterback Bryson McNeil, Regina’s running game would drive the ball downfield and the Thunder would put up the first three points on a field goal.

A few moments later, McNeil would throw a deep ball to wideout Luke McMillan, but the ball slipped out of McMillan’s and hands into the arms of a Thunder defender and Regina would push downfield again.

McNeil looked to get the offence going early in the second quarter, tossing a long completion to one of his receivers — who promptly fumbled — a sure blow to McNeil’s confidence. The very next play, Thunder quarterback Carter Shewchuk threw a bomb to receiver Isaac Ford for a 45-yard touchdown, with a two-point conversion putting the Regina club up 11-0.

Shewchuk would continue to impress Thunder fans who travelled in to Winnipeg for the matchup, throwing a 60-yard bomb a few minutes later, putting the Thunder in field goal range. Regina instead settled for a single, and followed up with another single later in the frame for a 13-0 lead.

Despite some missed opportunities, Wilson believes he has found the right starter in McNeil, who played in his first CJFL game.

“I thought he played well, especially in the first half, he threw some dynamite balls but the receivers have to catch the balls,” said Wilson.

“He’s no different from anyone else, the confidence starts to fade a bit and you start forcing some things because we’re getting down and you start doing things you shouldn’t do.”

McNeil continued to struggle early in the second half, tossing a third interception that resulted in a Thunder touchdown. Leading 20-0, the Thunder went to work, pounding the ground game with some heavy running by Brayden Long and Ryland Leichert.

The Rifles lacked discipline through much of the game, with a fine example being a pass interference call in the end zone that gifted Regina another easy touchdown.

Winnipeg’s best chance to put points on the board came as a result of the defence forcing a fumble late in the third quarter. With two minutes left in the frame, the Rifles were on Regina’s one-yard line, but a pair of illegal procedure calls set them back to third and goal at the 11 yard line.

“We got down to the one-yard line and we would’ve been in, but our running back pushed the quarterback before we took the snap,” said Wilson.

“Things like that that guys get excited about. We didn’t do a good enough job snapping the ball, no doubt.”

Leichert and Long would continue to grind away on the ground, eating up the clock for Regina. It’s an area Wilson wants to address quickly before the two teams square off again.

“They run a lot of traps and we didn’t do a very good job of following the trap with our D-line. The other thing is, when we lost linebacker Ethan Hetherington, it didn’t help that we had to put in a kid from out of high school. It’s tough,” said Wilson.

Long scored his first rushing touchdown on the season to seal the game in the fourth quarter.

McNeil would struggle to connect with his receiving corps and Winnipeg failed to generate any noteworthy attack.

Wilson says there is no need to panic and believes his team can rebound.

“I say, clean up our mistakes. I look it and I think Regina is a good football team, but I don’t think they are way better than us,” he said.

“If you fix dropped balls, procedure calls, those kind of mistakes are all correctable. That’s not a physical problem. Guys need to tune in and we’ll do better.”

Wilson will look to steer his team in the right direction in a rematch with the Thunder at Leibel Field in Regina on Aug. 29.

jbernacki@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JosephBernacki