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Crusaders cruise to 2-0 record

Sep 14, 2018 | 5:30 PM

Only a couple of games into the season, the John Paul II Crusaders are on a roll.

After a convincing 33-12 win in their home-opener to kick off the season, the Crusaders made it a 2-0 record Thursday on the road with a commanding 53-6 victory over Meadow Lake’s Carpenter High School.

For Bruce Yockey, Vice Principal at John Paul II and head coach of the Crusaders, it was a performance in which he saw his team elevate their play in the face of some challenging weather conditions.

“It had rained a pile up there so it was cold and wet, maybe wasn’t ideal conditions, but Leo our running back, had a really good game scoring three or four touchdowns, and had some really long runs.”

Yockey was talking about Leo Senger, who right from the get-go was a force to be reckoned with in the game, scoring a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage, running 70 yards up the middle for the score.  

Yockey gives the Grade 10 running back credit for an excellent game, but was also quick to show some appreciation for the offensive linemen in front of him for a job well done in picking up their assignments and providing lanes for the fleet-of-foot, Senger.

“The offensive line really opened up some huge holes for our running game, which was good to see for sure,” the coach said.

On the other side of the ball, Yockey also liked what he saw from his defence, in their ability to protect the lead and apply good pressure while not giving the opposition much to work with.

“The defence was solid all the way through so it was really a good victory for the guys, and especially on the road,” he said.

As the team pulled away from Carpenter on the scoreboard, Yockey said it really allowed them to spread the minutes around and give some more playing time to a lot of the younger players on the team; experience that will surely only help them as they continue to develop as players this year.

Senger isn’t the only weapon coach Yockey has when it comes to exploiting opposition defences with the running game, as fellow tenth-grader, Decklin Wychopen is also a constant threat on the field with the ball in his hands.

“They’re both extremely fast, but Decklin’s more like a little jitter-bug, while Leo’s just north-south slashing so they complement each other. They’re both excellent running backs,” Yockey said.

The Crusaders are back in action and will be looking for their third-straight win on Sept. 20 at home against Rosetown.

 

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca 

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1