The Yorkton Gridders rolled into Regina on a windy Saturday afternoon and were hit hard by Thunder.
They survived the winds storm but not the ensuing Thunderstorm.
The young football team likely had a lot of things to be thankful for over the Thanksgiving weekend, however a crucial match that day with the Thunder was probably not one of them.
In a game with some more playoff implications on the line, the Yorkton Pee Wee Gridders football club lost to the Regina Thunder 28-8.
They looked just fine for nearly an entire first half and even had the lead, but the Thunder, and several Gridder turnovers, spelled the end of an up-and-down season for head coach Jason Farrell and his troops.
At home all season long, Yorkton was on top of their game.
However the road was a much different story this year, Farrell explained at Liebel Field in Regina Saturday afternoon.
"This entire season" Farrell states, "We've been a different team on the road. This one was no different."
Yorkton's entry in the Regina Minor Football League (RMFL) essentially came to an end with the loss. The Gridders went into the game at Liebel field, the finale for the regular season, needing a victory to qualify for the post season.
For the better part of the first half, it looked like it just might happen.
Then in the second half they turned the football over more than the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a bad day at Taylor Field (or McMahon in Calgary).
"Turnovers hurt us in the second half," observed coach Farrell.
Two of their three giveaways came early in the second half. They almost had a third one follow but they managed to recover it.
The Gridders took a 3-4 record into the game, and came out strong, taking an 8-3 lead.
Gridder Brody Kormos scored the final touchdown of the regular season and his special teams unit got the extra two points.
That came after the Thunder kicked a field goal through the uprights which put them up 3-0.
Regina would score two majors in the opening half and led 15-8 at the halftime break.
They eventually put the game away with a touchdown drive that went almost three-quarters of the field on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Once Yorkton got the ball back, they turned it over on their first play after the touchdown.
It was their third giveaway on the afternoon.
Yorkton had a similar drive going but it came with too little time left on the clock to reach the end zone.
Farrell indicated that watching that drive run smoothly may have been a little painful to watch because it happened so late and it looked good.
"In that series, they played like a team that could win that game," Farrell suggested.
He added that he wasn't upset with the team's effort in the final game of the regular season.
Farrell insisted that now they have something to work on for next season.
"We (have been) a totally different road team," Farrell reiterated, before pointing out the upside: "We can give anyone in this league a good run at home."
The coach closed out for the season noting that the heavy winds did not play a factor in the loss.
With the loss, Yorkton closes the season at 3-5 for six points in the league standing.
Farrell added that there will be a Bowl game coming up shortly.
The Thunder upped their record to 6-2. They will likely close out the season in the top three, along with the Rams, Mustangs, Golden Hawks and Wolverines.
