Last Friday at Kinsmen Century Field turned out to be a half decent day for a football game.
This Friday evening at Century Field should be even better.
For the first time ever, says head coach Roby Sharpe, the football boys will be part of a Yorkton version of the hit movie Friday Night Lights, starring themselves.
There probably won't be a movie camera anywhere in sight, but should be a few newspaper cameras around.
"I'm really excited for that," says a dead-tired Paul Toth.
"I'm pumped," offered coach Sharpe.
"It's going to be really exciting," said rookie Raider QB Dalton Fichtner. "It's full of energy (for that one).
There were at least three members of the team who are clearly looking forward to the night (not the day, but the night).
On that night the Raiders will take on Martin Collegiate.
Sharpe said it will be the first night time that a Saskatchewan High Schools Athletics Association football game will kick off at night time.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
The night game will be the second game of the season for the YRHS's senior football team.
The first game of the season resulted in a 18-0 loss to the Miller Marauders.
It was a game Sharpe was still happy with the efforts displayed by his team.
They have been shorthanded in the two weeks they've been practicing this season, he said.
"The defence didn't give them anything," he told the media outside the locker room, where everyone was dripping raindrops off their foreheads instead of sweat.
"It was so frustrating" he said shortly after, before pointing out that "but we're tough!"
These guys, they're sturdy, they're great football players, they're like the guys out of the movies," he added.
YRHS got strong play from a few players who haven't always made the headlines. They include fullback Toth, tailback Jake Prybylski and from rookie pivot, Fichtner, who made plays in his debut.
"I felt like we had some momentum," Sharpe said.
As for the rain, which came down hard in the final minutes, was joined by a few lightning bolts, zapped the score clock and the game was called with 4:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.
"It doesn't faze us!" says Sharpe, sounding like he wanted to laugh at it rather then wonder why?
"It's almost like irony."
In SHSAA football, each team plays 6-7 games and no two teams play each other more than once during the regular season.
There is a possibility that the teams could meet in the postseason. There are several members of the Raider crew who will be licking their chops in hopes of a possible playoff date with the Miller Marauders, notes Sharpe.
"We're going to have some unfinished business. We're never happy if we lose."
Fichtner, who made his debut at QB following Mackenzie Shore and Prybylski who teamed up at the position last season, said he had fun with the experience, but expected more of himself.
"Personally I could have done better (but) we played solid with minimal guys," he said of the depleted YRHS lineup for Friday.
NEXT GAME
The Raiders' first night game at home will be played under rented lights at Kinsmen Century Field, says Sharpe. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
