There was a degree of uncertainty in the Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) Mohawks camp going into their tilt Friday against Warman.
The two nine-man football teams had never faced each other before, plus the Mohawks' first game against Tisdale provided little work for many of the first-year starters.
Then Humboldt coughed up the ball on their first play from scrimmage and Warman took five plays to turn the turnover into points at the 8:57 mark.
On the Point After Touchdown (PAT), a bad snap led to a pass and catch for a two-point conversion.
Humboldt's offence continued to falter early, but coach Brian Hinz's "D" gelled and earned a takeaway with Peter Tahn's interception near midfield.
With the return, the Mohawks were set up with a short field. Josh Giddings finished the successful drive with a nine-yard run and the extra point. Shortly after, the ball was back in the hands of the offence and the Mohawks took their first lead - 14-8 after the extra point was good.
"We figured Warman would be physical but they were also tenacious," said Mohawk coach Tom Schwinghamer. "We wanted to build some momentum after our sluggish start, so my kickoff cover unit executed (a short kick) to a T."
Giddings capitalized on the ensuing possession with a 22-yard dash to paydirt. However, the PAT try was no good, making the score 20-8.
"That's definitely something that we have to improve upon," offered Mohawk coach Dave Rowe. "We missed a few of those but I know that we will crisp that up."
The Wolverines were willing to make the game a fistfight as they answered just over four minutes later with a touchdown of their own.
This time, tailback Adam Leik pushed the ball into the end zone from the Mohawk seven-yard line. Their two-point convert attempt was good and the lead shrunk to four points.
Undaunted, HCI's Daegan Engele led the Mohawk offence on a protracted drive that was capped by Treyton Luker's 24-yard touchdown with 3:43 left in the second quarter. Another missed extra point made the score 26-16.
The Mohawk defence ensured that there would be no immediate answer as Grade 12 defensive lineman Jordan Gursky had the fumble recovery at the Warman 49-yard line.
Then, HCI's Jonathan Zimroz wove into the south end zone with only 1:17 to play in the half.
This time, Giddings, Engele and Unger clicked on the PAT and the home team was up 33-16.
Warman didn't crumble, however. After a good kick return, the Wolverine tailback rambled to the outside for a long touchdown run with a mere nine seconds on the clock. The two-point convert failed and the half drained to zeros as the scoreboard showed Humboldt 33, Warman 22.
"Well, we wanted to have a tougher game," said head coach Shaun Gardiner, "and Warman definitely provided that to us in the first half. But we felt that we could do a little better job of introducing them to Mohawk football. We asked our guys to amp things up second half."
His charges responded and pumped in touchdowns from Jordan Grywacheski and Giddings. Then, a turnover on downs by Warman allowed one more score just before the third quarter expired to allow Humboldt to take a 53-22 lead into the fourth.
Grywacheski scored again on a 27-yard run and Colten Slipetz rounded out the scoring on a late touchdown to make the final 67-22.
The Mohawks' next action will be in Clavet on Friday at 4 p.m.
