Coming off of a tough 62-12 loss to the Packers in their season opener, the Estevan Lafrentz Trucking Steelers headed into their home opener on Saturday against the Regina Raiders hoping to cut down on defensive mistakes and free up some holes for their running backs and receivers on the offensive side of the ball.Before the game, one of the bantam team's emerging leaders, Isaac Elder addressed the squad, especially those playing with him on the defensive side of the ball, telling them where improvements were needed."That provided a bit of an emotional spark for the team and it made a big difference on the field," said head coach Murray Fischer after the game."Isaac's really stepped up and taken some responsibility and ownership of the defence. He addresses them after practice and before the games and he really takes accountability for the defence when they make a mistake and especially when he makes a mistake."With the help of Elder, the defence, especially the defensive line, looked nothing like the team that allowed 34 first quarter points against the Packers.The defensive line stymied the Raiders ground game throughout the contest. When the run failed however, the Raiders were able to exploit weaknesses in the Steelers secondary, and had repeated success through the air."Our defensive line is probably our strength - our linebackers are really starting to come into their own. We're able to stop the short stuff, which we expect most teams to try at this age level - there's not a whole lot of fancy pass work going on. I think the Raiders' coaching staff just really did their homework on us.Heading into the second half, the Raiders led 13-0 on the strength of their quarterback's arm. Fischer admitted the Steelers coaching staff spent the brief halftime scrambling to make defensive adjustments.The defence was clearly tighter after the break, allowing only seven second half points.In the end, it was the Steelers sputtering offence that needed to step up and put points on the board, but failed to do so.With 1:15 left in the fourth quarter, the Steelers finally put their first points on the board - a 10-yard Nolan Tide touchdown run. The Steelers managed to convert on a two-point try right after, but by then the game was already out of reach.On paper, the offence looked good, as they did in the first game of the season.Quarterback Colby Fleury completed seven of 11 passes for 114 yards, and Tide, who's proving himself to be an offensive force, had 85 yards on the ground, 55 through the air and a touchdown.In two games, Tide has an impressive 228 yards from scrimmage. His performance on Saturday even won him player-of-the-game honours.But despite impressive numbers by both Fleury and Tide, and a game-best 32-yard reception by Justin Mosquito, the offence failed to put together field-spanning drives."We had a few drives sputter basically because of poor blocking I would say," said Fischer, a concern he had after the team's first game as well. "We've really got to step up that part of our game. We had a couple of fumbled snaps and incomplete passes and there was an interception thrown, so of course that stopped a drive."Not helping the matter was the fact that Evan Tarnes, who provided 85-yards of offence in the season-opener, was kept out of the lineup due to a wrist injury sustained in practice during the week."I think that would've made a big difference," said Fischer.The Steelers were also missing a starting offensive lineman and a receiver on Saturday. Fischer said he expects to have all three back in the lineup for the Steelers game in Regina on Saturday against the Renegades."We're expecting a better offensive output this weekend and I think with our improved defence we can expect a win this weekend."
