And they just didn’t stop.
The Cyclones would go on to a 65-0 victory in South 3A 12-Man Football League action at Gutheridge Field, one of the most commanding wins in recent history by either team in their storied rivalry.
“I’m super proud of these kids, they’ve been working hard these past three weeks to a month, and it’s been drilled into them, you get nothing unless you put something in,” said Cyclones head coach Colin Belsher. “So they’ve been working hard to get to this point… Peacock is a little younger and we’re a little older and that’s just what happens when you play the game over the years. But we were pretty crisp, the defence was solid and I was pretty proud of how we kept the positive mindset the whole way through.”
Central got on the board on the first play after Boynton’s return, and he’d do the honours with an eight-yard run. Sam Barth hauled in a 10-yard pass from quarterback Wil Ansell with 4:10 to play in the first quarter and Kaedyn Banilevic a 22-yard pass with 2:35 left for a 21-0 lead after the opening 12 minutes.
A 17-yard field goal from Rylan Schoffer opened second-quarter scoring at 9:23, Ansell ran in from three yards out with 3:34 remaining, Mason Payne had a 51-yard TD run two minutes later and Schoffer closed out the first half with a 23-yard field goal.
Cole Breitkreuz caught a 13-yard pass, Layne Johnson had a 27-yard pick-six and Sam Barth a 97-yard pass-and-run for Central’s second-half scoring. Schoffer closed out the onslaught with a 40-yard field goal.
As well as things went on his side of the field, Ansell -- who threw 12 passes for 103 yards -- was quick to give credit for his team’s staunch offence. And for good reason, as over two games Central has yet to allow a point while putting up over 100 themselves.
“I think we played really well as a team overall,” Ansell said. “The defence played great and kept them from getting barely any first downs in the first half, which really helped us having a short field. I don’t think I had as many passing yards, but that’s not a big deal, as long as we’re putting up points that’s all that matters… then we were moving well, guys were getting open and making good plays, it was just an all-around good game.”
Braxton Hooper had 10 carries for 27 yards for Peacock, while Owen Varjassy had a pair of catches for 40 yards. All told, the Tornadoes had 125 yards of offence on the day. Peacock fell to 0-2 with the loss.
In league action Friday, Weyburn took a 43-0 win over Estevan to also improve to 2-0 without having allowed a point this season. Vanier (0-1) was in Swift Current (1-0), with scoring information unavailable as of this writing.
League action continues Friday, Sept. 24 with Estevan in Yorkton, while Saturday action will see Central host Swift Current at 1 p.m. at Gutheridge Field and Vanier taking on Peacock at 3:15 p.m.
