Central Cyclones receiver Keaton Belsher spent much of his summer playing high-level football at a national level.
On Saturday afternoon at Gutheridge Field, fans were able to see what that hard work in the off-season looks like when it returns to the field in the fall.
Belsher hauled in four first-half touchdowns and nearly hit 200 yards receiving before halftime as the Cyclones went on to a commanding 52-7 victory in the opening game of the Rural 5A 12-Man Football League.
“It was a great team effort and I couldn’t have done it without my quarterback and the o-line,” Belsher said, who scored his first touchdown of the season only 1:47 into the proceedings. “It felt good to get that first play, getting that one down the sideline to get things rolling.”
That major was a doozy, too. Belsher ran a fade route, hauled in the pass and stiff-armed a defensive back into oblivion before going 64 yards to the end zone.
Belsher’s connection with quarterback Brodie Ansell was obvious throughout the first 24 minutes, as he’d haul in an 11-yard touchdown with 2:56 to play in the first quarter, a 64-yard major with four minutes to play in the half and a one-yard quick hitter with 1:24 left in the second quarter.
None of that is a surprise given what Belsher was up to a couple months ago, playing in the U16 Western Challenge and also suiting up at the Flag Football Nationals in Halifax.
“It teaches me how to read defences and run my routes, that’s the biggest thing playing that level of football,” Belsher said of what he picked up in the off-season.
Of course, a major factor in the success of the passing game is running back Javin Boynton. A lethal ball carrier, Boynton picked up a 20-yard TD run of his own in the first quarter and also ran one in from 19 yards out late in the third. That’s not taking into account his simple presence on the field forcing the Colts to key in on the run game, something Cyclones head coach Colin Belsher was sure to put to good use.
“Most teams in this league know what we have, especially in our running game with Javin, and when we came out it was pretty apparent that was their goal, to stop our running game,” he said. “They overloaded the box which allowed our passing game to open up, and we have talented receivers, a great quarterback, a good o-line and we have Javin. So we’re pretty balanced and moving forward teams will have to be aware of both part of our games.”
With extra space and time to throw, Ansell was sharp from the start, going 12-for-16 passing in the first half as Central built a 38-0 lead.
Central opted to play their less experienced players much of the second half and naturally saw things tighten up. Mason Payne caught a nine-yard pass for their other major, Rylan Schaffer added a 19-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
As well as things were going for the skill positions on the day, coach Belsher made sure to give the hoggies plenty of credit for their work up front.
“I thought Brodie played amazing today, but so did the o-line,” he said. “To be successful, you have to have a strong o-line and I thought they did really well today, both in the run game and the pass game, and the receivers blocked well down downfield, too, which is something we’ve been working on the past two weeks. I know they can run and catch, but linemen get big first downs and receivers get Javin touchdowns.”
Colten Hurl scored Swift Current’s lone touchdown on a 14-yard pass with 8:33 to play.
Now, the focus turns towards one of the biggest regular-season games of the year, a Friday Night Lights match-up with the Peacock Toilers at Elk’s Field. Game time is 8 p.m., immediately following the first-ever Conference 2 Nine-Man League game between the Vanier Vikings and Lumsden Devils at 6 p.m.
“Every year, if you’re not striving to be that team, then you’re not going to win anything,” coach Belsher said of the outlook for the rest of the season. “Every year you have to come into the season thinking you’ll be successful and these kids have really bought into playing for the name on their chest instead of the name on their jersey.”
