Gators Rebound To Victory In Second Half
For the first half of Friday evening’s U14 matchup the Moose Jaw Gators found themselves up against a tough Weyburn Falcons team.
Or correction the Gators were only able to score eight points versus the Falcons’ Zion Siwale.
It was a fact not lost on Gators head coach Corey Harkness. It took a change in the Gators’ game plan during halftime to take Siwale out of the game.
A Gator tackles a member of the Weyburn Falcons
“It was a battle in the first half. Weyburn came to play,” Gators head coach Corey Harkness said.
“They’ve got a couple of players on defence that are phenomenal,” he said, adding “in return we made some adjustments in half timer and came out in the second half and played a little better.”
The adjustment included running away from Weyburn’s defensive star Zion Siewale.
“Sixteen (Siwale) is their best player. He is likely one on the best players in this league.”
“We game planned away from him in the second half…he’s the best defensive player we’ve faced so far,” Harkness said.
Defensively the Gators were strong.
“Our defence pitched four consecutive shutouts. I can’t say how well our defence is playing.”
“Oliver Bonnell had three interceptions tonight. He was the heart of that defensive heart of our team,” he said.
A year older has made the rebranded Mafia a much stronger team.
A Gators ball carrier swings wide around the Falcons defence - MJ Independent photo
The receivers are strong.
“We have a lot of weapons on the offence. If you cover one or two of them we have a third and a fourth that can hurt you,” he said.
“ we’re happy with overall gameplay, but we have to clean up though are the penalties. We are probably the most penalized team in the league. The rest are constantly throwing the laundry on the ground and we have to pick it up. It’s just mental mistakes,” Harkness said.
