Close is good but it's never enough. Not in the minds of the Yorkton Pee Wee Gridders.
That was the case in the first playoff showdown Saturday afternoon at Kinsmen Century Field.
Operating against one of the two teams that beat them in the regular season, it was time for a little payback.
It was also the first time since 1993 that Yorkton has played host to a pee wee football league playoff game, said Gridders head coach Jason Farrell.
"All I was focussed on was the game but it was definitely heightened intensity."
Farrell said he had some tricks up his sleeve for his team's first playoff game, opting to run the Wildcat formation early in the game; a setup which involves a running back taking the snap instead of the quarterback.
"We threw in a trick play," Farrell said involving Zach Kaise, who took advantage of his own speed to run for two big gains as time was running out in the football game, which brought the Gridders to within eight points but with only 3.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
The touchdown runs came after Regina had opened up a 22-8 lead and brought Yorkton to within eight points.
They faced a 14-point deficit at the half. Farrell told the paper that not much had to be said at the halftime in order to trigger his team back to life for the second half.
"They didn't play as well as they could have in that first half for sure," recalled Farrell several days after the fact.
For a second, it wasn't even about winning apparently.
The half marked a moment to regroup and gather themselves together. Farrell attempted to lift any pressure the players may have been feeling at that time.
"I told them at the half that I don't care if you win or lose as long as you feel as if you left everything out on the field. It's up to you guys."
Both teams were called for offside and procedure penalties, left, right and centre.
Farrell insisted that the calls did not help decide the outcome of this game.
"I don't believe so," he said.
The game started out well for the Gridders, who forced a fumble on the Regina Golden Hawks on the Hawks' return on the opening kickoff.
The opportunities were there to get on the scoreboard first. Regina turned the ball over on downs when they couldn't convert on a 3rd-down-and-short.
The Golden Hawks were able to put two scores up to take a 14-0 lead. They converted two points on the second score while Yorkton's special teams managed to block the convert attempt on the first touchdown.
Isaac Pasloski ran for the Gridders' first-ever playoff touchdown when he galloped nearly half the length of the field untouched into the end zone. To help out, Yorkton connected on a two-point conversion to bring the Gridders to within 14-8.
Regina restored their two-touchdown lead on a 12-yard scramble and added two points on the convert to put them up 22-8 to end the half.
The Golden Hawks appeared to have upped their lead to 30 on a touchdown run early in the third quarter however it was nullified by their own offside call, which put them back five yards.
on the ensuing play, they rushed the ball into the end zone for a second straight time, but penalties of holding and objectionable conduct on the offence set the Golden Hawks back 20 yards and the play was set at second and long.
Yorkton's Brendon Weber seemed to have his team back in the red zone but a fumble on the next play gave the ball back to Regina's offence.
They would add a fourth score but missed on the convert, putting them up 28-0.
Kaise got the ball back in his hands late in the fourth quarter and took the ball the length of the field to bring the Gridders to within eights points and forced his team into an onside kick attempt to close out the game.
"It was a pretty emotional experience which I wasn't expecting," recalled Farrell. "It goes to show you how much they had invested in the team."
