Colts lose to Regina in season opener

The 2013 season got off to a tough start for the Calgary Colts on Sunday, as they were beaten 42-23 by the Regina Thunder at the Queen City’s Mosaic Stadium.

The Thunder had four scores through the air to open up a 35-6 advantage at halftime. The Colts offence put together some good drives and outscored Regina 17-7 in the second half but the hole they had dug was way too deep.

“One of the things I said to the players is the way I see it, we will be a much better team at the end of the season than maybe we are at the beginning,” Colts head coach John Stevens said.

“The way I look at it is our inexperience was evident, especially at defensive back and maybe at the quarterback position.

“We will learn from our mistakes and hopefully carry on to a better effort next week.”

It marked the first of three straight games on the road for Calgary to start the Prairie Football Conference schedule.

The Colts are back on the road for Weeks 2 and 3, both involving trips up Highway 2 to face the Wildcats on Sunday, August 25 and the Huskies on Saturday, August 31. The Huskies edged the Wildcats 23-17 in their opening week encounter on Saturday.

The Colts don’t have their home opener until September 8 when the Winnipeg Rifles come to McMahon Stadium.

Sunday started well for the Colts as Andrew Fabian opened the scoring with a first-quarter field goal. The Thunder struck, however,  with three touchdowns to take a 21-3 advantage after 15 minutes.

Fabian kicked another field goal midway through the second quarter but the Thunder kept the momentum going with two more scores to go into the break up 35-6.

Kiefer Olsen, who came on at quarterback for starter Jeremy Long in the second quarter, got the Colts first touchdown of the afternoon with a one-yard sneak five minutes into the third quarter.

Long returned to the field to guide the Colts late in the third quarter and the Colts made some progress on offence.

In the fourth quarter, after Fabian added a single point on a missed 30-yard field goal, Jason Loo ran in from four yards for the final score of the game with less than two minutes remaining.

“In the second half we came out with a better effort,” Stevenssaid. “We changed some things up and scored more points than them, which was a moral victory.”

 

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