Colts lose to Rifles at McMahon Stadium

Returning home couldn’t bring a change of fortune for the Calgary Colts.

After starting the Prairie Football Conference season with three road losses, the Colts were bounced 34-18 by the Winnipeg Rifles in the home opener at McMahon Stadium on September 8.

The Colts are now 0-4. They remain at home to host the Edmonton Wildcats next Sunday, September 15 at 1 p.m.

“We went into the game hoping to do better,” Colts head coach John Stevens said.

“The defensive front seven did a very good job against the run but we gave up three big passes for touchdowns. Obviously that was a killer.

“And offensively it was a bad day at the office.”

The Rifles beat the Colts with three big touchdown passing plays of 68, 96 and 53 yards.

The Colts got as close as 14-11 on Andrew Fabian’s 27 yard field goal five minutes into the second half but the Rifles responded with two majors to lead 28-11 heading into the final 15 minutes.

Marcus Gordon and quarterback Jeremy Long brought the crowd to their feet when they hooked up on a 59-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 31-18.

Long and Kiefer Olson split the quarterbacking duties. For the most part they couldn’t steer the through the Rifles defence.

“For most of the game we were held to under 100 yards total offence. It was a tough day,” Stevens said.

The Colts entered the game needing a win. The top four teams in the six team conference reach the semifinals. The Rifles were the PFC’s only other winless team heading into the weekend.

Next week’s opponent will be another tough test. The Wildcats, who beat the Colts 29-8 in Edmonton on August 25, laid a 50-18 licking on the previously unbeaten Edmonton Huskies in the other game on Sunday.

The Colts will host the Huskies on September 22.

Cam Fox, who had 310 yards rushing in a loss to the Huskies last weekend, could not find any openings against Winnipeg and finished with minus 13 yards on 13 carries.

Olson was 7-of-20 in passing for 91 yards. Long was 8-of-10 for 150, with the bulk of that coming on the toss to Gordon.

Gordon had three catches for 79 yards. Fox and Nik Petros also had three catches each.

Defensively, Vince Greco and Richard Pilkington led with three tackles each. Zach McEachern had a fumble recovery and a 37-yard interception return.