The Winnipeg Rifles took on a Regina Thunder club that was anxious to ditch a 2-game losing slide this afternoon at Mosaic Stadium. The Thunder would roll to a big 24-0 lead on their way to a 51-16 humbling of the Rifles.
The Thunder would open the scoring 6 minutes into proceedings as Camille Lagimodiere took in a 6-yard pass from Reid Quest for the major score. After a Ben Koot field-goal upped the advantage to 10, Mark Coons would add a touchdown on a 3-yard run.
Kolten Solomon would open the second quarter in style as he took a pass from Quest and took it 90 yards for the score. Quest would add a TD on a 3-yard run and Jay Smith reeled in a 47 yard strike as the Thunder would own a 51-0 lead in the 3rd quarter.
Eric Campbell would crack the goose-egg as quarterback Ryan Marsch found him for a 9-yard strike. For Campbell, his only catch of the game.
Alex Vitt had a terrific game with 8 receptions for 140 yards, one of those being a 7-yard touchdown catch with less than 7 minutes left. Nick Bowen would add a 17-yard chipshot in the final 4 minutes to finish up the scoring.
After all was said & done, Head Coach Greg Graceffo had this to say.“We need to find a way to play a full 60 minutes in order to be more successful as a team. We played hard, but did not compete as we know we can for the whole game.”
PFC rushing leader Kienan LaFrance ran for 104 yards on 17 carries. Ryan Marsch would complete 13 of 29 passes for 233 yards with 2 TD’S & 2 INT’S.
The clubs combined for over a thousand yards in net offense, with Regina gaining 651 yards to 406 for the Green Gunners.
The Rifles now have dropped 2 in a row and what was once a 6-point edge on both the Edmonton Wildcats & Edmonton Huskies for the final playoff berth has dwindled to a 2-point lead, thanks to the Wildcats sweeping their Clarke Park co-tenants.
The Gunners wrap up their 2-game road swing next Sunday afternoon in Calgary against the 4-2 Colts.
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
