Rifles blown out by Thunder in opener

The Winnipeg Rifles couldn’t conjure up a worse start in their nightmares.

The club opened their campaign in the Canadian Junior Football League with a lopsided 60-14 loss to Prairie Conference rival Regina Thunder at Maple Grove Rugby Park on Sunday.

And if it’s possible, the game wasn’t as close as the score suggests.

The Thunder dominated all three phases for four quarters and, save for a few bright moments from the hosts, ran the Rifles off their own field.

For perspective, Regina had three offensive touchdowns, an interception return for a major, a blocked punt and a safety, and led 30-0 by halftime.

Yet, no number infuriated head coach Geordie Wilson more than the 22 penalties committed by his club.

“We talk about lack of discipline, and that’s what that was,” said Wilson, who began his eighth season at the helm. “When you take procedure calls, when you take offside calls, you take unsportsmanlike penalties, those are undisciplined penalties that are completely unacceptable.

“I’ve told these guys before, the only team that’s going to beat them this year is themselves, and they beat themselves today — they put a whooping on themselves today.”

Winnipeg is looking to improve on consecutive seasons ending in first-round playoff exits with new starting quarterback Myles Desmarais under centre and running back Kaiden Banfield leading the offensive attack.

Banfield was a bright spot on an otherwise dark day for the offence. The tailback accounted for both of Winnipeg’s majors, including a 57-yard scamper in the third quarter.

“I don’t really take pride in two touchdowns when we’re losing like this,” said Banfield, a fourth-year player.

“I think the only thing we can really do from it is learn from it, correct it in film, come back, be better for the next game.”

It remains to be seen if Desmarais can help his team going forward, as the pivot exited the game in the fourth quarter after sustaining a head injury.

The Rifles were behind from the get-go as the visitors pieced together an efficient eight-play, 75-yard opening drive that took a little more than three minutes off the clock. Running back Sadik Sadik capped the series by punching it in from three yards, the first in a banner day for the Regina speedster.

In the second frame, after Desmarais threw the second of his four interceptions on the day, the visitors went back to Sadik, who took a shallow crossing route 20 yards to pay dirt to make it 21-0. Sadik would add a third major in the third quarter, hauling in a 58-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Carter Moberg.

The Rifles defence did tally four takeaways in the game — three interceptions and one turnover on downs — but the offence was not able to capitalize.

On the other side, the Thunder didn’t need to throw the ball much on this day. Instead, they leaned on their workhorse running back Ryland Leichert, who found the end zone twice and gashed the Rifle’s defence on several occasions.

Thanks to an efficient run game on first down, it was rare that Regina found itself in second-and-long and allowed them to keep Winnipeg off balance on defence. It’s what Wilson wants his team to be going forward.

“The identity of what our team is — and we need to get this straightened out — we need to be a run-first team,” said Wilson.

“When you start getting behind, you start chasing a little bit and then you’re in trouble. We have a young quarterback that’s gotta grow up a little bit and it makes it hard for him when we’re trying to sling the ball around a little bit too much.”

The silver lining in all this? It was just the first in an eight-game regular season schedule for the Rifles.

Winnipeg will look for a better performance when they host the Saskatoon Hilltops at Maple Grove Park on Sunday, Aug. 18.

“I think it is a long season. We got a long way to go,” said Banfield. “We didn’t have a preseason game, so I kind of take this game as that preseason game. We’ll make changes, come back better for the next game and we’ll be better after this for sure.”

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