There won’t be a second consecutive undefeated Kinsmen Football League (KFL) season for the Prince Albert Bantam River Riders as they fell 16-0 to the Saskatoon Raiders at Max Clunie Field.
“I thought we played well defensively, held them to 16 points. I think we had four or five sacks, so the defense played really well. Offensively, we got to do some work. Obviously, we didn’t score points, you got to score points to win, so we got to get back to the practice and just work on a lot of things offensively.”
Two touchdowns in the first quarter and a second half safety provided all the scoring that the Raiders would need in the victory. Hemsworth says he wants to see Prince Albert generate more space for the offense moving forward.
“We really got to improve on our blocking assignments. We need our quarterback to get some room and get some blocks for running backs, get them out into some space. Some drives we did good, but a lot of inconsistency so we got to tidy that up this week at practice.”
Despite the loss to open the season, Hemsworth says he liked what he saw out of his team.
“I am proud of the kids that came out. We battled, there’s a lot of back and forth and we didn’t come out on top, but the season’s not over. That’s a good team, that’s who we played in the final last year. They got a lot of guys probably returning from that team.”
In the Pee Wee game, the River Riders lost 63-0 to the Saskatoon Raiders.
