The Prince Albert Whiskey Jacks are now a perfect 2-0 after a 33-26 win over the Saskatoon Badgers in Saskatoon on Tuesday evening.
The club pulled out the win on the last play of the game in a close fought contest.
“It was awesome for our second game,” Darcy Murphy of the Whiskey Jacks said.
Prince Albert took an early 7-0 lead, but the Badgers responded by tying the game before the Whiskey Jacks regained the lead at 10-7 lead. They continued to carry the play, and went into the half leading 19-13.
This was the Whiskey Jacks second game since returning to the field last week, and Murphy said he was happy with the effort.
The Whiskey Jacks were able to start practices at the end of June, though they were in a modified format until two weeks ago as COVID-19 restrictions started to be lifted throughout Saskatchewan.
“We had a few young players in there that had a lot of minutes so it was good,” he said. “We played tough and we were really aggressive on defence, and that is part of our game here now. The technical game is not quite there, being on the rebound from COVID, but we played really aggressive and really solid last night.”
Ron Tawake had three successful tries for the Whiskey Jacks, while Carter Greenslade added another.
Murphy said that Tawake stood out for his contributions.
“He was a bit of a surprise to us because he was kind of a pickup from Saskatoon,” Murphy said. “He was a surprise for us, and it was our guys setting him up basically. He is quite the athlete.”
Colm Cournane was responsible for the rest of the scoring adding two converts and two penalty kicks.
Points scorers for the Badgers were not available.
This was the second game of a series with the Badgers. The Whiskey Jacks opened the season with a 15-10 win over the Saskatoon side at Max Clunie Field last Tuesday. The teams meet again on Tuesday, Aug. 10 at Max Clunie with kickoff at 8 p.m. Their series will conclude on Wednesday, Aug. 18 in Saskatoon.
-With files from Lucas Punkari
