A great way to kick off a new day.
The Swift Current Comp Colts started a new era of their football program with their first victory over Weyburn since 2019.
The Colts handled the Eagles 21-6 in their first 5A high school football game of the 2025 season.
It was also a debut victory for Colts Head Coach Andrew Herrick as he takes over after a two-decade run from Derek Murdoch at the helm.
Murdoch remains on staff as an assistant.
The Colts were really happy with how their young group stepped up on opening day.
"They've come together really well from spring camp until now," said Colts Offensive Coordinator Marcus Kouri on Country 94.1 FM's Local Sports Live. "So, getting that first victory just instills that little bit of extra confidence. Us coaches are always super confident, but I know a couple of our grade 12s, they weren't sure heading in. Our grade 12s have done a significant amount of losing in the past. So it's kind of that developing that winning culture. And I think today gets that off to a great start."
It was a special teams tour-de-force from Kye Griffin for Swift Current.
He went 2 for 3 on field goal attempts, scored a rouge, consistently hit strong punts, and returned a punt for a touchdown.
"Usually, my coaches are just telling me to go outside," Griffin said. "That's why I got that one touchdown. All credit to them for telling me to go outside and I had great blocking on that too. Then my kicks are just, I don't know, pursuit of the ball. That's what we've been doing all week. Pursuit of the ball, pursuit of the ball and good things will happen. I just try and kick it as hard and far as I can every time."
For a veteran like Griffin a win over Weyburn means a lot.
"We're super happy about it," he noted. "It's been a long time coming for us to beat Weyburn. I don't know, it just feels really good to beat someone other than Estevan. I don't know what to say."
Outside of a late score in the first half, Swift Current's defensive play held the Eagles in check.
Cooper Telke led the way with three sacks for the Colts.
"Oh, I felt amazing," Telke said. "I think that's the best game I've ever played on the football field. (Their) quarterback being nervous (and) not really being in sync with his team kind of helped us a lot, and we have a good strong line just to back us up too."
The Colts offence relied heavily on the run throughout the game as they had a new starting quarterback in Jaimie Robertson behind centre.
"110% we knew that was going to be the way," Kouri said. "We've got three horses in Campbell Plewis and Jake Woods and Cade Sanderson that all three of them can carry the football kind of helped Jamie settle into that. He's played a little bit of quarterback, but not a ton. So being able to get him just in that first game as a grade 11 quarterback just to relax and ride those three."
Swift Current took a 1-0 lead in the first quarter on a missed field goal for a rouge.
They were able to move the ball with their running game but couldn't take advantage of their early strong field position.
"I think you run the ball down their throat enough, people don't want to step in front of you, wears them down," Sanderson said. "They were starting to go down with injuries in the fourth quarter, getting tired. We were in better shape going into the 4th and it showed.
"I knew it was going to be smash-mouth football. That was our game plan going in. I was excited to hear it, obviously, as a running back."
That run attack opened the door in the 2nd quarter for Robertson to roll out and throw his first touchdown pass of the season to Nate Siemens for an 8-0 Colts lead.
"We picked up a couple first downs on that jet left and then we faked it and QB boot was wide open to the right," Sanderson said. "Easy passing touchdown for him. Gets the nerves off him. Gets everybody going."
Swift Current turned the ball over on downs and opened the door for Weyburn's only score of the game with 3.8 seconds left in the 2nd quarter.
The Colts immediately shut the Eagles down to start the second half and didn't give their attack anything the rest of the way.
"It was the best thing we could have done," Telke said. "Can't get down and keep staying down, we've got to come back up and stay level at an equal medium with that."
The Colts pulled away in the second half with two field goals and Griffin's punt return touchdown.
Swift Current looks to extend their strong start to the season when they host Moose Jaw Peacock on September 5th.
"They're going to be very similar," Kouri said. "Their offense is going to do the same thing as our offense is doing. It's going to be a lot of hard running both ways. They're big, they're physical, they're well coached. So that's another matchup that's going to be one in the trenches, one at that linebacker depth and see what happens."
You can also hear that game on Country 94.1 FM with Local Sports Live.