The MUCC Comets special teams and defense took control of the season opening football game early giving them their first win. The Comets posted a 38-20 victory over the Tisdale Tornadoes on Friday, September 5 in Tisdale. Tyler Jones ran the opening kickoff back about 70 yards for a touchdown. The defense followed that up with a safety for two points giving them a 9-0 lead. The Comets took advantage of a Tisdale penalty and Jomar Malaggay ran the ball in from eight yards out for another touchdown. The Comets defense forced another safety for two more points and the comets led 18-0 halfway through the opening quarter. Comets coach Dave Rogers said having taking a commanding early lead is a double-edged sword. I think we came out really strong, we came out with some intensity and I think we went though a dip in intensity especially in the second quarter, he said. Everything really went the way we wanted it to in the beginning and that is part of learning to play too, the start of a new season is keeping the intensity up. The next score came late in the third quarter when the Comets capped off a drive from midfield with a five-yard touchdown run by Malaggay. The extra point gave the Comets a 25-0 lead. Jones added another touchdown for the comets. This time the convert missed and the comets led 31-0 with 90 seconds remaining in the quarter. The Tornadoes were not done yet. Corey Serhan had an 85-yard touchdown run for the Tornadoes first score. The conversion missed but the lead was cut to 31-6. The tornadoes then capped off a pair of big plays with another touchdown, this time the conversion was good and the lead was cut to 31-13. Late in the game the teams traded touchdowns. Melforts Zach Richardson scored from 15-yards out. With the conversion the comets led 38-13. Tisdales next possession saw Cole Chowan have a 60-yard catch and run for a touchdown. With the conversion the final score was decided, 38-20. Rogers said the score of the game is not as important as the overall outcome. We need our kids to play and develop and if we are worried about if we are going to be 38-0 or 38-6 or something like that we are really focusing on the wrong things. We need to focus on the development of our kids as players and the chance to play, Rogers explained. If we are going to do that we have to be willing to let our opponents score some points against our younger kids because our younger kids are going to play. It helps with the learning. More learning will be taking place this week as the Comets have a bye week. They are going to focus on intensity both on and off the field as well as developing overall as a team. The bye in some ways comes in a good place for us. We had our game and saw it against a live opponent in a game that mattered for points. It pointed out to us as coaches and to the players what we need to work on to get better, he said. The story of the season isnt the first week or the first bye it is when we get later into the season. It is good we got the result we wanted and we still need to work on the where we want to go with the rest of the season. After the bye week the Comets host Clavet in their home opener. It is set for 4 p.m. on September 19 at MUCC field. greg.wiseman@sunmedia.ca @melfortjournal

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Comets defeat Tornadoes in season opener