After a 47-0 win against the Manitoba Fearless, the Saskatoon Valkyries say they’re confident they can keep up the momentum when they face their regional rivals, the Regina Riot in two-weeks time.
The Valkyries dominated the Fearless scoring a total of six touchdowns—two in the first quarter, two in the second quarter, and one in each of the remaining quarters. The Fearless tried to play an offensive game, but couldn’t keep up with the 2011 Western Women’s Canadian Football League champions.
Jeff Yausie, head coach of the Valkyries said he was pleased with the team’s performance against the Fearless, adding he wants to see the same kind of play in their upcoming game against the Riot.
“The provincial rivalry is huge now,” said Yausie. “I think the Riot has improved a lot over the season so we’ll see what happens.”
He said the team’s offensive play has been strong and he thinks both a strong offense and defense working together will be key to the team’s success.
“A little bit of good offense is a good defense too,” said Yausie. “Our defense kept getting the ball back and our offense had good field position…we have a balanced offense, we can run and we can throw, so really we can dictate to what a defense is doing. So if they’re giving us one thing, we’ll attack the other thing.”
He continued, “A balanced offense is a tough thing to defend and I think the rest of the league is finding that out.”
Candace Bloomquist, quarterback and punter for the Valkyries said she’s happy about the win, but she knows there is still a lot of work ahead.
“It’s good, I know we always have things to improve on and we’re always thinking about the next game as we’re going into practices, but it feels good to be able to make some of these plays,” said Bloomquist.
Bloomquist echoed Yausie saying they’ll continue to push the offense.
“We’re trying to make sure our offense is diverse. We want to run a little bit, pass a little bit—make sure to keep the defense on their toes.”
Bloomquist said the victory was sweet, but noted it won’t be long-lived as the team continues to look for a strong regular season finish.
“We’re going to feel good about this one for today but, into the beginning of the week, into the next series of practices and then we’ll start thinking about Regina.”
