The Mohawks hosted the Melfort Comets on Sept. 30 at Glenn Hall Park and dropped a tough game 41-35.
The game got off to a slow start for the Mohawks as the Comets jumped out to a 14-0 lead by the midway mark of the first quarter.
With the game slowly slipping away from the Mohawks, Dawson Hering regained some momentum for the Mohawks with a huge kick return for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7 for the Comets.
With the Comets marching and looking to restore their two touchdown lead Mohawk’s, Jordan Seipp, picked off the Comets quarterback and returned it to the house for a touchdown to tie the score at 14-14.
After a penalty pushes the Comets back deep in their own territory they responded with a huge touchdown to give the Comets a 21-14 lead.
After a short possession for the Mohawks the Comets were once again driving the ball before Seipp picked off his second pass of the game and returned it for his second pick six of the afternoon to cut the Mohawks deficit to 21-20.
After the Comets blocked the point after attempt to keep it at 21-20, the very next play they returned a kick return for a touchdown to extend their lead to eight points.
After a couple of failed drives the teams went into halftime with the Comets leading 28-20.
The Mohawks started the second half strong on offense as they drove the ball down the field chewing up several minutes on the clock before Morgan Gobeil punched in a one-yard touchdown run to give the Mohawks their first offensive touchdown of the afternoon, cutting the Comets lead to 28-27.
The Comets responded with a pair of passing touchdowns sandwiched around a Seipp rushing touchdown as they extended their lead to 41-33 with the clock ticking down.
The Mohawks drove the ball deep into Comets territory but were intercepted at the one-yard line late in the final quarter.
After a quick two and out the Comets elected to take the safety giving the Mohawks two points and the ball with the time winding down.
The Mohawks failed to cash in late in the game as the loss drops their record to 3-1.
With the loss the Mohawks fall one game behind the Comets for first place in the five-team nine-man conference one league.
Despite the Mohawks scoring 35 points, they managed just two offensive touchdowns in the game, which is as much a credit to the Comets defense as it is an indictment on their offense, says Popoff.
“Melfort has a really well trained defensive line and linebacking systems so we knew that our run game would have some troubles. We just had trouble also getting the ball in the air to some of our better receivers and we were scrambling at times.”
With the Mohawks run game sputtering they were forced to throw the ball more, resulting in a number of interceptions, which was both a byproduct of the Mohawks being down and the Comets putting a lot of pressure on the Mohawks quarterbacks.
“Our quarterback hasn’t seen that kind of pressure for a few games now so as a result we need a little more patience in the pocket,” said Popoff.
“We’re once again glad our quarterback is on our team and not anyone else’s and I still think he had a pretty darn good game.”
Looking ahead the Mohawks travel to Clavet on Oct. 7 to take on the Cougars in a rematch of their Sept. 16 game which the Mohawks won 53-49 and Popoff says having already played them once is going to beneficial as they get ready for the rematch.
“Clavet gave us a hard time with our run stop and I think now we’re a better team that way so I expect some good things out of our football team with a good week of practice.”
