The Central Cyclones went into the final of the Moose Jaw Invitational senior boys basketball tournament as underdogs Saturday. The Cyclones came out determined to cope with Prince Albert St. Mary’s defensive pressure and they also stepped on the floor fully confident that they could win.The Cyclones showed that their self-confidence was well-founded as they beat St. Mary 79-70 in the final of the 51st annual Invitational.

“We didn’t know how we were going to handle their pressure and their trap. I thought we did a great job because they ended up taking it off,” said Central coach Leigh Pethick. “I thought our guys came with the right focus and the right state of mind and the belief that we could win.”

The Cyclones made 13 free throws in the fourth quarter that helped hold off the Marauders after they hit three three-point shots in the final 3:30.Devon Parker scored 21 points for the Cyclones and punctuated the win with a dunk with 1:17 left in the game .Tournament most valuable player Bryce Marcotte scored 14 in the final for Central and Myles McDougall added 10 more for the Cyclones.

The Central Cyclones did need to qualify for provincials and they did just that with a 25-20, 25-13 win over Swift Current in the bronze medal game.

The Cyclones battled through a lot of adversity to join their city rivals in the 10-team provincial field.

“The kids were troopers this weekend. We’ve been going through sickness, strep throat and injuries,” said Central head coach Brad Hennenfent.

“They just kept on playing. They showed a lot of guts. I was very impressed with the kids.”

Joining Peacock, Central and Weyburn at provincials will be Regina’s Campbell and LeBoldus as well as Marian Graham and St. Joseph from Saskatoon. The north regional qualifiers were Prince Albert St. Mary, North Battleford Comp. and either Meadow Lake.

In the end the Cyclones made more of them as they scored three second half touchdowns to beat Peacock 22-13 in the Moose Jaw High School Football League semifinal. The win ended the Tornadoes’ three year reign as city champions.

The Cyclones will meet the Vanier Vikings in the city final next Saturday.

“It feels so good,” said Central senior Chris Brennan who lost to Peacock in the playoffs two of the past three years. “It was intense every single play. It was just hard-hitting, intense, all game.”

Though the first half finished scoreless, there was no shortage of drama or desire on the field as both sides made a number of big plays.

“These boys really rose to the occasion,” said Central head coach Colin Belsher. “It was 0-0 at the half and it was a test of their character. A lot of these Grade 12s took it personally and stepped up and carried the team in the second half.”

Early in the third quarter Central receiver Daniel Bjorge scored on a 62 yard pass and run from Bren Forbes to break the deadlock.

Later in the third quarter Jacques Van Heerden scored on a five-yard run to put the Cyclones ahead 13-0.

Peacock conceded a safety rather than kick into the stuff wind and were down 15-0. The Peacock defence responded when Clay Ludwar’s 30-yard interception return gave the Tornadoes the ball deep in Central territory. They finished the drive when Sawyer Buettner found Kyle Dalgarno for an eight-yard touchdown catch with 6:19 left.

The Cyclones responded with a big drive that was capped by a 27-yard Van Heerden touchdown run to extend the lead to 22-7. Van Heerden finished with 157 yards rushing.

Just when it looked like the Tornadoes might be down they fought back again. On their first play after the touchdown, tailback Nathan Fall threw the ball to Dalgarno and he out-ran the Cyclones defence for an 81-yard touchdown. The Tornadoes missed the convert making their challenge even bigger, but didn’t quit.

Brennan intercepted his second pass of the game to seal the win in the dying seconds.

Central senior linebacker Braydon Mackey made a pair of huge plays — recovered a Peacock fumble at his own 32 yard line and later intercepting a pass on his own 20.

Bjorge caught five passes for 83 yards and Reegan Carter added four catches for 57 yards. Forbes finished with 151 yards passing.

Tyler Anakaer had two sacks for the Tornadoes. Nathan Fall had 100 yards rushing and Chris Fall ran two fake punts for 48 yards and a pair of first downs to keep drives alive.

The Vikings wasted no time putting points up on the board, as they led 16-7 at half time. Brandin Cannon had a dominant game as he rushed 13 attempts for 130 yards and had one touchdown in the first half. Cannon finished with 31 carries for 243 yards and two touchdowns in the match. Ryan Froehlich also hit up Keegan Arnyek for  touchdown in the first quarter.

“We wanted to just come in and start running the ball and it seemed to work, so we just kept with it and kept going,” said Brandin Cannon. “It was great blocking up front from the fullbacks and receivers, everybody was just phenomenal blocking today. I didn’t have to make too many moves  before five yards, we had a great push and I owe a lot of thanks to those guys.”

Before the match, the Vikings record was 4-0 and the Cyclones were 4-1. With a Central win, it would have come down to points for first place.

Despite the loss, Cyclones coach Colin Belsher couldn’t have asked for a better game from his team.

“With the exception of the first quarter where we came out a little slow, I thought we battled really hard for the following three quarters,” said Central head coach Colin Belsher. “I told these guys coming in, regardless of the score, we saw improvement from game one and I really think we did.”

Winning set scores were 25-12, 25-16, and 25-21. The Spirits won the third set 25-23.

“At times they did things well,” said Central’s assistant coach Carrie Mullen. “Sometimes, I think they just need to work on the mental part of the game.”

The first two sets were all Cyclones, as they dominated the play at the net and on serves.