A late flurry from the Estevan Elecs gave the second place Central Cyclones a scare during their quarterfinal meeting on Saturday in the Moose Jaw High School Football League.

Central led 28-0 at halftime against the seventh place Elecs, but Estevan scored three touchdowns in 1:06 during the final two minutes of the fourth quarter to pull within five points.

The Cyclones, who had been playing mainly back-ups in the second half, returned their starters to the field and promptly scored two touchdowns in 37 seconds to take a 48-30 win over Estevan.

“They kept getting some onside kicks and getting points on the board so we had to put our offence back in because it was getting too tight,” said Central head coach Colin Belsher.

“We had a lot of younger guys in trying to give them some quality game time and young guys are going to make mistakes, so hopefully that's a big learning opportunity for our young guys for next year and years to come.”

The first half was dominant for the Cyclones as they opened up with cornerback Abu Dukuly taking an interception 54 yards for a touchdown. Slotback Aiden Coleman scored on a 43-yard touchdown run, while quarterback Ryan Reidy finished off two lengthy drives with one-yard TDs for a big halftime lead.

After Zach Hagerman finished off another long drive to open the second half with a seven-yard score, Central let their second string players hit the field.

“I thought the first half we played good, but we didn't play great,” said Belsher. “I think our kids are capable of more than we did in the first half.”

“We did pretty good, but we could have done better,” added linebacker Joel Forer. “We've got some mistakes that we've got to clean up.”

Estevan got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Donny Mortenson scored on an 11-yard touchdown catch. Mortenson, who finished with ten catches for 177 yards, was a big part of the Elecs comeback as he would score a 14-yard touchdown to make it 35-16 with 1:55 to go and start the late scoring surge from Estevan.

Keaton Tarnes hauled in a nine-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andrew Kehler and linebacker Jacob Shurygalo scooped up a fumble and returned it 38 yards to make it 35-30 with 49 seconds to go.

Central put their starters back in and struck for a score on their first play with Jonah Branning taking a hand-off 56 yards to the end zone. Bryton Slater would intercept Kehler and return it 77 yards for another touchdown as time expired.

The Cylcones finished with 246 yards on the ground with the attack coming from a number of different weapons with Hagerman posting 99 yards, Branning picking up 93 and Coleman finishing with 70 yards.

Reidy was 5-of-9 for 87 yards through the air.

Estevan used a balanced attack to pick up 309 yards on offence with Levi Pick running for 128 yards on 20 carries in the losing cause.

Central will now face the Yorkton Raiders in one of the two semifinals at Gutheridge Field next Saturday. The Raiders topped the Weyburn Eagles 39-0 in their quarterfinal meeting on Saturday.