The Central Cyclones couldn’t finish the deal on Saturday, ending a stellar season for the local squad.

Central lost 46-17 to the Yorkton Raiders in the Moose Jaw High School Football League championship game, coming up just short of their ultimate goal.

Despite the loss, the Cyclones are coming off a great season that saw them put together a record-setting regular season and make it into the league final for the first time since 2015.

"It’s always tough with the grade 12s and seeing them move on and there’s not a whole lot that I can say as a coach to make them feel any better," said Central head coach Colin Belsher. "I asked them to lay it all on the line, leave everything on the field, and I’m confident that they did that."

 The Raiders ran away with the game in the second half, but the Cyclones threw everything they could muster at the undefeated defending champions in the first half, coming out down just eight points.

Senior receiver CJ Vincent said that they have nothing to hang their heads about, "We put our hearts on our line, our whole team battled and we wouldn’t anywhere without all of us, if it wasn’t for all of us, we wouldn’t have been in this game," he said.

"I felt like we were going to win after that first half, just one score down, that first half was what we really wanted, but in that second half, we just kind of fell apart… All-round, we played our hearts out and we did everything we could."

There were many highlights for the Cyclones this season, including Ethan Johnson setting a new single-season passing yards record, which earned him league Most Valuable Player honours, and Vincent moving into second all-time in receiving yards.

Linebacker Hunter Morgan also put together a great year, walking away with the MJHSFL’s Defensive MVP award.

"I missed the first game of the year, but I thought I came back really strong and was fortunate enough to get the award," Morgan said on his season.

He added that he’s proud of the game that the team put together in the final, "It’s always tough to lose when you’re that close to the championship, but we fought through the whole game, we kept our head up all the way through to the end and we battled hard," said Morgan.

The Cyclones finish the season with a 7-2 record overall, their only two losses coming at the hands of the Raiders.

"This is the best team that I’ve ever played with by far, it’s the most fun that I’ve ever had playing a sport in my entire life and I’m just going to miss it so much," said Johnson.