Peacock's Levi Paul jumps over an Estevan defender for the first down on Thursday at Gutheridge Field.

The Peacock Tornadoes showed a different side than we're used to seeing out of their offence as they aired it out in a 31-14 win over the Estevan Elecs at Gutheridge Field on Thursday.  

After an injury to their starting running back, Austin Abbott, during practice this week, Peacock went with a passing attack to open their season against the Elecs.  Quarterback Sawyer Buettner went 12-for-20 for 272 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

"We have some speedy receivers, basically all of them are really good, so it's nice when you can chuck it up and they can go get it," said Buettner after the game.

His main target on the afternoon was Grade 11 receiver Levi Paul, who finished the day with six catches for 189 yards and a touchdown.  Blake Olsen and Caleb Havanka were also on the receiving end of Buettner touchdown strikes.

Buettner says they were able to make some adjustments after taking a 7-6 lead into halftime that allowed them to explode for 24 second half points, "We had a pretty shaky first and second quarter, but that comes with the first game.

"Coaches told us that we needed to step up the game in the second half and I think we did that.  We put the peddle to the metal."

Paul says he feels the second half was more of what we can expect out of this year's Peacock team, "We were pretty happy.  We came out in the second half and played how we should, so it was nice."

The game started off slow for both teams as Peacock fumbled on their second play from scrimmage and then again on their second possession of the game, but Estevan wasn't able to capitalize as Elecs quarterback Kolby Fleury threw an interception to Peacock's Tanner Schier after the second fumble.

The Tornadoes found their stride after the pick as Buettner hit Paul down the sidelines for a 77-yard catch and run to end the first quarter.

Estevan found some legs in the second quarter and put together a nice drive that ended with a three-yard TD run by running back Colten Bachoreik with 4:53 to go in the half.  That would be it for offence in the first half though.

Peacock's running game picked up at the start of the third quarter as Jordan Collicot, who was called into duty after the injury to Abbott, broke a 34-yard touchdown run on the Tornadoes second play for a 14-6 lead.  It would be all Peacock from there, as they added a 27-yard field goal by Kyle Arndt and a 38-yard TD grab by Havanka to go up 24-6 by the end of the frame.

Another long drive by the Tornadoes midway through the fourth was punctuated by a 10-yard TD pass by Buettner to Olsen for a 31-6 lead.

Estevan's final points would come on another long drive that ended with a three-yard TD run by Kaleb Memory.

Peacock head coach Blake Buettner says they passed a little bit more than they were hoping too, but was happy with the end result, "Passing was a little bit more on the menu than we would have wanted (due to the injury to Abbott), but that's just the way it worked out.

"We knew from the youth (of our team) that we were going to make some mistakes, but I'm really happy with the second half and how they responded because Estevan has some big, good athletes, so I'm really happy with the way the guys came out and played that second half."

Despite the win, Buettner says there are still some areas that need to be cleaned up before their second game coming up on Tuesday in Yorkton.

"Certainly we would like a few less penalties, but some of those penalties are for some pretty good effort in blocking and things, but it's just making sure we have the right angles.  With young kids, those are some of the things that you have to work on coaching, so we'll do a better job of that."

There were two other High School Football games on Thursday as Central went into Weyburn and picked up a 21-6 win to improve to 2-0 on the year, the loss drops the Eagles to 1-1.  Vanier fell to 0-2 after a 24-14 loss to the Colts in Swift Current.