Just as he has all season, Jordin Rusnack powered the Yorkton Raiders on Saturday, leading them to their second straight Moose Jaw High School Football League championship.

Rusnack accounted for five touchdowns (three rushing and two passing) as the Raiders finished off a perfect season with a 46-17 win over the Central Cyclones in the title game at Gutheridge Field.

"This feels unreal, even better than last year because we’ve been rivalling [Central] all year, they’ve been saying stuff and we come into their hometown and get a pretty deciding win, especially in the second half, so it feels great," said Rusnack after rushing for 100 yards and three touchdowns, and throwing for 157 yards and two scores.

Yorkton held an 18-10 lead at halftime, but they took over right from the start in the second half as Rusnack connected with Carson Sveinbjronson on the second play from scrimmage.

Rusnack hooked up with Tyler Harasymuk for a seven-yard score 3:10 later to make it a 32-10 game in the blink of an eye.

The Cyclones responded late in the third quarter with a one-yard touchdown run, but they couldn’t get momentum fully on their side as Rusnack sealed the win with two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

"The awards helped us with momentum [after Central won both the Most Valuable Player and Defensive MVP awards], everyone got more ramped up and realized that our season could be over, so in the second half, we picked it up and rolled," said Rusnack.

Yorkton quarterback Jordin Rusnack runs into the end zone for the first touchdown of the day during Saturday's MJHSFL championship game. (Photo: Marc Smith)

The Cyclones were right there with the Raiders heading into halftime as they were moving the ball on offence and competing hard on defence to limit Yorkton.

"I’m really proud of all my teammates, we played like [champions] today, we were only down by eight at halftime, these guys haven’t had a close game all year, so I was really proud of what we did today," said Central quarterback Ethan Johnson.

Yorkton jumped 11-0 lead in the first quarter, but Central found their spark early in the second quarter when Johnson connected with Riley Seaborn for a 28-yard touchdown on a faked field goal. Johnson would catch a pass from receiver CJ Vincent for the two-point convert to make it 11-8.

The Raiders surrendered a safety with 3:56 remaining in the second quarter to pull Central within one point, but a 15-yard touchdown run by Harasymuk with 1:22 left swung the momentum back in Yorkton’s favour heading the second half.

"It was like the first couple round of a boxing match with blows both ways," said Central head coach Colin Belsher. "We were there, we were there at half and I don’t know if we ran out of gas or what it was, Yorkton started making the plays and we weren’t making the plays.

"Games are won and lost by momentum, the first half we were right there, but that late score in the first half to put them up by eight was a momentum killer because we knew they were getting the ball in the second half."

Central receiver CJ Vincent dives for a pass in the end zone during Saturday's championship game at Gutheridge Field. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Johnson finished 26-of-39 for 248 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Vincent was his top target, hauling in nine catches for 87 yards, including six catches for 67 yards in the second half.

Rusnack paced the Raiders’ attack, but Harasymuk also had a big day for Yorkton, posting 48 yards rushing, 36 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

"This feels amazing," said Harasymuk. "You don’t get used to winning, all the effort that it takes, this isn’t the end, but it’s a good victory for us."

The Raiders will now battle the Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney Saints in the SHSAA 3A 12-man provincial semifinal in Yorkton next Saturday. Regina hosts the provincial championship game in two weeks.