The Edmonton Wildcats knew they would have a bull's-eye on their collective backs this season and the Regina Thunder were the first to take dead aim.
The defending Prairie Football Conference (PFC) champion Wildcats did not get off to the start they wanted in their season opener on Sunday afternoon at Clarke Park, committing penalties time and again en route to a 32-14 loss to the Thunder.
"We committed so many errors I don't even know where to begin," Wildcats head coach Gary Durchik said.
Six flags thrown for offside and six more for unnecessary roughness hurt the Wildcats' chances to get anything going and keep Regina's explosive offence off the field.
"Anytime you get free yards, it's going to help with momentum," said Erwin Klempner, Regina's head coach. "It's unusual for Edmonton to do that, and I'm sure they're going to clean that up. But from our standpoint, it definitely helped keep some drives going."
Regina got on the scoreboard five minutes into the contest when quarterback Reid Quest connected with Kolten Solomon for a 30-yard touchdown.
The Thunder added to their lead with a conceded safety and a 25-yard field goal by Jonathan Probe late in the first before Quest and Solomon hooked up again to put points on the board. A 19-yard punt by Edmonton's Donavan Kavich gave the Thunder the ball at Edmonton's 44-yard-line and Quest needed just one play, firing the ball into Solomon's hands for the touchdown and a 19-0 lead, which they would take into halftime.
"I think that we just kind of showed up for the first half and then we found out we were in a ballgame," said Durchik.
Quest finished the day completing 21 of 29 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Solomon had four catches for 95 yards and scored three touchdowns, the third coming on a 105-yard kickoff return following Edmonton's first touchdown -- a 23-yard run by Kendell Kennedy -- in the fourth quarter.
Gone from last year's Wildcats team is quarterback Andy Pilon. In his place is second-year pivot Adam Senuik, who had a tough introduction to the PFC. He led his team to just one first down in the first half, finishing with one touchdown and an interception on 97 yards passing.
"It was a football game, that's for sure," said Senuik, who led his team with 54 yards rushing. "It had its ups and downs like every game does, and I felt like we showed some good stuff, but we definitely showed some of the things we need to work on. ... They are fixable things, and that's a positive."
Durchik liked what he saw in his quarterback.
"If there was a bright spot, I think (Senuik) did pretty good. I thought he did very well, for his first ballgame," he said.
Trailing 32-7 in the fourth, the Wildcats had a touchdown called back due to another unnecessary roughness penalty. The ensuing punt by Kavich, however, was fumbled and recovered by Edmonton. Senuik wasted little time in finding Andrew Johnson for an eight-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 18 points.
An onside kick was attempted by the Wildcats, but failed, allowing Regina to run out the clock.
The Wildcats will try to even their record on Sunday when they host the Saskatoon Hilltops at Clarke Park at 1 p.m. Until then, Durchik knows what he will do to ensure his players do not shoot themselves in the foot again.
"We take this video and we go over it, and over it, and over it, and over it, and over it until they don't want to see it again," he said.
