The Weyburn Comp Eagles football team were defeated in their first regular season game by Martin School 23-14 in Regina on Thursday.

Weyburn's lack of experience showed in the first half, falling behind 16-0 at half-time.

"In the first half you could see the inexperience," said coach Darren Abel.

Martin came out and scored a quick touchdown on the Eagles to go up 23-0. Even though they were in a large deficit, the team never gave up.

They came back in the third quarter with a five-yard touchdown run by Jon Neuberger. They elected to go for a two-point conversion which they made with a run by Tom Broccolo.

The Eagles were able to punch in one more touchdown before the end of the game, but failed on the two point conversion.

Abel felt the boys played good for the young team, but turnovers cost them points on the board.

They gave up two interceptions, three fumbles, and two balls were snapped over the punter's head.

The players knew that they needed to change something in order to score.

"We just switched stuff to see what works," said starting quarterback David Embree.

Martin had bigger players on their team, but the Eagles learned that they could make up for size with athletic ability.

"We are a small but quick team," said Embree.

Abel was impressed by the effort his team put in for their first game. His team was down by 23 points but never stopped playing.

"The most impressive part in my point of view is that they never gave up," Abel said.

Abel still thinks it is early to tell how good the team is, but thinks the coaching staff will have a better idea in their next game against Usher because they are known for fielding good teams.

He is still hoping to get more players taking leadership roles. He has seen players such as Jared Wagner, John Beauchien, and Andy Hodgson have shown leadership roles.

The next game will be on Saturday, Sept. 17 during Football Day in Weyburn. The Eagles will be playing Usher at 1 p.m. at Darold Kot Field.