A quick start helped propel the Peacock Tornadoes to a hard fought season-opening win over the Central Cyclones on Saturday afternoon at Gutheridge Field.

Peacock jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and were able to stay in front the rest of the way to secure a 32-13 win to open the season in the Moose Jaw High School Football League.

“It was fun, it’s always great to play Central, our rivals, and we just had to go out and perform and that’s what we did,” said Peacock receiver Payton Chow.

Chow was a game-breaker for Peacock in the season opener, he caught two touchdowns in the first quarter from 14 and 39 yards out to give the Tornadoes the early lead. Then in the second quarter, Chow added a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown to give Peacock a 20-7 lead.

“This was probably the best game I’ve ever had,” said Chow. “The play calls; Garrick (Ward) throwing the ball in perfect spots all led to the big day.”

Chow finished with five catches for 130 yards and one rush for six yards in the win. On defence, he had a forced fumble and recovery to go along with the interception.

“Payton is a nice asset to have, scoring those three touchdowns like he did today is really nice to have,” said Peacock quarterback Garrick Ward.

Ward looked comfortable right from the start of the game in his first start at quarterback for Peacock. He led the team on a six-minute drive to open the game, finishing with a 14-yard touchdown for Chow.

“This win was nice to build up some momentum,” said Ward, who completed 13-of-20 passes for 191 yards. “To get that first one out of the way was really nice to have.”

Running back Jackson Woloschuk ran nine times for 37 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Central receiver Riley Seaborn (#2) hauls in a 65-yard touchdown in the Cyclones' loss to Peacock on Saturday. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Central started to find the footing as the first half went on with CJ Vincent scoring a one-yard touchdown to make it 13-7 midway through the second quarter.

Cyclones quarterback Ethan Johnson found receiver Riley Seaborn behind the defence for a 65-yard touchdown with just 1:21 left in the first half to make it a one-score game at the break.

Central’s offence just couldn’t carry that over into the second half to pull any closer.

“There was certainly times when we played great, we have the right schemes in place for the kids and they really have to buy in and believe that it’s the right schemes, but Peacock outplayed us today, they flat out did,” said Central head coach Colin Belsher.

“There’s still that mental game with the dominance that Peacock has had over the years. The league is going to be close this year, there’s going to be a lot of dog fights and the team that comes out with the most passion and the willingness to have that fight game-in and game-out is going to be successful.”

Johnson finished 12-of-29 for 228 yards with two touchdowns. Vincent and Seaborn both topped 100 yards in the loss, Vincent had nine catches for 115, while Seaborn finished with two catches for 100.

Peacock head coach Bert Redstone said this win was a good start for his team, but they’ve got plenty of room for growth as well.

“We had some big mistakes, obviously we’ve got to clean that up, we can’t have turnovers like that, we had a lot of guys out of position, there’s enough to work with that we can move forward,” said Redstone.

The game opened on a sombre note with a moment of silence for Central principal Scott Williamson, who died on Friday after a battle with cancer.

Belsher said that the Cyclones played with heavy hearts and he’s proud of how the team battled through that.

“Scott was a great man, he touched many lives and he was a big deal to these kids at our school, big to us as coaches and he’s going to be dearly missed,” said Belsher. “We wanted to do something well for him, but the game still comes down to what you do on the field.”

The Cyclones will head to Swift Current on Thursday night to battle the Colts under the lights at 7 p.m. The Tornadoes will be back on the field on Friday to take on the Vikings, who are coming off a 48-8 win over Estevan in the early game on Saturday.

In the out-of-town game on Saturday, the Swift Current Colts won 39-14 over the Weyburn Eagles.

Receiver Nic Bachiu had five catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns in the win.