The Moose Jaw Raiders won 26-6 Wednesday over the Swift Current Steelers, to improve to 3-and-1 on the season.

The Raiders and Steelers both had issues with turnovers in the second half, but the Raiders were able to clean it up. Raiders head coach Jamie Passmore said they started running the ball more and noticing the Steelers were had changed their defensive approach.

“They were starting to blitz a lot more so we saw the over-top was starting to open up,” Passmore said. “So just the quick-hitters on the passes, and then trying to get that defence not to be so tight to the line of scrimmage, so you’re trying to open up the bottle, and get that over the top pass, and we ended up getting a touchdown on that.”

He said the offensive line blocked better, which also helped.

“It was just an all-around great effort by all the kids there,” Passmore said. “They just really ponied up and played hard.”

The Raiders moved to sole possession of first place in the West Division with their record, slightly ahead right now over the 2-and-1 Moose Jaw Vikings.

“Kids are playing hard, they work hard at practice,” Passmore said. “I’ve got great coaches, they work their butts off. I couldn’t be more happy with the kids. No complaining. They just work hard.”

The Vikings head to Swift Current on Saturday afternoon to face the winless Steelers.