It was a come from behind win in U12 football for the Moose Jaw Spartans Wednesdat night over the Lions.

The Spartans won 12-8 after not scoring until the fourth quarter. The Spartans took a little bit more time to fire up the offence but they were still able to get their third win of the young season.

An interception return for a touchdown, followed by a run for a touchdown gave the Spartans their points. Neither conversion attempt was successful but they were points they wouldn’t need.

“The defence really stepped up,” said Spartans coach Colin Belsher. “We had a lot of movement. This game, we swapped a lot of kids over that have never played offense before and kids that haven’t played defence before, so it was a big learning curve. And they were kind of learning on the fly. And that’s what makes me proud as a coach ... and then seeing some success as well.”

After three wins in a row, the Spartans will get a different team to look at for their next game in a couple of weeks. The mini-league schedule has teams needing a bit of a break between series of games due to provincial regulations.

“We’re seeing a team for the first time in the year, just like when we’ve played the Lions for the first time this year, we didn’t really know what to expect,” Belsher said. “It’s tough trying to be creative because you’re seeing the same kids doing the same stuff over again, and now we play Estevan three times.”

Lions coach Steven MacAuley said he liked the way his team has learned on the fly in the last few games.

“You can definitely see the newer players learning more about the game of football at each game, and they’re even learning each practice,” said MacAuley. “Especially when you start moving them to different positions, they start to learn more and more at each part of the game and it really helps the whole outcome as a team.”

MacAuley said the focus in the last two practices changed things for their team and their defence, just to give themselves a different look against the Spartans.

Those teams have a couple of weeks to prepare for their next games. They don't play until the 30th when the Lions go to Weyburn to play the Ravens and the Spartans host the Estevan Chargers.

In U14 football action, the Moose Jaw Vikings won 38-34 over the Swift Current Steelers. During the game, the teams combined for a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, two kickoff return touchdowns, a punt return touchdown, and an interception returned for a touchdown as well.

The Vikings won the game with a late fourth quarter comeback.

The Vikings and Raiders meet up this Saturday night at MacDonald Field at 7 p.m. in an all-Moose Jaw matchup.