Jackson Woloschuk had an outstanding game for the Peacock Tornadoes on Thursday.

The grade 12 running back rushed for 293 yards and four touchdowns to help the Tornadoes to a 35-7 win over the Weyburn Eagles at Gutheridge Field in the Moose Jaw High School Football League.

The win improved Peacock’s record to 5-0 on the year, while Weyburn dropped to 1-4.

The Tornadoes had a 14-0 lead at halftime, but weren’t really clicking on offence. That carried over into the third quarter, but Woloschuk broke the game open with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns runs to seal the win.

“We focused up at halftime and we needed to really,” said Woloschuk. “They came out firing, we didn’t come out as hard as we should have, but we really turned it around in that second half when we needed to.”

While it wasn’t the start that they were looking for, Peacock head coach Bert Redstone said the team found a way to right the ship, which is something they can learn from moving forward.

“I don’t know if the guys just came out flat today — it’s high school sports, you don’t know what you’re going to get some days — and that really set us back because Weyburn came to play,” he said.

“The guys toughed up in the second half and Hunter Viczko and Jackson Woloschuk just carried the team today. Jackson ran harder than I’ve ever seen him and Viczko was playing nose for us and centre and was just working guys in there, which is exactly what you want.”

Woloschuk opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter and then he extended the lead to 14-0 with a four-yard score early in the second.

The score stayed that way with both teams hurting themselves with penalties over the next two quarters.

Peacock found their break when the Eagles failed on a third down gamble late in the third quarter. The Tornadoes eventually drove the ball down to the two-yard line where Woloschuk punched in his third touchdown of the game.

On Weyburn’s ensuing drive, Peacock’s Ashton Woodley picked off Eagles quarterback Brett Bowler at midfield. Woloschuk followed that up with a 55-yard scoring scamper just a minute later to extend the lead to 28-0.

Woloschuk credited the offensive line with the success that he was able to post.

“They did a great job in that second half, the holes just opened up, it was like seven yards before I was contacted on some plays, just great job from that o-line,”said Woloschuk.

Damien Wiens ran in from ten yards out with 3:46 remaining to make it 35-0 and Weyburn’s Joel Nimegeers added a six-yard score in the final minute to break the shutout.

Peacock quarterback Garrick Ward didn’t have a big day passing as he was held to just 89 yards in the game, but he posted 64 yards along the ground.

Tornadoes top receiver Payton Chow went down with an injury in the first quarter, limiting him to just 11 yards on two catches. His injury isn’t expected to be serious, according to Redstone.

Weyburn was held to just 184 yards on offence as Peacock’s defence would bend, but wouldn’t break throughout the game.

“It was a good first half by us, our defence was playing quite well, but our offence was killing ourselves with a whole bunch of penalties and that hurt,” said Weyburn head coach Darren Abel. “Peacock came out and showed the undefeated team that they are, but I’m proud of my guys for the effort today.”

Bowler threw for 55 yards in the loss, while Lance Palao was Weyburn’s top yard gainer with seven carries for 60 yards.

Peacock will have a showdown with the also undefeated Yorkton Raiders at Gutheridge Field to close out the regular season on Tuesday, while Weyburn will host the Vanier Vikings.

Vanier lost 57-0 to the Raiders in Yorkton on Thursday to drop to 2-3 on the year. Yorkton is now 5-0.

In other high school football action on Thursday, the Central Cyclones won 38-28 over the Estevan Elecs to finish the regular season at 3-3. Estevan falls to 0-5.