The Steinbach Regional Secondary School's varsity football team is heading into the playoffs riding a bit of momentum.

Eric Adams kicked a 25-yard field with two minutes left in the fourth quarter as the Sabres defeated the Sturgeon Heights Huskies 23-21 Thursday at A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach.

"The boys played well," texted SRSS head coach Jamie Peters. "They battled and hung tough for 48 minutes. They were able to make enough plays to pull out a victory. I was happy to see the continued fight and competitiveness from our team. We've been close in many games this season and this time we made the plays necessary to get the win."

Sabres quarterback Sawyer Thiessen completed 11-of-23 passes for 245 yards and threw touchdown passes to Adams, Sheycoy Selent and Tyler Bueckert.

Bueckert also had a big game on defense as he recorded nine tackles and one interception.

The SRSS had a 2-5 record in their first season in the Winnipeg High School Football League's John Potter AAA Division.

"I'm happy that we have a chance at seventh place heading into the playoffs," commented coach Peters. "I think it's a huge step for our program and our ability to compete at the top of the high school football league for many years to come."

"I think the win over the Huskies is huge for our psyche. You go to practice three days a week and go play a game where you lay it on the line and you want to get rewarded with results. The results haven't been favourable so far but on Thursday we made enough plays to win and it's huge moving forward for momentum and confidence."

Steinbach Regional finished seventh and will meet the Sisler Spartans in the Potter Division quarterfinals next week.