CWUAA RECAPS: ’14 #CFC100 O’Connor has career performance in T-Birds shootout win, Bisons win fourth straight, Buckley guides Dinos past Rams [stats]

VANCOUVER – Talk about a wild night in Canada West.

The No. 9-ranked UBC Thunderbirds found themselves in a shootout with the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday night. The T-Birds outgunned the Huskies on their own turf, coming away with a 41-36 win to bring their record on the season to 5-2.

UBC quarterback Michael O’Connor (Orleans, Ont.) had the best performance of his young career on Friday evening. The freshman completed 20-of-31 passes for 449 yards and three touchdowns, while adding six carries for 30 yards, including a 15-yard score, on the ground. The receiving corps was dynamite all night for UBC, with Ben Cummings(Abbotsford, B.C.) leading the way with three catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. Will Watson (Surrey, B.C.) did his part, picking up six catches for 108 yards, while Trivel Pinto (Brampton, Ont.) brought in four balls for 98 yards and a score. Alex Morrison (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) hauled in three catches of his own for 73 yards and a touchdown whileBrandon Deschamps (Prince George, B.C.) had a fine day moving the chains on the ground, as the fifth-year tailback picked up 85 yards on just 14 carries.

Saskatchewan’s offence was equally prolific. Kyle Siemens made his first start under center for the Huskies, and put up video game numbers his own, hitting 44-of-67 (yes, 67) passes for 520 yards, three scores, and one interception. Mitch Hillis was Siemens’ favourite receiver in his debut, as the big wideout caught 12 balls for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Julan Lynch hauled in 10 balls of his own for 111 yards, while John Trumpy made five receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Saskatchewan drew first blood less than five minutes after the opening kick-off. Siemens started out on fire, hitting 8-of-9 passes on his opening drive, capping off the possession by finding Hillis in the end zone on a quick five-yard strike.

Down 7-0, O’Connor wasted no time responding. After hitting Watson on a 23-yard gain, the Penn State transfer went deep, connecting with Morrison on a 47-yard bomb down the sideline. Just 27 seconds after Saskatchewan opened the scoring, the T-Birds had knotted it up.

With two and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the T-Birds added to their lead. Off the first snap after a Saskatchewan punt pinned them inside their own 20-yard line, O’Connor hooked up with Cummings on one of the T-Birds’ longest plays of the season, an 89-yard touchdown.

Saskatchewan running back Tyler Chow leveled the score four minutes into the second frame, punching it in from two yards out after Siemens knifed his way through the UBC defence for 93 yards on four passes, with two each going to Lynch and Hillis.

Again, the ‘Birds didn’t let the Huskies gain any momentum, as O’Connor and the T-Birds offence drove quickly down the field. A 14-yard run for Deschamps led to a first-and-goal situation on the Saskatchewan three-yard line, and backup quarterback Trevor Casey (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) made it count, busting through for a touchdown run on the next play.

After Saskatchewan kicker Sean Stenger hit a 30-yarder to bring the score to 21-17 for the T-Birds, the teams traded late first-half touchdowns.

After Saskatchewan defensive lineman Donovan Dale took a penalty on UBC’s third down, O’Connor did the damage for the ‘Birds, with his 15-yard touchdown scamper extending UBC’s lead to 28-17.

The duo of Siemens and Hillis responded for the Huskies, connecting for a 14-yard touchdown with just 30 seconds left in the opening half. At the break, just a field goal separated the two sides, with UBC on top 28-24.

Both teams’ offences cooled off for a bit in the third quarter, as a 47-yard boot from UBC kicker Quinn van Gylswyk(Victoria, B.C.) marked the only scoring from either side in the frame.

The teams traded field goals early in the fourth quarter, bringing the score to 34-27 for the Thunderbirds.

Then, with eight minutes left in the contest, Pinto struck a knockout punch. After Marcus Davis (Victoria, B.C.) rushed for six yards, Pinto took a short ball from O’Connor on second down and raced down the right sideline, picking up 40 yards on the catch-and-run. After O’Connor hit Davis for a 21-yard gain on the next play, he followed that up by finding Pinto in the corner of the end zone on an 18-yard toss. Pinto did well to keep his feet in-bounds, and put the ‘Birds up 41-27.

Siemens continued his crazy evening late into the contest, hooking up with Trumpy for a seven-yard score with just a minute remaining, but the Huskies couldn’t climb all the way back, with a conceded safety from UBC, at the final whistle, capping off the night’s scoring.

The loss drops the Huskies’ record to 2-5 on the season, and brings their playoff hopes into serious doubt.

On the T-Birds sideline, it was the team’s second win in Saskatchewan against the Huskies in 15 years, and for UBC head coach Blake Nill, that’s part of what made this performance so impressive.

“These players need to be fully complimented on their performance tonight,” said Nill. “It was tremendous effort, and I’m very proud of them for being able to pull out the win. Saskatchewan is a damn tough place to win.”

The Manitoba Bisons are next on the Thunderbirds’ schedule, as they make their way to Vancouver for a showdown at David Sidoo Field at Thunderbird Stadium. The two teams will square off on Saturday, October 31, with the opening kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. (PT).

Make sure to grab your tickets for next week’s game here, as the ‘Birds look to secure the right to host the Canada West Playoff semi-finals with a win against the Bisons.

Source: Aaron Martin, UBC Thunderbirds Sports Information

Mitchell Harrison (20) sacks Alberta Golden Bears quarter back (5) Ben Kopczynski Jeff Miller-Bison Sports-

Manitoba win fourth in a row with victory over Alberta at home

Bisons now 5-2 and play for second place in Canada West football conference with road game at UBC on Sat., Oct. 31

WINNIPEG – In the final conference regular season football game at home, #8 Manitoba Bisons won 29-7 against the Alberta Golden Bears at the Investors Group Field on Friday, October 23 for their fourth consecutive win by Manitoba.

With the victory, the Bisons improve to 5-2 in 2015 while the Bears fall to 2-5 and now on a five game losing streak.

Manitoba churned up 351 rushing yards (seventh most in team history) and did not have a turnover while not allowing a touchdown, for the first time this season, at home. Alberta finished with 492 offence yards.

The Bisons were led by a surprise start at quarterback as Foster Martens made his CIS debut. Martens, in his second year of eligibility, managed the game in an efficient 13-20 for 165 passing yards and 17 rushing yards.

“I was prepared and thought we did a good job on offence tonight,” stated Martens. “Our OL stepped up in the second half and give them a lot of credit for the win.”

The Bisons were paced with fullback touchdown runs by graduating player Matt Hallock with three yard and one yard plunges in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead. Another graduating fullback Andrew Barry had a 13 yard run to end the scoring in the fourth.

In between major scores, Alberta received field goals by Stephen Fabian from 13 and ten yards and rouge off a 35 yarder miss. Bison kicker Ryan Jones kicked his career high with a 49 yard field goal early in the fourth and added a 41 yarder with a safety given up the Bears to round out the scoring.

Individually for the hosts, Alex Christie had a game-high 103 rushing yards for Manitoba while seven different Bisons had a reception. Jamel Lyles added to his all-purpose totals with 181 yards (92 rush; 58 kickoff; 26 punt return; 5 receiving). David Onyemata had a game-high 9.5 total tackles with 1.5 sacks while Christian Turner added 7.5 tackles with 2.5 sacks in his first start for the Herd.

Alberta had a strong game from quarterback Ben Kopczynski as he went 17-28 for 321 yards and registered 36 rushing yards on six carries. Ed Ilnicki added 94 rush yards and Jimmy Ralph went for 152 receiving yards with six grabs. Ryan Migadel and Brendan Friesen were top defenders with seven total tackles each.

For the Bisons, they finished 2-2 at home while Alberta was 1-3 on the road in the 2015 campaign.

Alberta ends their regular season at home against #1 Calgary Dinos on Saturday, October 31 at 1 p.m. MT while the showdown for second place will happen when Manitoba plays at #9 UBC in week eight on Saturday, October 31 on 1 p.m. PT.

Source: Chris Zuk, Manitoba Bisons Sports Information

Dinos still undefeated after 57-7 win

CALGARY – The No. 1-ranked University of Calgary Dinos are one step closer to an undefeated season after dispatching the Regina Rams 57-7 Saturday afternoon at McMahon Stadium.

Calgary (7-0) heads to Edmonton next weekend to wrap up regular season play against the Alberta Golden Bears (2-5) in one final tune-up before hosting a Canada West semi-finalNov. 7. The Rams (0-7), meanwhile, will look to play spoiler as they host the Saskatchewan Huskies (2-5) next Friday night at Mosaic Stadium.

It was a slow start for the Dinos in this one, but their third drive of the game – an 11-play, 79-yard march that ended in a Jimmy Underdahl touchdown plunge – set the tone for the rest of the afternoon as Calgary cruised to the 50-point win. Calgary’s next two drives also resulted in points: a 1-yard TD by Imoreshi Dania, his first CIS touchdown, and a field goal by Johnny Mark. The 16-yards splitting of the uprights by Mark was his 85^th career field goal, setting a new CIS record in the category. He added two more on the night, setting the new standard at 87 with one game remaining.

The Rams cut the deficit to 18-7 after Riley Wilson’s touchdown reception in the second and it looked like it might just be a two-possession game at halftime, but Calgary scored two majors in the final two minutes to give the hometown Dinos plenty of momentum heading into the second half.

The second half was all Dinos, with Calgary scoring 12 points in both quarters to get up to its eventual 50-point margin of victory.

With the Dinos having already clinched first place and home field advantage throughout the Hardy Cup playoffs, the game was a chance for the Dinos to take a look at some of their younger players while managing the playing time of the starters.

“Playing at a high intensity and a high level is what we’re all about,” said Calgary head coach Wayne Harris, “and we had six guys with their first start ever today. They came in and performed well when they had the opportunity. Overall, our execution was good – we had a little lapse in the first half, but Regina is improving and playing tough. They came out with their game plan and were able to stall us on some drives, but our guys stayed working hard and got the job done. Next week, it’s about what we do and how we execute to just keep rolling.”

The Dinos continued to ease Mercer Timmis back into play, and he picked up 58 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, adding a pair of receptions as well. As for Andrew Buckley, he went all the way into the fourth quarter, completing 21 of 28 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. His top target was Brendon Thera-Plamondon, who picked up 103 yards on seven carries, including a touchdown in the second quarter as the Dinos responded to Regina’s lone score of the game.

Brett Blaszko picked up his first TD of the season on a three-yard shovel just 1:09 after Thera-Plamondon’s major. Timmis and Buckley added rushing TDs in the second half for Calgary.

The Dinos’ defence played splendidly, allowing less than 200 offensive yards by the Rams. Deondre Townsend led the way with five tackles and an interception, while Boston Rowe also picked off Regina pivot Noah Picton with a beauty one-handed grab of a tipped pass attempt.

Picton finished 9-for-21 for 103 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. Atlee Simon picked up the lion’s share of the Rams’ offence on the day with his 78 rushing yards. Defensively, Travoy Martinez led the Rams with seven tackles, while Regina did manage to sack Calgary quarterbacks Buckley and Underdahl a total of four times on the day.

FINAL

Regina                  00  07  00  00 – 7

#1 Calgary           08  25  12  12 – 57

SCORING SUMMARY

1^st Quarter

CGY – Johnny Mark 71-yard kickoff single, 0:04, 1-0 CGY

CGY – Jimmy Underdahl 1-yard TD run (Johnny Mark convert), 11:19, 8-0 CGY

2^nd Quarter

CGY – Imoreshi Dania 1-yard TD run (Johnny Mark convert), 1:06, 15-0 CGY

CGY – Johnny Mark 16-yard FG, 4:33, 18-0 CGY

REG – Riley Wilson 15-yard TD catch from Noah Picton (Daniel Scraper convert), 9:34, 18-7 CGY

CGY – Brendon Thera-Plamondon 11-yard TD catch from Andrew Buckley (Johnny Mark convert), 13:22, 25-7 CGY

CGY – Brett Blaszko 3-yard TD catch from Andrew Buckley (Johnny Mark convert), 14:31, 32-7 CGY

CGY – Johnny Mark 69-yard kickoff single, 14:34, 33-7 CGY

3^rd Quarter

CGY – Johnny Mark 53-yard missed FG single, 2:44, 34-7 CGY

CGY – Johnny Mark 13-yard FG, 5:09, 37-7 CGY

CGY – Mercer Timmis 4-yard TD run (Johnny Mark convert), 9:15, 44-7 CGY

CGY – Johnny Mark 85-yard kickoff single, 9:15, 45-7 CGY

4^th Quarter

CGY – Andrew Buckley 3-yard TD run (Johnny Mark convert), 3:28, 52-7 CGY

CGY – TEAM safety, 4:37, 54-7 CGY

CGY – Johnny Mark 17-yard FG, 11:20, 57-7 CGY

Source: Braden Konschuh, Regina Rams Sports Information