RECAPS (Canada West): Huskies win battle of Saskatchewan; UBC pulls away; Dinos edge Bisons by inches [stats/video]

The University of Regina Rams led for almost the entire second half, but couldn’t hang on as the No. 7-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies got a late touchdown and a key interception to escape with a 21-16 win.

Huskies quarterback Drew Burko engineered an eight-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass to Shane Buchanan that gave the Huskies a five-point lead with just under two minutes left. The Rams got the ball back with 1:05 left and Noah Picton led them downfield with back-to-back strikes to Riley Wilson, but an attempt to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown was tipped and intercepted by Keegan Arnyek to put the game away for Saskatchewan.

Burko finished the game 30-for-46 for 343 yards and two touchdowns, with John Trumpy catching nine balls for 111 yards and Kit Hillis ending up with six receptions for 85 yards. Arnyek, Chris Friesen, and Richard Zacharias all had interceptions for the Saskatchewan defence.

Making his first career start for the Rams, Picton completed 26 of his 45 passes for 355 yards including a touchdown to Addison Richards in the first quarter. Richards led all players with 10 receptions and ended up with 108 yards, while Jared Janotta had five catches for 86 yards. Ryan Serbu and Patrick MacDonald both had interceptions for the U of R.

The Rams (1-3) will take a crack at undefeated Calgary (4-0) on the road next Saturday, while the Huskies improve to 3-1 and will prepare for a home game against UBC (0-3).

Regina Sports Info

Saskatchewan vs. Regina at Regina, SK 9/27/2014 at 2:00 pm
Saskatchewan  21	Regina  16

 

VANCOUVER – After a tentative first half performance, the UBC Thunderbirds broke loose in the second half against the Alberta Golden Bears for their first win of the season by a score of 49-13 on Saturday at Thunderbird Stadium.

It was a 13-6 lead for UBC at halftime, with Alberta actually holding a slight edge in total offensive yards, and neither team looking particularly threatening with the ball. But that changed in a big way after the break, as the T-Birds scored touchdowns on four of their first five drives to pull away from the Bears and get win number one.

“The first one’s always the hardest to get, I find,” said UBC head coach Shawn Olson.  “The longer it goes, the more you get tight and all that kind of stuff, so this was an important one for our guys to find a way to win. It wasn’t as clean as we wanted it, and there were opportunities left on the field, but we found a way to win.”

Freshman slot receiver and return man Marcus Davis had 253 all-purpose yards, a receiving touchdown and a rushing touchdown to spark the Thunderbirds. He did a lot of damage in the return game, including a 98-yard punt return where he was brought down by the punter at the Alberta one-yard line to set up UBC’s first points of the day.

“All year he’s created some sparks in the return game,” said Olson. “I still want to see the one where he got tackled at the one-yard line – trying to figure out how the heck that happened. But he’s an athlete that just oozes potential and as he grows you are going to see a pretty special football player.”

A big turning point came just before the halftime break, when the T-Birds found themselves trailing 6-3 and sputtering offensively. Carson Williams hit Alex Morrison about 15 yards downfield on the left sideline, and UBC centre Anthony Balce hustled downfield to lay a big block and spring Morrison free for a 48-yard touchdown.

That gave UBC a 10-6 lead and the team seemed energized in all aspects of the game from that point on.

“At some point, someone makes a play. You get a monkey off your back when Alex takes that first one to the house, and it sort of relaxes people and that was really what we needed was just to relax,” said Olson.

It was all T-Birds from that point on, as they put up just under 400 yards of total offence in the second half compared to 204 yards for Alberta. Williams finished 21-for-31 for 302 yards and two touchdowns.

Running back Terrell Davis got in on the passing attack as well with a 20-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter after taking the toss from Williams. When the defenders converged on him, he found a wide open Ryan Couper in the near corner of the endzone. Davis also added 86 yards on the ground on just six carries.

The T-Birds picked up 241 yards on the ground on 31 carries after having just 25 rushing yards heading into halftime.

“That has been our identity since I’ve been here. We have to be able to run the football,” said Olson. “It alleviates a lot of stress and it’s non-complicated football. We have to be able to own the line of scrimmage and we are still a work in progress in that area. Our front line is very young and have only played four games together.”

Alberta wound up with 95 yards on the ground. Levon Hawreliak had 35 yards and a touchdown on four carries.  Curtis Dell went 20-for-36 for 272 yards and two interceptions. His favourite target was Aundrey Webster, who had five grabs for 50 yards.

Dominique Termansen and Bryan Rideout had the interceptions for UBC. The T-Birds also got one sack each from Donovan Dale and Steve Mawa. Ian Henderson led the team with nine tackles.

Both teams are now 1-3 on the season. Alberta will be home next weekend to host the Manitoba Bisons. The T-Birds are in Saskatchewan next weekend to take on the Huskies. After that comes their bye week before their next home game against Regina on October 18.

IMAGE CREDIT: Wilson Wong/UBC Thunderbirds

By Lee Dorner (Sports Information Assistant)

Alberta vs. UBC at Vancouver, BC 9/27/2014 at 2:00 pm
Alberta  13	UBC  49

 

CALGARY – The second-ranked University of Calgary Dinos somehow escaped with an undefeated record in 2014 Friday night, edging the No. 10 Manitoba Bisons 42-41 in Canada West football at McMahon Stadium.

A 40-yard field goal try by Manitoba’s Ryan Jones on the final play of the game was low and wide right, and rookie Dinos receiver Dallas Boath got the ball just out of the end zone with an 11-yard return to seal the victory for Calgary, which improves to 4-0 on the campaign.

The play came after Calgary’s kicker, Johnny Mark, made a 25-yarder with 53 seconds to go to give Calgary back a lead that shifted back and forth all night.

“You can say it two ways, you can say we made one less mistake than they did, or we made one more play,” said Calgary head coach Blake Nill, who recorded his 100^th career regular season victory on the night. “Like I said to the team, they all can’t be pretty. I don’t want to say it was our worst game because that’s not fair to our opponent. I thought Manitoba put us in a position that really challenged us and we weren’t able to respond the way we usually do, so you have to give a lot of credit to them and we have to execute better. I think we have to put a greater demand on each one of us to make sure this kind of thing is kept to a minimum.”

Mistakes haunted the Dinos all night, and the Bisons were there to take full advantage virtually every time. A longshot fake punt in the third quarter didn’t work, giving the Bisons outstanding field position and leading to a major. A fumble on a punt return inside the 10-yard line led to another Manitoba major, and blown coverages that left receivers wide open accounted for three more TDs for the visitors.

But when it counted, the second-ranked Dinos were able to pull off a pair of sensational plays in the dying moments to pull off the win. The first was a 29-yard completion to Rashaun Simonise on a third-and-eight that set up Mark’s game-winning field goal; the second, a 12-yard sack of Bison quarterback Jordan Yantz by Doctor Cassama on the ensuing Manitoba drive that ultimately forced the Bisons into the 40-yard field goal try.

“You cannot take anything away from Manitoba,” said Nill. “They deserved to win this game as much as we did. We made one play at the end where it was pretty good coverage, we isolated one of our best guys against one of their best guys and he came up and made the play and then we were able to kick the field goal. Then we left too much time on the clock and it almost cost us.”

Calgary tailback Mercer Timmis struggled to find the open field most of the night but still managed to pick up 123 yards along the ground. Calgary pivot Andrew Buckley also struggled at times, but he put up respectable numbers with 18-of-32 passing for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those majors went to Brett Blaszko, who racked up 119 yards on seven catches to lead the way for the Dinos, while Brendon Thera-Plamondon also cracked the 100-yard barrier on the night with his three catches, scoring one TD. Calgary’s other major came courtesy of a three-yard run by Buckley.

On the other side, Yantz went to the air 45 times and completed 26 of them for 426 yards and four touchdowns. Matt Sawyer caught two of them, including a 19-yarder in the fourth quarter that put the Bisons ahead. Alex Vitt was Manitoba’s leading receiver with 123 yards and a major, while Kienan LaFrance had one rushing and one receiving major on the night for Manitoba. Yantz added the sixth Bisons TD with a five-yard run late in the third quarter.

Calgary’s Johnny Mark put two kickoffs into the end zone for what turned out to be very important points, before splitting the uprights for the game-winning points. And while he added two important singles, the Bisons malfunctioned on a point-after attempt early in the third quarter that cost them a point – a point that turned out to be the difference in the game.

The Bisons (2-2) will return to Alberta to face the Golden Bears in Edmonton next week, while the Dinos (4-0) will remain home to face the Regina Rams Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

(Source:  Ben Matchett, Calgary Dinos Sports Information)

Manitoba vs. Calgary at Calgary, AB 9/26/2014 at 6:07 pm
Manitoba 41	Calgary 42