Rifles rally but fall short against Thunder

Sunday’s game at Mosaic Stadium was billed as a battle of the PFC’s premier passers as Rifles pivot Ryan Marsch & Regina quarterback Wyatt Catley went throw for throw. When the last throw was fired, it was the Thunder who emerged with a 31-29 win.

The Thunder got on the board just two-and-a-half minutes into the contest as Will Heward scored his first of three touchdowns as Catley connected with him on a 14-yard strike. Rifles kicker Brad Mikoluff would make good on field goals of 22 & 25 yards to cut the Regina lead down to one after 15 minutes.

Catley and company would put a pair of scores on the board in short order early in the 2nd quarter as Heward latched on to a 19-yard touchdown toss just 36 seconds in. Clay Cooke would follow with a 20-yard catch for a major nearly 4 minutes later to make it a 21-6 lead. Heward would get his third touchdown of the day 7 minutes after that to make it a 28-6 game, then Thunder kicker Ben Koot would add a 19-yard chipshot to give the home club a 25-point cushion. Mikoluff was good on another 25-yard placement to make it a 31-9 game at halftime.

The visitors would come out with all guns blazing to start the second half as three-and-a-half minutes in, Ryan Marsch would connect with Alex Vitt for a 26-yard touchdown toss on a third down and seven gamble. For Vitt, it was his only catch of the day. Mikoluff hit on his 4th field goal of the day from 35 yards away to make it a 31-19 game. And then rookie receiver Kurt Goodrich came up with an 8-yard touchdown grab to pull Winnipeg to within 5 after 45 minutes.

It seemed that only thing hotter in the second half than the Rifles offense was a house fire that broke out near Mosaic Stadium as smoke could be seen rising from the general vicinity of where the Rifles bench was located.

Mikoluff would boom a 54-yard punt single, and then Koot conceded a safety to make it 31-29 with 1:46. Winnipeg drove the ball down to the Thunder 38 in the final minute, but a costly pair of penalties, as well as a pair of incompletions, forced the Rifles into a 3rd and 34 situation. Marsch’s deep throw for Derek Dean would go incomplete & the Thunder would hold on to get the win. Dean would lead all pass catchers with 6 for 113 yards.

Ryan Marsch would complete 24 of 52 passes for 365 yards, throwing for 2 scores & no interceptions, giving him 22 majors on the season. Kurt Goodrich snagged 7 catches for 96 yards, while Matt Lariviere had 6 for 88.

Tailback Martin Hovi had 141 yards on 22 carries. While on defense, rookie linebacker Donovan Gregoire continued his stellar play as he had a single tackle, 4 assists, a special teams stop & special teams assist for 11 points.

With the loss, Winnipeg drops to 3-2, but remains third in the conference, 2 points back of the Calgary Colts, who lost their first game of the year at home to the national champion Saskatoon Hilltops 22-15 earlier this afternoon.

The Colts come a-callin’ to Canad Inns Stadium next Sunday afternoon for a 12 noon start.