Saskatchewan Huskies football fight for home playoff game

fter clinching a spot in the postseason last week, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies will look to lock up home field advantage for the first round of playoffs.

The Huskies will close out the 2011 regular season with a date in Edmonton against the University of Alberta Golden Bears Saturday.

A victory combined with a UBC Thunderbirds loss to the University of Calgary Dinos Saturday would ensure the Huskies the home playoff game on November 4 at Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park. A loss would send the Huskies on the road. Depending on the outcome of Huskies and other Canada West football games, Saskatchewan could finish anywhere from second to fourth in the standings.

Since 1999, the Huskies have won 14 of their last 18 games against Alberta including a 38-7 win in the first game of the 2011 season.

Even with a 16-15 win over the Regina Rams last week, the Huskies are still trying to find their offensive rhythm. Huskie quarterbacks Trent Peterson and Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren combined to complete 8-of-24 pass attempts for 165 yards and one interception. Peterson played the bulk of the game passing for 152 yards. The Huskies scored two touchdowns in the game, a seven-yard dash from fifth-year running back Ben Coakwell and a one-yard run by Gilbert Knorren. Fifth-year receiver Rory Kohlert was the main passing target with 95 yards in the game.

Defensively, the Huskies remained solid holding Regina to one offensive touchdown. Fifth-year linebacker Tom Lynch led the Huskies in the game with 10.5 tackles and one sack. Fellow fifth-year linebacker Tony Michalchuk added 8.5 tackles to his conference-second best 46.5 total. As a team the Huskies lead the conference with 11 interceptions.

Winless the Golden Bears will look to play spoiler for the Huskies. Julian Marchand has taken the bulk of the snaps for Alberta, completing 80-of-161 passes for 946 yards with four touchdowns. He’s also threw 10 interceptions something that could get him in trouble against the Huskies, who have snatched the most interceptions in the conference with 11.

Main targets on the Golden Bears receiving corps have been Porter Brown, Brad Quartel and Laine Rogers. Brown leads the team with 341 yards, while the others have combined for 537 yards. Running back K.K. Sonuga averages 77.3 yards per game for the Golden Bears.

Defensively, Jason Hetherington leads the conference with 55 tackles. He also has one sack, two interceptions and three fumble recoveries. Duncan Morris and Connor Ralph have also been strong on defense tallying 41 and 37 tackles respectively.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. in Edmonton. The game can be heard live on CK750 or [url]www.ck750.com or watched on [url]www.canadawest.tv. All fans who purchase a ticket to the football game will receive admission to the Huskie hockey game against the Golden Bears in Edmonton at Clare Drake Arena.