SASKATOON — The annual homecoming game was a trip fantastic for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team Friday.
Saskatchewan defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 36-33 in a Canada West conference game at Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park and in the process put head coach Brian Towriss in the record book.
With the win, Towriss moves past former Western Ontario coach Larry Haylor to become the all-time leader in regular season and playoff wins by a coach in Canadian Interuniversity Sport football, at 170. The first win for Towriss was in his first game in 1984, also against the T-birds.
UBC and Saskatchewan both sit at 3-2 in the standings and are in the midst for one of four playoff sports in the Canada West.
Huskies senior running back Ben Coakwell scored a pair of short touchdowns in the win. Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren also had two touchdowns for Saskatchewan. Gilbert-Knorren, who replaced Trent Peterson at quarterback in the second quarter, rolled left, scrambled right and danced into the end zone from four yards out in the fourth quarter. Late in the game, Gilbert-Knorren added a 15-yard touchdown.
Saskatchewan’s Cole Samson had field goals of 22 and 18 yards, four converts and two singles.
Coakwelll provided the highlight play on a scoring series near the end of the third quarter, breaking into the UBC secondary on a 25-yard run. Coakwell finished with 205 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Thunderbirds quarterback Billy Greene, who is fifth in the league in rushing, scored touchdowns from one, five and 14 yards. Receiver Micha Theil, on a 25-yard pass down the middle from Greene, had the other T-Birds touchdown.
The Thunderbirds first touchdown was set up by an interception by defensive back Sam Carino, combined with a face mask penalty by Saskatchewan that put the ball on the Huskies’ one-yard line.
UBC’s Billy Pavlopoulos added a 14-yard field goal, a punt single and three converts. David Scott scored a two-point convert on a pass from Greene. Jordan Grieve, who leads the league in receiving yards, had 10 catches for 115 yards.
Saskatchewan safety Bryce McCall intercepted a pass in the end zone in the second quarter. McCall’s interception is the 18th of his career, putting him within three of tying the CIS record of 21 shared by three players: former Saskatchewan defensive back Bob Coffin, Matt Carapella, a safety for Western Ontario, and Peter McNabb, who played defensive back for both Toronto and Queen’s.
McCall’s interception was the first thrown by B.C.’s Greene in five games this season. Greene is in his third year as the T-birds’ starting quarterback.
The leading tacklers for UBC, each with six tackles, were Serge Kaminsky and Adam Konar. Kaminsky is an All-Canadian defensive lineman and Konar a rookie linebacker whose father Kevin was a linebacker in the CFL and twice won a Grey Cup with the B.C. Lions. Both Saskatchewan and UBC take a rest with a league-wide bye over the Thanksgiving weekend. The next game for Saskatchewan is October 14 – the final home regular season game of the season – against Calgary. UBC. is home to Regina Rams on October 15.
Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info
SASKATOON – A second-half surge powered the No. 9 Saskatchewan Huskies to a 36-33 win over the No. 8 UBC Thunderbirds in CIS football action on Friday night at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.
UBC’s two-game winning streak comes to an end and the team’s record drops to 3-2, while Saskatchewan improves to 3-2. Both squads are tied for second place in the Canada West.
The victory made Saskatchewan’s Homecoming even more special. Huskies coach Brian Towriss became the all-time winningest coach in CIS history, moving ahead of Western Ontario coaching legend Larry Haylor’s mark (170 to 169).
“I don’t think we played especially well,” said UBC head coach Shawn Olson. “Offensively, we couldn’t get in sync the whole night. We were really inconsistent. Defensively, I thought we played pretty well for three quarters and then the fourth quarter kind of fell apart a little bit. I thought our coverage teams weren’t very good and we didn’t tackle well enough and all three of those phases, when they are not working on all cylinders in the Canada West, you’re usually going to lose.”
In a back and forth second half, Saskatchewan finally put the game out of reach with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter. Huskies’ quarterback Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren rushed 15 yards for a touchdown that made the score 36-26 in favour of Saskatchewan. It was Gilbert-Knorren’s second touchdown of the game. The big play of the drive was a 52-yard scamper from running back Ben Coakwell, who rushed for 20 times for 205 yards and two touchdowns in total.
Earlier in the quarter, Gilbert-Knorren, who replaced Trent Peterson at quarterback in the second quarter, rolled left, scrambled right and danced into the end zone from four yards out to make it 29-18.
By the end of the night, UBC surrendered 311 rushing yards.
A 14-yard Billy Greene (Surrey, BC) touchdown run with four seconds left in the game rounded out the scoring at 36-33. It was one of three rushing touchdowns on the night from Greene. He led the team with 73 yards on the ground and completed 30 of 52 passes for 382 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
The UBC had its deficit down to 29-26 in the fourth quarter when Greene finished off a five-play, 65-yard drive with his second rushing major of the night, this time from five yards out. He then found Ryan Couper (London, ON) in the end zone for the two-point convert.
Saskatchewan trailed 11-2 at halftime but stormed out the gates in the third quarter, scoring 20 points on two Coakwell TD’s and two Cole Samson field goals, one of which was set up by a Dave Boyd (Duncan, BC) fumble in his own territory.
Greene and Micha Thiel (West Vancouver, BC) hooked up on a 25-yard score for UBC’s only points of the third quarter.
Greene’s first touchdown, a one-yard rush at 10:55 of the second quarter, was the only major in a low-scoring first half. It was set up by a 20-yard interception return by UBC’s Sam Carino (Burnaby, BC).
UBC could have had a bigger halftime lead but Greene threw his first interception of the season in the second quarter. The Thunderbirds were on the Saskatchewan 8-yard line and up 11-1 but Bryce McCall picked off a Greene pass at the back of the end zone.
“I kind of feel like we didn’t play well enough to deserve a win,” said Olson after the game. “The big thing that let us down was our focus and that’s been our strength to this point. I kind of felt we just weren’t mentally focused throughout the whole first half and second half.”
Jordan Grieve (Salmon Arm, BC) caught ten passes for 115 yards to lead all UBC receivers.
Defensively, Serge Kaminsky (Richmond, BC) recorded 7.5 tackles and a sack while Adam Konar (North Vancouver, BC) had another impressive game in his first season. The Vancouver College grad intercepted a pass and had 6.5 tackles.
For Saskatchewan, quarterback Gilbert-Knorren did most of his damage on the ground but also finished 15 of 24 for 187 yards passing, while linebacker Tony Michalchuk had nine tackles and a sack.
Both teams will now enjoy a bye week before returning to action. UBC will host Regina in two weeks time while Calgary will visit Saskatchewan.
– with files from Nicole Betker (Saskatchewan Sports Information Director)
-UBC-
| UBC 33 |
Saskatchewan 36 |
| UBC (3-2) | 4 | 7 | 7 | 15 | 33 |
| Saskatchewan (3-2) | 1 | 1 | 20 | 14 | 36 |
| Saskatoon, SK | Griffiths Stadium |
Box Score Play by PlayDrive Summary
| 1 | 06:12 | Saskatchewan – Cole Samson rouge point. | 0 – 1 |
| 1 | 02:57 | UBC – B. Pavlopoulos 14 yd field goal. | 3 – 1 |
| 1 | 00:41 | UBC – B. Pavlopoulos rouge point. | 4 – 1 |
| 2 | 10:55 | UBC – Billy Greene 1 yd run. (B. Pavlopoulos kick is good). Drive: 2 plays, 1 yards in 0:48. |
11 – 1 |
| 2 | 01:05 | Saskatchewan – Cole Samson rouge point. | 11 – 2 |
| 3 | 10:15 | Saskatchewan – Ben Coakwell 2 yd run. (Cole Samson kick is good). Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards in 3:21. |
11 – 9 |
| 3 | 08:58 | Saskatchewan – Cole Samson 22 yd field goal. | 11 – 12 |
| 3 | 06:41 | UBC – Micha Theil 25 yd pass from Billy Greene. (B. Pavlopoulos kick is good). Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards in 2:17. |
18 – 12 |
| 3 | 03:54 | Saskatchewan – Cole Samson 18 yd field goal. | 18 – 15 |
| 3 | 00:00 | Saskatchewan – Ben Coakwell 1 yd run. (Cole Samson kick is good). Drive: 6 plays, 65 yards in 2:34. |
18 – 22 |
| 4 | 07:25 | Saskatchewan – Gilbert-Knorren 4 yd run. (Cole Samson kick is good). Drive: 5 plays, 78 yards in 2:04. |
18 – 29 |
| 4 | 02:28 | UBC – Billy Greene 5 yd run. (2pt conversion pass by Ryan Couper is good). Drive: 5 plays, 65 yards in 0:46. |
26 – 29 |
| 4 | 01:03 | Saskatchewan – Gilbert-Knorren 15 yd run. (Cole Samson kick is good). Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards in 1:22. |
26 – 36 |
| 4 | 00:04 | UBC – Billy Greene 14 yd run. (B. Pavlopoulos kick is good). Drive: 10 plays, 81 yards in 0:53. |
33 – 36 |
| 29 | FIRST DOWNS | 32 |
| 19 8 2 |
Passing Rushing Penalty |
14 16 2 |
| 382 | NET YARDS PASSING | 269 |
| 30-52 7.3 2 for 13 1 |
Completions-Attempts Net yards per pass play Sacked:Number-Yards Had intercepted |
20-36 7.5 1 for 2 2 |
| 132 | NET YARDS RUSHING | 311 |
| 24 5.5 |
Rushing Attempts Average gain per rush |
37 8.4 |
| 10 for 456 | PUNTS: Number-Yards | 7 for 263 |
| 45.6 | Average | 37.6 |
| 173 | TOTAL RETURN YARDS | 174 |
| 8 for 57 6 for 96 2 for 20 |
Punt Returns:No-Yards Kickof Returns:No-Yards Int. Returns:No-Yards |
9 for 69 4 for 105 1 for 0 |
| 10 for 75 | PENALTIES: Number-Yards | 9 for 95 |
| 2-1 | FUMBLES: Number-Lost | 0-0 |
| 1 for 2 | SACKS: Number-Yards | 2 for 13 |
| 2 for 20 | INTERCEPTIONS: Number-Yards | 1 for 0 |
| 27:47 | TIME OF POSSESSION | 32:07 |
UBC |
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| 5 | Serge Kaminsky | 6 | 3 | 7.5 | 1 – 2 | 2.5 – 6 | – | – | ||||
| 2 | Adam Konar | 6 | 1 | 6.5 | – | 1 – 2 | – | 1-0 | ||||
| 20 | Chris Mark | 4 | 3 | 5.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 44 | Devin Kavanagh | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 25 | K. Kuma-Mintah | 5 | 0 | 5 | – | – | – | – | 2 | |||
| 99 | Martin Park | 4 | 2 | 5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 6 | Vivie Bojilov | 3 | 3 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 9 | Sam Carino | 3 | 2 | 4 | – | – | – | 1-20 | ||||
| 10 | Jake Woodson | 3 | 0 | 3 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| 21 | Jordan Bosa | 2 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 17 | J. Carpenter | 2 | 1 | 2.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 88 | Joey Gabrick | 2 | 1 | 2.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 52 | Connor Flynn | 1 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 22 | Levar Hayden | 1 | 1 | 1.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 3 | Dave Boyd | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 14 | Alex Babalos | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 0.5 – 1 | – | – | ||||
| 43 | Ben Bahrami | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 46 | Pierre Lacerte | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 18 | Thomas Harris | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 41 | Ford Marcotte | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| TOTALS | 50 | 26 | 63 | 1 – 2 | 4 – 9 | – | 2-20 | 3 | ||||
| 37 | Tony Michalchuk | 7 | 4 | 9 | 1 – 3 | 1 – 3 | – | – | 1 | |||
| 24 | Mitchell Friese | 7 | 2 | 8 | – | 1 – 10 | – | – | ||||
| 31 | Peter Thiel | 7 | 1 | 7.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 27 | Bryce McCall | 5 | 1 | 5.5 | – | – | 1-0 | 1-0 | 1 | |||
| 18 | Geoff Hughes | 4 | 2 | 5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 44 | Zach Hart | 4 | 1 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 26 | Nico Higgs | 3 | 2 | 4 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 47 | Jon DeWitt | 2 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 51 | Levi Steinhauer | 2 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 15 | Corey Edington | 2 | 0 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | |||
| 4 | Cole Samson | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 21 | Garrett Burgess | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 22 | Seamus Neary | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 3 | |||
| 23 | Andrew Abbs | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 34 | Tom Lynch | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 35 | Charlie Power | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 42 | Ben Rush | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 54 | Jacques Geyer | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 77 | Joel Seutter | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 78 | Jeffrey Moore | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| 63 | Stephen Kovach | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | – | – | – | – | ||||
| TOTALS | 53 | 18 | 62 | 2 – 13 | 2 – 13 | 1-0 | 1-0 | 6 |
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