VANCOUVER – For the first time in five seasons, the UBC Thunderbirds football team will take part in the Canada West playoffs.
The No. 9 Thunderbirds needed a second-half surge to beat the visiting Regina Rams by a score of 23-16 in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon and clinch a post-season berth.
“That’s a load off our shoulders,” said UBC head coach Shawn Olson. “I think that will allow our guys to relax a little bit. I really felt in the first half, especially offensively, we were playing a little scared. To their credit, they came out in the second half and played a little bit better.”
In a season where its potent offence has garnered the most attention, UBC’s defence forced five second-half turnovers to spark a comeback that gave the Thunderbirds its fourth win of the season.
The winning points came at 10:45 of the fourth quarter when quarterback Billy Greene (4[SUP]th[/SUP], Surrey, BC) found Dave Boyd (5[SUP]th[/SUP], Duncan, BC) with a 25-yard touchdown pass to put UBC up 20-9. Greene completed 19 of 37 passes and threw for two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Boyd, who also had a team-high 47 yards rushing, caught both of Greene’s touchdown passes
At 11:46 of the third quarter, the pair connected for a ten-yard touchdown play that gave UBC a 10-7 lead after the ‘Birds had trailed at halftime.
On the ensuing Regina possession, Vivie Bojilov (1st, New Westminster, BC) grabbed the first of his two interceptions when picked off a Zach Oleynik pass at the Rams’ 41-yard line.
That led to a 23-yard Billy Pavlopoulos (3rd, Georgetown, ON) field goal at 9:21 that pushed UBC ahead 13-7.
The Rams got the ball back a
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