VANCOUVER – The No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds advanced to the Canada West conference final with a 27-22 win over the No. 10 Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
“We did enough,” said UBC head coach
Shawn Olson after the game. “At the end of the day, that's all you can ask for. We battled, which has been a characteristic of this squad over the last two years. It's a testament to the character and pride and the desire of our players.”
UBC got touchdowns from
Jordan Grieve,
Billy Greene and
David Scott, along with two field goals from
Billy Pavlopoulos.
Saskatchewan's touchdowns came from Shane Dueck and Garrett Burgess. Cole Samson kicked two field goals.
With the score 20-15 in favour of UBC late in the game, Saskatchewan quarterback Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren was stripped of the ball on the Huskies' 17-yard line by UBC's
Alex Babalos.
“He's a fast guy so I just ran with him,” said Babalos, of Gilbert-Knorren. “A couple of guys held him up and we always practice running and when a guy's up with the ball, get a rip at the ball and it came right to my lap so I was fortunate enough to get that.”
Two plays later, with 1:21 left in the game, UBC quarterback
Billy Greene found
David Scott in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown to make the score 27-15.
“Dave's 6'4” and the defender was backpedalling really slowly so I knew if I put the ball up to the outside, Dave's got some long arms and good leaping ability, I knew he was going to come down with it,” said Greene, describing Scott's catch.
A late Huskies touchdown to Garrett Burgess rounded out the scoring after the ensuing onside kick was recovered by UBC. The win set off a loud celebration among the players and the crowd of 3,006 at Thunderbird Stadium.
“I wasn't really on in the first quarter but I knew if I just kept on throwing the ball, it would come around,” said Greene.
A slow 3-3 first half was characterized by missed opportunities.
The Thunderbirds intercepted Saskatchewan starting quarterback Trent Peterson three times in the second quarter, including once a diving catch by
Adam Konar, but could not score any points.
But the picks from Babalos and
Chris Mark did come deep in UBC territory and killed potential scoring drives by Saskatchewan. A fourth interception, by
Thomas Harris, took place in the final quarter with UBC up 20-6.
Mark also led the team with 8.5 tackles, while Harris had eight tackles.
Serge Kaminsky,
Martin Park and
Spencer Wilson each recorded sacks.
“Our defence played very well,” said Olson. “It was opportunistic and solid and tackled well and did a very solid job versus the run and that's where everything starts for us.“
UBC took its first lead of the game when Greene threw a three-yard touchdown pass to
Jordan Grieve with 9:56 left in the third quarter.
Then on the final play of the third quarter, Greene dove right tackle for a one-yard touchdown plunge to increase UBC's lead to 17-6.
Greene ended the day with 27 completions on 44 passes for 342 yards and two touchdown throws along with one TD run.
Pavlopoulos' second and final field goal of the day made it 20-6 for UBC with about 12 minutes to go but the Huskies got life when Thunderbird
Spencer Betts fumbled a punt with 7:42 left in the game.
Gilbert-Knorren, replacing Peterson, quickly got Saskatchewan into the end zone, when he threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Shane Dueck.
An ensuing safety given up by UBC cut the Thunderbirds lead to just 20-15.
Sam Adu rushed for 65 yards on ten carries for UBC while Shuster hauled in four passes for 117 yards.
Ben Coakwell recorded 101 rushing yards on 14 carries for Saskatchewan while Jeffrey Moore had eight catches for 137 yards.
Peterson was 16 of 28 with three interceptions, while Gilbert-Knorren was 11 of 15 with two touchdowns and one pick.
Saturday's win marks the first time UBC has beaten Saskatchewan in a playoff game since 1976. The losing streak had reached eight games before being broken.
UBC will now play in the 75
th Hardy Cup game, emblematic of Canada West football supremacy, on Friday, Nov. 11 in Calgary against the Dinos.
Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on TSN and CiTR 101.9 FM.
