REGINA - For the second straight year the UBC Thunderbirds Football team pulled off a major upset in the province of Saskatchewan. Last year, the T-Birds went into Saskatoon in week two of the season and knocked off the than CIS No. 2 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies. On Friday night, the T-Birds kicked off their 2011 Canada West campaign by pulling off another road shocker, stunning the CIS No. 6 Regina Rams 21-10 at Mosaic Stadium.
UBC (1-0) never trailed against the pre-season Canada West favourites from Regina (0-1) and were bolstered by a touchdown in each of the first three quarters.
"Anytime you head into week one of a season it is a bit of a crapshoot, but I am very happy with every facet of our team tonight," said UBC Head Coach
Shawn Olson. "Our offence was efficient from the get go, our defence came out flying and hitting, and we got some big plays on special teams. It was a classic team victory."
On the 'Birds opening drive of the game fourth-year quarterback
Billy Greene found receiver
Jordan Grieve in stride down the middle of the field for a 63-yard touchdown completion. On the ensuing Rams possession, fifth-year quarterback Marc Mueller suffered a shoulder injury at the end of an eight-yard rush and didn't return.
"Obviously a huge moment was when Mueller went down," coach Olson added. "He is a fifth-year guy and someone you build your team around. But give credit to our guys, we threw our bodies around and played a real smart game in a very tough place to play."
Greene and Grieve continued their chemistry for the 'Birds in the second quarter, hooking up for a 31 yard pass completion to send the 'Birds deep inside the Rams territory. First-year running back
Brandon Deschamps would take it from there, plunging in from 1 yard out to put the T-Birds up 14-0. The Rams were only able to muster up a single field goal in the first half.
The T-Birds special teams came up big to start the second-half as second-year fullback
Joey Gabrick recovered a fumble deep inside Rams territory after they were unable to handle a
Billy Pavlopoulos punt. Greene and the 'Birds would capitalize on the Rams miscue as three plays later Greene found Gabrick for an eight-yard touchdown completion.
Billy Greene completed 15 of his 26 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns and also led UBC with 38 rushing yards. Grieve led the Birds receiving group with 3 catches for 109 yards. Third-year wide out
Micha Theil chipped in with four catches for 53 yards.
With Mueller out with an injury, Adrian Charles had a huge game on the ground in the loss for the Rams, ending up with 192 yards on 26 rushes. The UBC Defence held backup Rams quarterback Dylan Hart to just 134 yards passing and one touchdown.
The 'Birds will look to move to 2-0 on the year next week when they travel to Calgary to take on 2010 Hardy Cup winning Calgary Dinos. The first home game of the eight-game schedule for UBC goes September 17th when the Alberta Golden Bears travel to Thunderbird Stadium.
In other Canada West football action the CIS No. 5 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies knocked off Alberta 38-7.
Notes: UBC's win snaps a four-game losing streak to the Rams that dated back to 2007 ... the two teams will also meet on Saturday, Oct. 15 in Vancouver.
