Vancouver, BC - On the strength of 161 yards rushing from
Brandon Deschamps (Prince George, BC) and the defence forcing five turnovers, the UBC Thunderbirds defeated the sixth ranked Regina Rams 24-17 Saturday afternoon at David Sidoo Field at Thunderbird Stadium. With the win the Thunderbirds improve to 2-4 on the season.
With 5
th year quarterback Marc Mueller not making the trip to Vancouver due to an injury, 3
rd year pivot Zach Oleynik got the start for UBC. On the opening drive, he would take the Rams down to the UBC 31 yd line, setting up a 38 yard field goal attempt. Taylor Wandler missed wide right, keeping it a scoreless game.
On UBC's first two drives, they would turn the ball over on downs, unable to convert on third and short.
Late in the first quarter, UBC would recover a Regina fumble at the Thunderbirds 45 yard line.
Billy Greene (Surrey, BC) would take the 'Birds down to the Rams 20 yard line with back to back throws to
Micha Theil (West Vancouver, BC).
Thomas Moult (Calgary, AB) would hit a 27 yard field goal to put UBC up 3-0.
The Thunderbirds set up for another field goal midway through the second quarter, but a bad snap, forced holder
Dominik Bundschuh (Vienna, Austria) on the run and his throw would be intercepted and the Rams would take it down to the UBC 27. However, on the very next play,
Bryan Rideout (Victoria, BC) picked off Oleynik to get the ball back for the Thunderbirds.
Starting from their own 28 yard line, the Thunderbirds marched 82 yards on eight plays, the final play, an 18 yard
Billy Greene touchdown pass to
Andrew Darcovich (White Rock, BC). It was Darcovich's first TD of the season; in fact he made his first catch of the season earlier in the drive. UBC led 10-0 at the half.
The Thunderbirds didn't waste anytime adding to their lead in the second half as Deschamps rattled off his longest run of the season, going 85 yards for the major and putting UBC up 17-0.
"I haven't broken a long run like that since high school," said Deschamps. "It was a lot of fun. it was good to use my speed rather then banging into guys. It was finally nice to run away from guys."
The Rams would get on the board thanks to back to back field goals from Taylor Wandler. He hit from 41 yards and 28 yards to make it a 17-6 game.
UBC was forced to take a safety after a bad snap in punt information, giving the Rams two more points. The score was 17-8 after three quarters of play.
Zach Oleynik was pulled with seven minutes left in the third quarter and replaced by Frankie Gray. Oleynik finished 10-23 for 160 yards and two interceptions.
UBC's offense went missing following Deschamps's big TD run. They went six consecutive possessions without any points, including five straight two and outs.
Frankie Gray was the key to igniting the Rams offense in the second half. The second year quarterback showed off his ability to make plays with his feet leading Regina down the field. Michael Kiapway capped off a drive with 5:24 left in the fourth quarter on an 18 yard touchdown run to cut the lead to two points. UBC was up 17-15.
However, young quarterbacks are prone to make mistakes and on the next Regina drive, Gray was picked off by
Kofi Kuma-Mintah (Surrey, BC), who took the ball down the Rams 33 yard line. The Thunderbirds made them pay, as
Billy Greene threw his second touchdown pass of the afternoon, hooking up with
Jordan Grieve (Salmon Arm, BC) from 10 yards out to give UBC a 24-15 lead with 2:30 remaining in the game.
UBC would give up a safety with one second left and
Miguel Barker (Edmonton, AB) grabbed his second interception of the game on the final play as the Thunderbirds held on to win 24-17.
"This team has been through a lot more then anyone knows so it was nice to find a way to win," said head coach
Shawn Olson. "The big thing was guys stepped up and made a play, that was the difference. Whether it was
Billy Greene throwing a great ball to
Jordan Grieve or Grieve making a diving catch, or
Kofi Kuma-Mintah's interception, different guys stepped and made plays when we needed them and that was encouraging to see."
Brandon Deschamps finished the game with 161 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown. UBC rushed for 281 yards total.
Billy Greene was 17-25 passing for 190 yards, two touchdown passes, and zero interceptions.
The Thunderbirds defence forced five turnovers, including four interceptions.
UBC look's to make it three wins in a row next Saturday in Winnipeg when they take on the Manitoba Bisons. Kick off is at 11:00 am PST from the Manitoba capital.
