VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds football season concluded with a 52-24 loss on the road against the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday night.
After finishing the first quarter with a 10-3 advantage, the host Huskies scored three second-quarter touchdowns to blow the game wide open and take a 31-10 lead into halftime.
UBC's only score in the second quarter came with 6:24 left when quarterback
Billy Greene (Surrey, BC), playing in his last CIS game, completed a 15-yard pass to
Patrick Bull (Vancouver, BC), his 12th TD completion of the year, which made the score 24-10.
Greene found Bull with a 17-yard pass on the play immediately before the touchdown. That completion vaulted Greene into third place on the Canada West's all-time passing yards list, going ahead of Calgary's Greg Vavra, who recorded 8401 yards in his career. Entering the game, the Holy Cross graduate had 8322.
Greene finished the night 29-44 with two touchdowns and an interception. With his 15th completion of the game, he also passed Vavra into second for most in Canada West history. Greene will finish with 626 in his career, trailing only the 685 racked up by Regina's Teale Orban. Finally, the UBC quarterback moved his way into ninth place on the Canada West list for most career touchdown passes with 51.
Still, it was not a banner day for the Thunderbirds. After a 26-yard
Thomas Moult (Calgary, AB) field goal tied the game at 3-3 with 3:26 left in the first, Saskatchewan replied with a 34-yard touchdown reception from Charlie Power to round out the scoring in the period.
The Huskies scored again early in the second, as quarterback Drew Burko threw a 52-yard TD pass to Mitch Stevens to make it 17-3.
Chase Bradshaw ran in a one-yard major before Bull's touchdown for UBC.
The second half saw more big plays from the home team. Burko found Stevens for a 35-yard major for the only score of the third quarter.
Greene capped off an eight-play, 86-yard drive to open the fourth by hitting
Daniel English (New Westminster, BC) with a 12-yard touchdown pass to cut the Saskatchewan lead to 38-17.
But the Huskies replied with two more scores before
Lucas Spagnuolo (Grimsby, ON) found the end zone with a four-yard rush at the end of the game.
UBC's
Brandon Deschamps (Prince George, BC) ran for 110 yards on 18 carries to power the ground game.
Bull caught ten passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Jordan Grieve (Salmon Arm, BC), also in his last game as a T-Bird made four catches for 60 yards.
Bryan Rideout (Victoria, BC) had 6.5 tackles on the defensive side of the ball.
Saskatchewan's Burko completed 20 of 29 passes for four touchdowns, two interceptions and 321 yards.
The Huskies' running backs gained 197 yards, while Stevens made six catches to record 117 yards and two majors.
UBC finishes the regular season with a record of 2-6. Saskatchewan will advance to the Canada West playoffs with a record of 5-3.
-30-
