Vancouver, BC - The UBC Thunderbirds opened up the 2012 football campaign Saturday afternoon, falling to Menlo College 28-13 in exhibition action at Thunderbird Stadium.
It is the second straight year the Thunderbirds have started the season against Menlo College. It's the perfect opportunity for head coach
Shawn Olson and his coaching staff to evaluate all their players in game action prior to the first regular season game of the season.
After a scoreless first quarter which saw both teams turn the ball over in the red zone, the Oaks opened the scoring on a Michael Alexander one yard touchdown run to lead 7-0. The Thunderbirds would respond just over four minutes later as rookie quarterback
Lucas Spagnuolo (Grimsby, ON) picked his way through the Oaks defence, scampering 21 yards for the major to tie the game 7-7. Spagnuolo finished the game with 36 yards rushing.
Fifth-year quarterback
Billy Greene (Surrey, BC) played one series in the game and it resulted in a touchdown just before the end of the first half. Greene hooked with newcomer
Daniel English (Mississauga, ON) on a 35-yard pass and catch with just seven seconds left on the clock. UBC missed the convert, but led 13-7 at the break.
In the second half UBC struggled to generate much offense. On the flip side the Oaks were able to score three touchdowns on the ground to secure a 28-13 victory. Michael Alexander led the way for Menlo College with 84 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
UBC dressed 70 players and everybody saw action.
Dominik Bundschuh (Vienna, Austria) got the start at QB and looked good finishing with 84 yards passing, plus another 66 yards on the ground.
Daniel McCutcheon was the leading receiver with three catches for 48 years.
Defensively, the Thunderbirds were led by linebacker
Pierre Lacerte who finished the game with 6 tackles.
"A big part of scheduling a game like this is having real competition from a physical opponent to get in the swing of the game," said head coach
Shawn Olson. "Overall I thought it was a successful game for us. We are coming together, but we still need to determine what our identity is. We have a good group of guys with lots of talent; its now just a matter of getting them going in the right direction and on our page."
The Canada West Regular season opens next Saturday, September 1, when UBC plays host to the Manitoba Bison. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
