VANCOUVER – On Frank Smith Legacy Game Day, where the UBC Thunderbirds (2-5) honoured an iconic Hall-Of-Fame coach of their past, the young 2019 T-Birds showed resiliency to secure a come from behind last minute 38-37 victory against the number three ranked Saskatchewan Huskies (4-3).
Despite already being eliminated from Canada West playoff contention the T-Birds played until the end, the hosts trailed by 12 heading into the fourth quarter, but were able to finish the game with 13 unanswered points to send their faithful home happy on a blustery afternoon at Thunderbird Stadium.
"I have been saying all year that we need to play a full sixty minutes, ''said UBC Head Coach
Blake Nill. "All season we've been playing forty-nine minutes, fifty-eight minutes. Tonight we played sixty minutes.''
Despite making his only third career start, UBC quarterback
Gabe Olivares showed the poise and calm of a veteran, throwing for 375 yards and two touchdowns. His favourite target on the day was wide receiver
Jacob Patten, who hauled in 10 catches for 203 yards and a major. The consistent foot of T-Bird kicker
Garrin McDonnell booted five of six field goals, including the winning 11-yard kick with only 31 seconds left on the clock.
The Huskies were no slouches on offence themselves, as the top rusher in the country Adam Machart churned up 176 yards along the ground, while quarterback Mason Nyhus threw for 295 yards and three majors, but was also intercepted twice by the UBC defence. Sam Baker made seven catches for 150 and two touchdowns to finish as the top receiver in Saskatchewan's air attack.
Both teams came out swinging in the opening quarter, starting with T-Bird All-Canadian linebacker
Ben Hladik, who intercepted an errant Nyhus throw before rambling 50 yards to the end zone, giving the `Birds a 10-0 lead.
It took only 59 seconds for the Huskies to answer, when Nyhus found a wide-open Baker streaking down the middle of the field. Nyhus put a perfect pass on the big, speedy receiver who ran untouched for an 83-yard touchdown.
The teams traded multiple field goals before Nyhus found Baker for another touchdown with 5:45 left in the first half. This time it was a 19-yard crossing pattern, which opened up the T-Bird secondary and allowed Baker to cruise into the end zone, giving the Huskies a 20-15 lead.
After a Huskie field goal, Olivares answered by leading the T-Bird offence on a 75-yard drive where he completed passes to five different receivers, culminating with a 9-yard touchdown pass to the sure-handed
Lliam Wishart, cutting the Huskie lead to 23-22.
Saskatchewan was able to answer before the half ended, as Machart broke through the offensive line and busted off a dazzling 77 yard run to the T-Bird 10-yard line. Two players later, Machart finished the job and scampered into the end zone from four yards out, giving the Huskies a 30-22 lead heading into halftime.
"I told our team at halftime that the score was based on some of the mistakes we made and we should have the lead, ''explained Nill. ``I told them if they limited their mistakes in the second half, we would be in good shape."
The third quarter and early fourth saw two more McDonnell field goals sandwich a four-yard Huskie touchdown pass from Nyhus to Machart. By the time Olivares and the T-Bird offence got the ball back, with just under eight minutes remaining, UBC found themselves down 37- 28.
The touchdown drive that followed was collection of spectacular catches by Patten, finished with a leaping grab in the back of the end zone, after Olivares delivered a beautifully thrown ball up and over two Huskie defensive backs. UBC now trailed 37-35, but seemed to have all of the momentum.
In the game's final minutes the UBC defence made two great defensive stops of Huskie drives, to get the ball back to their offence and give McDonnell the opportunity to kick the winning field goal. On an attempt from 42 yards out with 1:29 left on the clock, McDonnell kicked into the swirling winds of Thunderbird Stadium and watched the ball sail wide right of the goalpost.
The UBC defence would not be deterred on this night, as a massive second down quarterback sack by T-Bird linebacker
Daniel Kwamou forced the Huskies to punt, giving the Thunderbirds possession at the Saskatchewan 42-yard line.
Some stout running by UBC tailback
Charles Lemay helped the Thunderbirds move the ball into the red zone and gave McDonnell a second chance to win the game with his right boot. He made no mistake from 11 yards out, giving the Thunderbirds a 38-37 lead with his fifth field of the game.
Saskatchewan got one last shot at a miracle finish, as they were able to drive the ball into UBC territory, setting up a last second field goal attempt from 49 yards out for kicker David Solie with six seconds left on the game clock. Solie`s attempt had plenty of leg on it, but sailed wide to right, giving UBC kick returner
Daniel Appiah a chance to run the ball out of the end zone and secure the T-Bird victory.
"Honestly everyone has doubted us since we started 0-5," said Patten. "We knew once we got it rolling we were good enough to beat any team in this conference. We worked our backsides off for this win and it feels great."
As part of the Frank Smith Legacy Game celebrations many standout T-Birds football alumni were on hand to recognize the legendary coach while several former players were officially inducted in a pre-game ceremony as part of the inaugural class of the UBC Football Wall Honour. The Wall of Honour was created as a complementary recognition to the UBC Sports Hall of Fame to commemorate football's prolific history and the numerous accomplishments of the program and alumni.
UBC will finish its 2019 Canada West season with a road game in Calgary against the conference leading Dinos. Saskatchewan will play their final game of the regular season at home against the Alberta Golden Bears, in a game that now has massive playoff implications in Canada West.
