VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds got within five points of the No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies midway through the fourth quarter, but the veteran home team scored the final 17 points of the game, advancing to next weekend's Hardy Cup Final while ending the T-Birds' season.
After the Huskies, who have not lost since week one of the regular season, took a 12-point lead late in the third, the T-Birds put together a tremendous 77-yard drive capped off by a Lucas Mastrodomenico touchdown run to get back within a single possession of the lead.
But Adam Machart's second rushing score of the game followed by a field goal and a late TD pass from Mason Nyhus in the final minute sealed the victory for the Huskies.
"We weren't able to match their level of execution in the second half," said a disappointed UBC Head Coach Blake Nill. "That's not necessarily a negative on our part, they made more plays than we did and consequently that was the major difference."
Starting the game with the football, the T-Birds' opening drive ended after just two plays when Garrett Rooker was picked off by Connor Delahey at the UBC 48-yard line.
But the 'Birds' defence bailed out the rough start for their offensive teammates, forcing the Huskies to punt.
After a trio of single points off the foot of Huskies kicker David Solie to open scoring, Saskatchewan found the end zone for the first time late in the first quarter on a 14-yard Adam Machart run to stake out a 10-0 lead after the convert.
The Thunderbirds finally got themselves into the red zone midway through the second quarter. Keijaun Johnson got in front of a Nyhus toss towards the far sideline for the rookie defensive back's second career interception, letting Rooker and the offence start at the Huskies' 40-yard line.
Isaiah Knight scampered for 26 yards on a first down and two plays later on third and short, Knight got the ball to the one, giving UBC three chances to punch the ball in. The Huskies defence stood tall on the first two T-Bird rushing attempts, but on third down, Rooker faked the handoff to Knight and ran the ball in himself for his fourth rushing major of the season, cutting Saskatchewan's lead to just three points.
The two teams traded second quarter field goals, including a 27-yarder from Owen Brown with five seconds remaining as the Huskies held a 13-10 advantage at halftime.
After a solid first road half of football, the T-Birds started the third quarter on the defensive side of the ball. But, Saskatchewan was able to quickly move down the field, capping off a six-play, 87-yard drive with a 32-yard Nyhus touchdown pass to Daniel Perry, restoring their 10-point lead.
Late in the third, the 'Birds started putting a determined drive together, led by Knight who rushed 53 yards on five plays to help UBC get down to the Saskatchewan 18-yard line. On second and long, Rooker escaped pressure and found Edgerrin Williams at the six, setting up first and goal and an opportunity to get back within a single possession.
The T-Birds did just that on the next play as Mastrodomenico came up with a clutch run for his first career touchdown. The rookie running back from Montreal spun out of a tackle and forced his way into the end zone.
Saskatchewan responded on their next possession with a tremendous 23-yard screen pass to Machart who turned on the jets and found the end zone for the second time Saturday as the Huskies went back ahead by 12, 29-17 with seven-plus minutes on the clock.
The veteran Huskies showed why they're the fourth-ranked team in the country as they held UBC's offence off the scoreboard the rest of the way while adding a field goal of their own, taking their biggest lead of the game when it mattered most. Saskatchewan then put the finishing touches on the game with a final minute Nyhus touchdown pass to Sam Baker.
Nyhus finished the game with 381 yards on 25-of-37 passing with three touchdowns and one pick.
Rooker completed his first career Canada West playoff game 22-for-33 for 218 yards, one interception and his second quarter touchdown run.
Knight left the game in the fourth quarter after coming up a bit lame after getting tackled out of bounds but the rookie sensation still led all players on the field with 75 yards rushing.
Lliam Wishart and Trey Kellogg each amassed 61 yards receiving for UBC.
The Hardy Cup semifinal certainly pitted the veteran Huskies against the young, up-and-coming T-Birds, but Nill doesn't necessarily see that as a factor at the end of the day.
"We did not lose that game because it was a veteran core versus a youth core, we lost it because we didn't match the level of execution Saskatchewan did," said the veteran coach who hopes this loss will serve his young group well in the coming months and years ahead. "To get better you have to realize what you lost and what you have a chance to achieve. Right now it stings and now it's just how you're going to respond to make sure you don't feel like this again. That will determine how much of a learning moment this becomes."
