QUEBEC CITY – Experience is tough to beat – and so are the Saskatchewan Huskies – as the UBC Thunderbirds saw their 2022 Football season come to an end with a 23-8 loss in the 85
th Hardy Cup at Saskatoon's Griffiths Stadium.
A one-point game nearing the end of the third quarter, the Huskies scored their only offensive touchdown of the game on the last play of the frame – an eight-yard Mason Nyhus pass to Jordin Rusnack – to take a 16-8 lead. The Huskies then scored a pick six midway through the fourth while shutting out the T-Birds in the final 15 minutes to successfully defend their Canada West title.
It was a strong defensive battle on both sides with Saskatchewan limiting UBC's offence to just 231 total yards while the T-Birds kept Nyhus and the Huskies to 317. But the veteran defending champions were opportunistic and efficient at key moments. Nyhus finished the game with 232 yards passing, one touchdown and an interception compared to UBC starter
Derek Engel's 149 yards and two picks.
"The defence played unbelievable," said UBC Head Coach
Blake Nill. "They played tough against a very difficult offence. They kept us in the game early, they weren't given a lot of help and a major reason why we were in the game at least initially was the play of the defence."
Following a scoreless opening quarter, the Huskies kicked a 30-yard field goal on the first play of the second. It then took all of one play for Saskatchewan to get the ball back after
Jaden Phillips fumbled with the hosts recovering the ball at UBC's 35 yard line.
The T-Birds were at least able to hold the Huskies to another field goal as David Solie was good from 29 yards to make it a 6-0 lead.
On their next drive, the Huskies got the ball quickly back into the red zone on a 30 yard Nyhus pass to Rhett Vavra. UBC's defence stood tall and held Saskatchewan to yet another Solie field goal as the busy kicker made it a 9-0 game midway through the second.
In the dying minutes of the first half, the T-Birds worked their way into the red zone for the first time and got the ball down to the one-yard line with some help from a Saskatchewan penalty. That brought in power back
Lucas Mastrodomenico who punched in the ball to make it a two-point game with the successful convert.
Starting the third quarter with the ball, the T-Birds got themselves down to the Huskies 17. Setting up for a 25-yard field goal, it was pulled wide left as UBC failed to take their first lead of the game, instead settling for the rouge to cut the Huskies lead to a single point.
Having prevented the Huskies from getting into the end zone for 45 minutes, Saskatchewan finally found pay dirt on the final play of the third quarter as Nyhus found Jordin Rusnack for an eight yard score making it a 16-8 game with the final frame still to come.
After the two teams traded punts early in the fourth, the Huskies defence came up with a big play of their own when Engel was intercepted at his own nine-yard line by Finn Marcotte-Cribb who scored the pick six to give the Huskies their biggest lead of the game, 23-8, putting the Thunderbirds in a big hole with limited time to dig out of it.
That hole proved to be too deep for UBC, particularly against a terrific Saskatchewan defence who finished the game with two picks and a number of broken up passes.
"It's a step forward, it gives us another year of experience but that doesn't guarantee you anything," said Nill of what long-term gains can potentially come from a championship game against a top ranked team. "Next year there will be a whole set of circumstances that help dictate the way the season will conclude. We have a lot of talent on this team, we just got to keep building a championship culture. We're close, but we're not there yet."
Winning their second straight Hardy Cup, and third in the last four seasons, Saskatchewan advances to next weekend's Uteck Bowl where they'll face the AUS Champions from St. FX with a berth in the Vanier Cup up for grabs.
