CALGARY – In a game that saw UBC only produce 295 yards of offence, the bulk of which came in the second half, the Thunderbirds dropped a 20-6 decision to the host Calgary Dinos Saturday afternoon.
Staking out a 13-0 halftime lead, it was the Dinos' first win of the season while the T-Birds lost their second straight to fall to 4-2.
"Full credit to the Dinos. We were out-coached, their motivation was higher on the field and we were outworked on the field the entire game," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill. "It was just clear they had an answer for everything we threw at them and the tempo of their effort on the field I thought was just higher than ours."
The Dinos set the tone right out of the gate, receiving the opening kickoff and methodically marching down the field. Dom Britton went 4-for-4 on the drive for 56 yards and the score to quickly put the home team on top.
After forcing the T-Birds into a quick two-and-out on their first time with the ball, Vince Triumbari was good on a 35-yard field goal attempt which gave the home side the early two possession lead.
The Dinos added to their lead early in the second with another Triumbari field goal, this one from 26 yards out.
Getting the ball back with just under four minutes to play in the half, the Thunderbirds began their final drive of the half at their own six yard line. But once again, the Dinos defence stepped up and prevented UBC from getting beyond their own 25, forcing yet another
Kieran Flannery-Fleck punt.
The T-Birds only managed 90 yards of offence in the first half, 75 of those coming on the ground.
Neither team accomplished much with the ball to start the second half until Calgary's offence once again found its rhythm and capped off a 67-yard drive with a two-yard dive by Evan Smith to make it 20-0 with less than a minute left in the third.
From there, UBC started to get things going offensively, but the Dinos continued to come up with a big play to thwart away the threat.
A drive early in the fourth saw the Thunderbirds get to the Calgary 28 yard line, but a sack by Daniel Flanagan pushed UBC out of field goal range and forced a turnover on downs one play later.
The next drive by UBC saw them slowly move down the field, using nine plays to move 49 yards and again get into scoring range before Jordan Chizda hauled in his second interception of the year to again end the attack.
The Thunderbirds finally got on the board with 18 seconds left to end the shutout as
Garrett Rooker connected with
Jaden Phillips for a 15-yard score to close out the scoring on the day.
Rooker finished the game going 17-for-31 for 198 yards, one score and one pick.
Toluwalope Ayedegbe had a nice game on the ground for UBC, carrying the ball nine times for 64 yards.
Meanwhile, Dom Britton had his best game in his young Dinos career with 181 yards on 16-of-26 passing and one TD. Gob Deng had four catches for 92 yards, while Ben Britton returned from injury and hauled in five passes for 57 yards and the score.
"We came into the second half and didn't do anything different," added Nill. "It just looked like everyone was looking for someone else to make a play. It's going to be a big character test for this program."
The loss drops UBC to 4-2 and into a tie for second place in the Canada West standings with two weeks left to play.
The Regina Rams are in Vancouver next Saturday, October 21 as the T-Birds will have another chance to clinch a Hardy Cup playoff berth. Kickoff at Thunderbird Stadium is set for 1:00 p.m. PT and
tickets are available online now.
