VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds earned a bounce back 31-20 win over the visiting Regina Rams Saturday afternoon at Thunderbird Stadium to finish a perfect 4-0 at home this regular season.
Facing a 17-3 second quarter deficit, the T-Birds gained momentum as the game wore on, led by quarterback
Garrett Rooker's 346 yards passing and three touchdowns.
"Full credit in the second half, Coach Tracey he made all the right adjustments," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill of his defensive coordinator leading his charges to a second half performance that only conceded only 117 yards and three points from the Rams. "Like he told his athletes, 'we're not being beat, we're being fooled.' He did a terrific job calming things down, getting things ready and you saw what happened."
It was a sluggish start for the T-Birds, punting on their first two possessions to start the game. The Rams, meanwhile, despite already being eliminated from the Hardy Cup playoffs, came in with purpose and opened scoring late in the first quarter off a quarterback sneak. Backup Noah Pelletier came under centre for a short yardage play and on second and goal called his own number, sneaking around the pile and into the end zone.
On their next possession, the Rams again efficiently moved the ball into UBC territory and found their way back into the end zone on the first play of the second quarter when Marshall Erichsen ran 30 yards for his third touchdown of the season, evading several UBC tackle attempts along the way.
Looking for a response, UBC got the home crowd on their feet when Rooker aired out the ball to
Jaden Phillips on a fake handoff for a 56 yard catch-and-run to the Regina 23. Unfortunately for the T-Birds, the offence stalled there, setting up a 30-yard
Kieran Flannery-Fleck field goal to get UBC on the board at 14-3.
The Rams managed to restore the 14-point lead on their ensuing possession thanks to a 35-yard Aldo Galvan field goal.
Aided by UBC penalties, the Rams were back inside the red zone quickly on their next drive. But faced with third and short at the 13, the T-Birds' front line came up big, forcing the turnover on downs.
Still with 4:34 left in the half, the stop proved to be the turning point the home side was craving. Rooker found
Isaiah Knight and
Shemar McBean with back-to-back long completions to get UBC deep into Rams territory. Two plays later, Rooker threw a 27-yard pass to
Jason Soriano inside the end zone as the 'Birds finally got their first major of the game to make it a one possession game on a drive that took less than two minutes to execute.
Forcing the Rams to punt on their second half opening drive, a good return from McBean gave Rooker and the T-Birds instant field position. A 15 yard Knight reception got UBC to the Rams 20, Facing second and long, Rooker threaded the ball perfectly to Phillips who was downed at the three, setting up Knight for another touchdown rush, his fourth of the season, tying the game with Flannery-Fleck's successful convert.
"I want us to play a balanced game and I want our priority to be able to run the ball," said Nill as the T-Birds finished the game with 144 yards on the ground. "Teams then have to do something special to stop our run game. It's just been unique these last few games, it's been a different season the last few weeks and we just need to find ourselves again."
In what was a far better start to the second half, the 'Birds also forced the Rams to punt on their first three drives. And once again, UBC made the visitors pay when
Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez hauled in a highlight reel 19 yard Rooker pass, reaching out for the ball while keeping one foot in bounds. The score gave the T-Birds their first lead of the game having scored 21 unanswered points.
Galvan got three back for the Rams with his second field goal of the afternoon, but on the ensuing UBC drive, the home squad gave themselves a two-possession lead on a mammoth 63-yard
Cesare Rednour-Bruckman touchdown. The rookie receiver was left wide open for Rooker to find at about the Regina 25 before having plenty of time to find his way to pay dirt for his first career Canada West major.
Rooker finished the game with an impressive 346 yards passing going 16-for-20 with three touchdowns and no picks.
The T-Birds amassed 451 total yards of offence to Regina's 379.
Sieben went 22-for-32 and 217 yards passing. Erichsen led all rushers with 130 yards while Knight put up 128 for UBC while both scored a touchdown.
Going 4-0 at home for the first time in the
Blake Nill era, the T-Birds still have an opportunity to finish first overall in the regular season, allowing them to claim home field advantage throughout the playoffs. In order to do so, they need to earn a road win next Saturday against the 6-1 Alberta Golden Bears.
"You have to go 4-0 at home, 2-2 on the road and that should give you a chance at first place," added Nill. "Nothing's written yet, but it's a big game next week for both Alberta and UBC and it's pretty neat though to be talking Alberta and UBC in that sense."
