VANCOUVER – UBC's red hot offence continued to roll Saturday in a 56-10 romp over the visiting Manitoba Bisons as the Thunderbirds improve to 3-0 to start a season for the first time since 2009.
Jason Soriano scored on a 70 yard touchdown pass from
Garrett Rooker in the opening minute of the game and UBC never looked back.
Soriano finished the game with 99 yards receiving,
Sam Davenport had 100 yards and a long bomb score of his own while
Isaiah Knight ran for 138 yards and a pair of rushing majors.
"All week we practiced hard. I thought today was as complete a game we've had in a long time, for sure since the end of Covid, maybe going back to 2016 or 2017," said UBC Head Coach
Blake Nill who insists we haven't seen the best of his squad yet. "I think we still have potential to be better."
Rooker finished the game 13-of-17 for 284 yards and three touchdowns. The starter was spelled off in the third quarter by
Derek Engel who himself went an impressive 6-of-8 for 105 yards passing, a touchdown to
Mark Webb and a rushing score of his own.
The 'Birds put up a whopping 609 yards of total offence to Manitoba's 364.
UBC's defence was also on a tear Saturday with three total interceptions, two of them by
Max Kennedy in the second half.
"I was really happy to see Max have a game like that," said Nill of the third-year defensive back. "His career here has been up and down with injuries and to see him make big plays like that brought a smile to my face and I hope it's the start of more big play consistency from him."
Already up 13-0 early in the second quarter the T-Birds needed just two plays to get back into the red zone after the Bison's third punt in as many possessions (the other being a
Ronan Horrall interception). Rooker then found a wide open
Shemar McBean on a short pitch with the second year receiver scampering the remaining seven yards into the end zone as the 'Birds blew open a 20-0 lead.
The Bisons (0-3) finally got their own offence going on the ensuing possession, getting on the board with a Vinny De Rosa 29-yard field goal.
But that lift for Manitoba was as short-lived as it gets. On UBC's first snap after getting the ball back, Knight turned on the jets for a 75 yard rushing touchdown – the longest of his career – to give the T-Birds their biggest lead of the game at 27-3, still with more than 40 minutes to play.
The Bisons scored their only touchdown of the afternoon when Thiessen threw a perfect 38-yard pass to Brendt Adams just inside the end zone, cutting the visitors' deficit to 17 with six minutes left in the half.
Before the break, the T-Birds had some more offensive fireworks to show off when Rooker from near midfield, aired out the ball to Davenport who fought off good DB coverage to haul it in, spin around, and make his way to pay dirt to complete the 54-yard scoring play, increasing UBC's lead to 34-10 which they took into halftime.
Knight and Engel both punched the ball in on the ground in the third quarter to get the scoreboard to 48-10.
After Kennedy picked off backup Bisons quarterback Jordan Hanslip in the end zone in the fourth, Engel capped off the ensuing UBC drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Webb, the second straight week those two connected for a major score.
The terrific start to the season – which has now seen the T-Birds outscore their opponents by a combined 91 points – gets decisively harder with the also undefeated Alberta Golden Bears heading to Vancouver for Homecoming next Friday night.
"The big challenges we have are in the next two weeks," added Nill. "Alberta and Saskatchewan I thought would be our biggest challenges. I think in the next two weeks it's going to be a great display of Canada West Football."
