EDMONTON – A big second quarter and a key turnover late in the game led the UBC Thunderbirds to a 35-25 win over the Alberta Golden Bears Friday night at Foote Field.
Isaiah Knight kept his MVP-like season rolling with a pair of touchdowns,
Garrett Rooker threw for 370 yards and
Ben Sangmuah had a 71-yard pick six, highlighting the T-Birds' fourth straight victory to improve to 4-2 on the season and a perfect 3-0 on the road heading into the Thanksgiving week bye.
"The most important thing is this team has stuck it out from an 0-2 start and over the course of this we've won three games on the road," said UBC Head Coach
Blake Nill after ensuring his team heads into the bye week still in sole possession of second place in the conference. "On a short week in a tough place to play against a physical team, you got to give credit for first of all having the energy to play two games in such a short period of time and play well enough to win both of them."
On the heels of a gritty 32-30 win in Calgary last Saturday, the T-Birds faced the prospect of heading back across the Rockies to face a desperate Bears team.
Despite playing without starting quarterback Eli Hetlinger, out due to injury, Alberta (2-4) battled hard and got within nine points after Duncan Critch's second rushing touchdown of the game (and a successful two-point convert) with 22 seconds left on the clock. Expecting Alberta to attempt an onside kick, Justin Giustini hammered the ball into the end zone for a single point. The 'Birds were then able to line up in victory formation and salt away the rest of the clock.
Second-year Bears quarterback Cade Labrecque finished with 234 yards passing in his first career start while Rooker's 370 yards came from just 18 total passes including an eight-yard toss to
Mark Webb late in the second quarter which put the 'Birds ahead by 10 heading into the break.
Critch's first major score of the game in the third quarter cut UBC's lead to just two points at 16-14. But following an Alberta conceded safety, the 'Birds put together a quick three-play drive including a 57-yard catch-and-run by Webb, capped off with Knight's second score of the game, his seventh touchdown of the season.
The 'Birds expanded their lead to 28-16 with a 42-yard
Kieran Flannery-Fleck field goal with just over three minutes remaining.
Facing second and long and a rapidly diminishing game clock, Labrecque's pass attempt was picked off by Sangmuah who raced 71 yards to the end zone for UBC's first defensive score of the season and a 35-16 advantage.
"It's big plays against us that are hard to deal with and for us to get a play like that at that time obviously is a critical moment in the game and certainly helps with momentum," said Nill.
The late Alberta score didn't end up putting UBC's win in any serious jeopardy, but it was enough for the Golden Bears to secure the season series edge over the T-Birds on point differential, should that come into play come playoff time.
"We still haven't played anywhere near our best," Nill added. "We're fully aware that Alberta has a lot of injuries, but so do we. That's the nature of our game, staying healthy at this time of year we're just crossing our fingers after every game we can get out of it without too much damage and then get ready for the next one."
The Thanksgiving week bye will give the 'Birds a chance to rest up before preparing for a two week sprint to the finish line before the Hardy Cup playoffs.
UBC's next game will be their last of the regular season at home when they host Calgary Dinos on Friday, October 18 at Thunderbird Stadium, an opportunity for the defending conference champion T-Birds to clinch a berth in the post-season.
