VANCOUVER – The Alberta Golden Bears managed to exact some vengeance with a 42-28 victory over the host UBC Thunderbirds in their 2024 Canada West season opener Friday night.
In front of a packed house at Thunderbird Stadium, fans were treated to an offensive show by both teams who played a rematch of last year's Hardy Cup Final, only with a different result.
The T-Birds held a 13-11 halftime lead but a dominant third quarter by the visitors saw them outscore UBC by a 17-0 margin, holding the defending conference champions to just 13 yards of offence in the frame.
Down 42-20, the 'Birds did manage to make things interesting when UBC quarterback
Garrett Rooker engineered a seven-play, 72-yard drive, culminating in a six-yard touchdown pass to
Sam Davenport. The veteran receiver then caught a successful two-point convert to make it 42-28.
Lining up for an onside kick,
Kieran Flannery-Fleck executed perfectly to give UBC the ball right back, still with two minutes on the clock. But the T-Birds rally attempt fell short when the drive stalled, turning the ball over on downs to the Bears who simply ran out the clock to secure the victory.
"Full credit to Coach Morris and his crew. They came in and we couldn't match the physicality on the line of scrimmage," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill. "They ran the ball from moment one and we just didn't have an answer for it. We're going to have to look at the film and determine what went wrong, who was on there, and just see if we can come up a solution."
Alberta opened scoring late in the first quarter when Bears quarterback Eli Hetlinger – hit as he threw – managed to find Orrin Schellenberg in the far corner of the end zone.
UBC took absolutely no time in responding as on the T-Birds' first play from scrimmage on their ensuing possession, Rooker connected with
Mark Webb for an 89-yard touchdown to level the score at 7-7 on the longest UBC reception in nine years.
Rooker finished the game with an impressive 25-for-34 with 375 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception. Hetlinger missed only five of his pass attempts on the night going 17-for-22 with 248 yards and two TDs.
After trading field goals along with an Alberta punt single, the Bears held an 11-10 lead late in the second quarter until
Kieran Flannery-Fleck punched through an 18-yard kick with no time on the clock to put UBC up by two.
Justin Giustini kicked off – quite literally – Alberta's mammoth third quarter with a 48-yard field goal to push ahead 14-11, a lead the Bears would never relinquish.
On their next drive, Hetlinger connected with Chevy Thomas for a 61-yard catch and run as the fourth-year receiver turned on the jets and scampered straight for the end zone, just crossing the line while being tackled.
Not to be outdone and with plenty of work left ahead down 28-13, Rooker and the UBC offence responded in a big way to begin the final quarter. On second-and-long just across midfield, Rooker found his favourite 2023 target in Davenport who reeled in a perfectly placed 48 yard pass, down to the Alberta four.
Isaiah Knight finished off the drive on the next play for his first touchdown rush of the season. Flannery-Fleck's convert reduced the UBC deficit to 28-20 still with most of the final frame remaining.
Once again, however, Alberta responded, restoring their 15-point lead on an efficient 84-yard drive capped off with a 13-yard Ope Oshinubi run.
That Bears defence showed itself again midway through the fourth when Giustini, in his defensive back role, intercepted Rooker at the Alberta 53-yard line, returning it back well into UBC territory giving Hetlinger instant field position in an attempt to seal away the victory. The Bears were able to do just that when Torhjelm once again lined up for a direct snap and ran in for his second score of the game. Giustini's convert pushed the visitors' lead to 42-20 with just under five minutes to go, more than enough to withstand UBC's late rally attempt.
Starting the season with a loss for the first time in three years, the game was also UBC's first home loss since week four of the 2022 season.
"Once momentum was established from their end, you could see their confidence grow," said Nill of the Bears' performance. "We just weren't tough enough. We made mistakes at the wrong time but we were beat both at the line of scrimmage and from an emotional point of view. They obviously looked at this game with a lot higher level of urgency than we did."
"On offence we weren't too bad. We knew coming into the season that defence was going to be our challenge, we knew the defensive line was our challenge, but we had breakdowns throughout. We had breakdowns in the secondary which is supposed to be a strength of ours. We just got beat."
Mark Webb finished the game with a whopping 168 yards receiving, tops among both teams wide outs. Davenport collected 104 while Chevy Thomas led the Bears with 135 yards.
Isaiah Knight's 89 yards rushing easily led UBC's ground attack while Matthew Peterson racked up 117 to lead Alberta.
The 'Birds will lick their wounds and quickly regroup for another home battle next Friday, September 6 when the Manitoba Bisons pay their lone visit of the season to Thunderbird Stadium.
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