VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds made a statement Thursday night with a 21-9 home opening victory over the Manitoba Bisons to officially kickoff the 2025 Canada West season at Thunderbird Stadium.
Freshman quarterback
Drew Viotto threw for 230 yards and a pair of touchdowns to
Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez while
Derek Engel also got in on the action with a fourth-quarter major pass to
Trey Montour while the T-Birds defence held strong, the Bisons' held to single digits for the first time in three years.
"A big win against a top ranked program, we couldn't afford for a second year in a row to fall behind," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill who earned his 55
th T-Birds win to move into sole possession of second all-time. "We have a very difficult start, at home vs Manitoba, then on the road vs Sask, and we just couldn't afford to go 0-2 to start the year, especially with the youth in this program. For them to come out and get it done here, that's a big game for this program, especially this edition of the team."
After a scoreless opening quarter, the T-Birds' offence found its rhythm in the second with Viotto and Williams-Hernandez connecting twice in the end zone to open up a 14-0 lead at the half.
After cutting UBC's lead to just five on a Jackson Tachinski one-yard rushing score, the 'Birds responded with Montour's late fourth-quarter touchdown. Needing to put up points and fast, the Bisons marched down field but Tachinski was intercepted for the second time,
Darrien Brown coming up with the ball in the end zone to essentially put the game on ice with just over two minutes remaining.
"They played fast, and in a very difficult situation," said Nill of his team's defence on the night. "To allow just one major – and we should have been off the field twice in that series. A tremendous job by coach Noah Cantor and Coach (Shomari) Williams, Coach Dom Termansen and Coach (Wayne) Harris, they just work so well together with that defence. It's aggressive, we've been working on that since spring camp and I'm very happy with the defence."
The only Bisons points of the first 45 minutes came off a 23-yard Maya Turner field goal after the veteran kicker had her first attempt swing wide left while her second clanged off the uprights.
Manitoba had their opportunities to score, but clutch defensive plays by the blue and gold got the ball back for the home side. The Bisons managed to get the ball inside the UBC 10 only to have
Tyson Lewis scoop up the loose pigskin after
Clark Leonard punched the ball out from Breydon Stubbs. On Manitoba's next possession,
Deacon Sterna came up with the interception after Tachinski's pass attempt was deflected. At the half, the Bisons had only 117 total yards of offence, 95 of those on the ground.
The Bisons got some momentum on offence following Turner's late third quarter field goal. Forcing the T-Birds to punt on their ensuing drive, Manitoba marched down the field and got into the red zone after a scrambling Tachinski threw a 32-yard completion to Braeden Smith. A roughing the passer call put the ball on the one-yard line and the veteran Bisons QB dove left of the pile and in for the touchdown. Going for two, UBC's defence once again pressured Tachinski and the convert failed with UBC's lead holding at 14-9.
With Engel under centre, the T-Birds put together a seven play, 3:47 drive capped by a spectacular touchdown grab by second-year receiver
Trey Montour, the first of his UBC career.
"I had a picture I took in 2019 of Gio (Manu) and the caption said 'this kid's going to be the best in the country one day'. I'm telling you,
Trey Montour, you're going to hear a lot from him because he's an extremely talented receiver who has a linebacker mentality."
After Viotto suffered a cramp in the third quarter, the T-Birds turned to the veteran Engel who finished the game off with 35 yards passing, the touchdown to Montour and 29 rushing yards.
The 'Birds will revel in the win, but not for long as they now face a tough first road game of the season next Friday in Saskatoon when they battle the Huskies. Manitoba will seek their first win of 2025 when they visit the Dinos in Calgary.
