VANCOUVER – If Canadian football fans didn't know him before Friday night,
Marvyn Larozar sure made a name for himself, leading the UBC Thunderbirds (1-1) to a 43-10 home opening win over the Alberta Golden Bears (0-2) with an incredible 285 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
In just his second collegiate game, the 18-year old from Ottawa put up the fifth highest single game rushing total by any Thunderbird in history with T-Bird legends Mark Nohra, Akbal Singh and Chris Ciezki the only three ahead of him. The product of Asheville School in North Carolina completed the night with 313 all-purpose yards.
A week after UBC managed just 49 yards on the ground, the 'Birds amassed 419 total Friday, the third highest in a single game in more than 100 years of Thunderbird Football. While Larozar will get the lion's share of plaudits,
Josh Martin – who spelled off his fellow freshmen in the fourth quarter – ran for 75 yards and a touchdown of his own.
"If you watch him, his pads are square, he runs very low to the ground and he typically makes the first guy miss," said UBC head coach,
Blake Nill, of his rookie running back sensation. "Right from day one, he's just been a humble kid. He's very well raised and we're very fortunate to have him in the program. He flew under the radar a bit coming in as a recruit. He's a highly touted kid and runs the ball very effectively.
Not to be outdone, the 'Birds' defence limited the Bears to just 10 points while shutting out the visitors in the second half.
Alberta quarterback Christian Veilleux managed to put up 342 yards passing with a second quarter touchdown toss to Ayden McDonald. But the third-year pivot was intercepted twice in the end zone, once each by
Darrien Brown and
Cole Pryputsch.
"We're starting to get a culture on defence," said Nill. "The secondary's actually very athletic and they're only going to get better."
While week one saw the T-Birds at the wrong end of a lopsided first quarter, the blue and gold turned the tables for their home opening crowd nearly 3000 strong.
Larozar got the party started with the first of his four scores less than four minutes after kickoff, a 30 yard tackle evading dash to the end zone.
UBC's lone passing touchdown, a 48-yard catch-and-run from
Drew Viotto to
Trey Montour, gave the 'Birds a 14-0 lead following
Alexander Hillyard's convert.
Montour had his second straight 100-plus yard game to start the season with 116 total, now up to 240 on the season.
Viotto went 12-of-18 for 169 yards, his touchdown pass to Montour and one interception.
Larozar's second major of the game came midway through the second, a six-yard carry for a three-possession lead.
After trading safetys, Larozar completed the TD hat trick with perhaps his most impressive score of the night, a 48-yard blistering rush to put the T-Birds up 30-3.
The Bears managed to cut their deficit back to 20 with McDonald's 28-yard reception capping off a quick 32-second, 79 yard drive, but with UBC still in firm control with 30 minutes left to play.
A quiet third quarter got the near-capacity Thunderbird Stadium crowd back on its feet late in the frame when Larozar took the Viotto handoff just inside T-Bird territory and dashed to the right sideline, leaving the Bears' defence well behind him. The 57-yard run got the rookie onto an exclusive list of 'Birds with four rushing scores in a game – only Cziezki has managed five.
Up by 26 points in the fourth, Nill began to cycle in other players at a number of positions, including Alex LaVecchia at quarterback.
After Larozar ran another 22 yards to begin UBC's second possession of the final quarter, he was replaced by Martin who finished off the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run, the first of his young Thunderbird career.
"Coming in this week, we felt good with our O-Line performance from the second half of last game," Nill said. "We felt we had to start establishing ourselves as a run team, take some pressure off Drew, take some pressure off (Montour). We've got a group of receivers that can do some damage too and when it's balanced it just makes both sides more effective."
With their first win of the season under their belts, the 'Birds have some serious confidence and wind in their sails heading into next Friday's Homecoming battle against the conference's only remaining undefeated team in the Regina Rams who earned a 23-8 win over the Bisons Friday.
"We just got to grow and get better. This is such a tough league, we just got to keep getting better."
