RAMS EARN 19-17 TRIUMPH OVER UBC

ReginaRams.com

REGINA – Aldo Galvan’s 10-yard field goal on the last play of the game gave the University of Regina Rams a 19-17 win over the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night in a Canada West game at Mosaic Stadium.

Galvan’s chip shot was a chance at redemption after he had pulled his previous attempt at a game winner from 40 yards out wide left, but two 15-yard penalties by UBC’s Tom Schnitzler on the play – one for contacting the long snapper and another for unnecessary roughness – gave the first-year kicker another attempt at a game-winning field goal. Galvan made no mistake, splitting the uprights to give the Rams their second consecutive win.

“We executed well on offence between the 20s, but we almost beat ourselves with some of the mistakes we made out there,” Rams head coach Steve Bryce said. “I’m so proud of what the defence is doing right now. They’re constantly fighting and just hitting the reset button if something goes wrong, and they’re giving us chances to win games. They’ve been our heartbeat for us so far.”

Noah Picton briefly left the game in the first quarter after absorbing one of UBC’s six sacks, but finished 21-for-27 and had 313 passing yards. He moves from fourth to second on the U SPORTS all-time list in passing yards, and with 10,931 in his career is now just 546 short of Jérémi Roch’s record total of 11,477.

Rookie slotback Bennett Stusek led the Rams in receiving, catching six passes for 117 yards including a 40-yard bomb up the middle on the first offensive play of the game. Stusek also caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Seb Britton, who took over at quarterback for the rest of the series after the hit on Picton. Kyle Moortgat had six catches for 85 yards, while Ryan Schienbein caught five passes for 86 yards.

Kyle Borsa got his first U SPORTS start with Atlee Simon injured, and responded with 19 carries for a career-high 119 yards including a nice 33-yard run for a touchdown in the first quarter. Zach Moore had a key late sack for the Rams, while Layne Hull had a pair of pass breakups and Cole Benkic had a tackle for loss to go along with a half sack.

After back-to-back trips across the Rocky Mountains, UBC will be back at Thunderbird Stadium next Saturday to host Calgary, which moved to 3-0 on Friday after a road win over Saskatchewan. The Rams (2-1) will now prepare for two consecutive road games, starting with next Friday’s matchup against the 2-1 Huskies.

NOTES: Picton passed former Queen’s quarterback Danny Brannagan on the passing yards list in the first quarter, then overtook former Western pivot Michael Faulds in the third quarter … in the “statistical oddity” category, four of the six attempted field goals on Friday were from 44 yards out.


(Braden Konschuh/UofR Athletics)