Box Score The University of Regina Rams led for almost the entire second half, but couldn't hang on as the No. 7-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies got a late touchdown and a key interception to escape with a 21-16 win.
Huskies quarterback Drew Burko engineered an eight-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass to Shane Buchanan that gave the Huskies a five-point lead with just under two minutes left. The Rams got the ball back with 1:05 left and
Noah Picton led them downfield with back-to-back strikes to
Riley Wilson, but an attempt to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown was tipped and intercepted by Keegan Arnyek to put the game away for Saskatchewan.
Burko finished the game 30-for-46 for 343 yards and two touchdowns, with John Trumpy catching nine balls for 111 yards and Kit Hillis ending up with six receptions for 85 yards. Arnyek, Chris Friesen, and Richard Zacharias all had interceptions for the Saskatchewan defence.
Making his first career start for the Rams, Picton completed 26 of his 45 passes for 355 yards including a touchdown to
Addison Richards in the first quarter. Richards led all players with 10 receptions and ended up with 108 yards, while
Jared Janotta had five catches for 86 yards.
Ryan Serbu and
Patrick MacDonald both had interceptions for the U of R.
The Rams (1-3) will take a crack at undefeated Calgary (4-0) on the road next Saturday, while the Huskies improve to 3-1 and will prepare for a home game against UBC (0-3).
Saskatchewan opened the scoring in the first quarter after a long nine-play, 71-yard drive that chewed over five minutes off the clock. Burko hit Trumpy three times during the drive, which was extended twice by Rams penalties in the red zone and was finished off with a five-yard touchdown pass to Hillis. But the Rams responded with a touchdown of their own, with Picton going 6-for-7 on a 75-yard drive that was capped by a pass to Richards for a major from nine yards out.
But after the two teams combined for two scores on the opening three possessions, the only other touchdown would turn out to be Buchanan's major late in the fourth. Denton Kolodzinski hit a 35-yard field goal for the Huskies four minutes into the second, and
Andrew Fabian hit from 21 yards and 27 yards two and a half minutes apart late in the quarter to give the Rams a 13-11 lead heading into halftime.
Fabian hit another from 27 yards out with five minutes left to extend the U of R's lead to 16-11, but those would be the last points of the game for the Rams. Kolodzinski hit from 33 yards and added a single off a missed field goal from 19 to cut the Rams' lead to 16-15, and the score stayed that way until Buchanan's score.
After Buchanan's touchdown, the Rams got the ball back with 1:44 left on the clock and on their own 38-yard line after a nice 36-yard kickoff return by
Catlin Schneider. But on the first play from scrimmage, Picton's attempted pass was deflected and picked off by Zacharias to give the ball right back to the Huskies. Saskatchewan went two-and-out, but ate 35 seconds off the clock and after a Kolodzinski punt the Rams had to start from their own 13 with 1:05 remaining.
Needing to drive downfield for the win, Picton hit
Jared Janotta on first down for a 22-yard gain and then faced a 3rd-and-11 situation but kept the drive alive with a 17-yard completion to
Riley Wilson. Picton found Wilson again on the next play, who broke loose for a 42-yard gain down the right sideline to bring the Rams all the way down to Saskatchewan's 17-yard line.
Picton took a shot at the end zone on the next play. Janotta elevated for the high pass in the end zone, but wasn't able to come down with it and the deflected ball went right to Saskatchewan's Keegan Arnyek in the end zone to seal the win for the Huskies.
The two teams ended up with almost identical offensive numbers. The Rams had 59 rushing yards and 355 passing yards, while Saskatchewan ended up with 42 rushing yards and 343 yards through the air. The Rams ended up with a slim 412-366 advantage in total offence yards.
