QUICKLY
The University of Regina Rams gave up a late field goal and suffered a 23-20 home loss to Calgary on Saturday afternoon in a Canada West game at a blustery Mosaic Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Calgary took advantage of the strong northwest wind off the opening kickoff, as Vince Triumbari put a high kick into the wind and it was recovered by Dinos linebacker Osasere Odemwingie.
• The Dinos' opening possession resulted in the first touchdown of the game — but for the Rams. On the second play from scrimmage, Dom Britton was intercepted by Regina's Jacob Tkachuk, who ran it back 71 yards for the major.
• Calgary replied with a touchdown of its own on the next possession. Matthieu Clarke's 40-yard run brought Calgary down to Regina's 6, and Britton ran it in himself from 5 yards out for the Dinos' first major of the game.
• Isaac Wegner hit a 34-yard field goal on their next possession, and early in the second quarter the Rams hit paydirt again after Calgary got stuffed on a third-down gamble. Noah Pelletier's offence got the ball on the Dinos' 30, and 7 plays later the third-year quarterback finished off the drive himself with a one-yard plunge.
• Later in the second, Britton hit Luke Gutek for a 52-yard gain which set up a 5-yard touchdown for Clarke. That major got Calgary to within two points, and a late rouge by Regina made the score 19-16 for the Rams at halftime.
• The Rams conceded a safety early in the third quarter after Wegner punted the ball out of the back of the end zone following a high snap. Wegner collected a rouge off a missed field goal late in the third quarter to make the score 20-18, and the score stayed that way until the Rams elected to concede a safety with five minutes to go and heading directly into the teeth of the northwest wind.
• The decision to concede the safety looked like it might pay dividends after the U of R defence forced a two-and-out and the Rams took over near midfield, but a nice pass delivered by Pelletier ended up deflecting right to Calgary for an interception. Calgary drove downfield, getting Triumbari into position for a 29-yard field goal which put them up three.
• The Rams turned the ball over on downs on their next possession which ordinarily would have ended the game, but Calgary chose to go for a touchdown which would have given the Dinos the tiebreak over the Rams in the season standings. Calgary turned the ball over on downs, giving the Rams one final chance with 31 seconds to go.
• The Rams had two big gains on back-to-back plays, first on an Erichsen 21-yard run and then on a short pass from Pelletier to Renzel Arinaza which had a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty tacked onto the end of it. That got the Rams down to Calgary's 40 with 7 seconds to go and Erichsen had a nice 15-yard rush to get into field goal range, but time expired before Erichsen was brought down and the Dinos came away with the win.

NOTES

• Erichsen finished with a career-high 169 yards, the Rams' highest single-game total since Atlee Simon ran for 222 yards in a playoff game at UBC in 2017.
• Erichsen was also the U of R's leading receiver with 6 catches for 39 yards. He finished the game with 208 all-purpose yards, becoming the first player to go over 200 in that category since Kyle Borsa piled up 294 yards in a game at Manitoba in 2018.
• Tkachuk's 71-yard pick six was the fourth longest interception return in University of Regina history and the first interception return touchdown since Anthony Bennett's in 2022.
• The Tkachuk interception was one of two for the Rams. Carson Sombach also had a interception and it was a huge one, as he pulled in a deflected ball on Regina's 2-yard line to put an end to a late Calgary drive.
• Rylar Sombach had his first U SPORTS sack on a fake punt attempt by Calgary in the fourth quarter. The Dinos made a direct snap to Tyson Rowe, who looked to pass but was quickly brought down by Sombach for a three-yard loss.
• The entire second half featured no touchdowns. The only points were scored off Calgary's late field goal, a couple of safeties, and a rouge.

NEXT UP
Canada West's bye week is upcoming. After that, the Rams will finish off the Canada West schedule with a Week 7 game at Saskatchewan and a Week 8 home game against Alberta at Leibel Field.