The University of Regina Rams return home Friday night for their home opener against the Manitoba Bisons in what will be a battle of nationally ranked and undefeated teams at Leibel Field. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM.
QUICKLY
• Friday's game is a battle of 1-0 squads as the Rams took out Alberta by a 39-8 score in Edmonton last weekend while Manitoba toppled Saskatchewan 40-22 in Winnipeg.
• Regina rose one spot to No. 6 in this week's U SPORTS Top 10 after last week's win, while Manitoba jumped into the rankings at No. 9 thanks to its win over Saskatchewan.
• Friday's matchup is a rematch of last year's Canada West semifinal, which saw the Rams outlast Manitoba 32-29 in double overtime to advance to the Hardy Cup.
BIG START FOR GORNIAK: K
Ty Gorniak was a perfect 6-for-6 on field goal attempts in Friday's win, setting a school record for most field goals in a single game. His first attempt was good from 30 yards out and he added a pair from 40, one from 41, and two from 42 to lock up Canada West Special Teams Player of the Week honours. Gorniak had previously shared the school single-game record of five field goals with Aldo Galvan, with Gorniak's five-field goal performance coming in last year's double-overtime semifinal thriller over Manitoba.
KATENDE RUMBLES FOR TRIPLE DIGITS: RB
Christian Katende finished with 23 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown in Friday's win over Alberta. Katende reached triple digits in rushing yards by halftime, helping the Rams build up a commanding 26-0 lead at the break. It was the third time in his career that Katende has run for at least 100 yards in a single game, with all three coming against Alberta including his legendary 228-yard performance late in the 2024 season.
ON THE GROUND: Besides Katende's 130-yard outburst, the Rams also saw RB
Carter Ashman run for 21 yards and RB
Kaiden Banfield pick up 19 rushing yards in their Canada West debuts. QB
Owen Sieben scrambled three times for 32 yards, giving the Rams a total of 202 yards on the ground in the win. OL
Ethan Graham, OL
Nnadozie Marendiukobianwa, OL
Will Templeton, OL
Connor Klassen, and OL
Davin Berry started on the line for the Rams, and OL
Austin Wiebe also saw significant playing time after Berry was injured just before halftime.
CAUSING PROBLEMS: The Rams' special teams unit twice caused issues for Alberta's punt team in last week's win. In the second quarter, LB
Ryan Mills blocked a punt that was recovered by DB
Carson Sombach and led directly to one of Gorniak's field goals. Just a few minutes later, LB
Kyler Banfield deflected a punt and while he doesn't officially get credit for a block because it crossed the line of scrimmage, the punt travelled only 18 yards and set up another Gorniak field goal just before halftime.
RISING: Despite being only nine Canada West games into his Rams career, Gorniak passed Taylor Wandler and Chris Bodnar on the U of R's all-time field goals list and now ranks fifth in school history with 23 field goals made. He needs just three more to match Jon Ryan's total of 26 and five more to equal Daniel Scraper's 28, though there's a significant jump from there to the school's all-time leaders in Perri Scarcelli (56) and Aldo Galvan (54). Gorniak's 79.3% career field goal success rate is the best in school history.
1000 CLUB: Katende now has 916 career rushing yards, needing just 84 more to join a select group of Rams who have hit 1000 for their U SPORTS career. That collection includes U of R all-time leading rusher Atlee Simon (3295 yards) along with Neal Hughes (2934), current teammate
Marshall Erichsen (2004), Graham Mosiondz (1927), Adrian Charles (1883), and Kyle Borsa (1092).
DEBUTS: RB
Carter Ashman, RB
Kaiden Banfield, LB
Kyler Banfield, LB
Lachlan Bruce, LB
Maddux Elson, DB
Easton Fenske, SB
Adley Mayala, DL
Judah Plett, SB
Adrian Reaume, OL
Emmett Reinhardt, DL
John Stevens, and DB
Holden Strinja all made their Canada West debuts last week in the Alberta game.
IN THE FAMILY: The Rams have three sets of brothers on this year's roster including SB
Renzel Arinaza and SB
Russell Arinaza, RB
Kaiden Banfield and LB
Kyler Banfield, and the defensive backfield trio of
Carson Sombach,
Connor Sombach, and
Rylar Sombach. The Banfields will both dress this weekend against Alberta, which will make them the first twin brothers ever to suit up for the Rams together in a Canada West game.
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