University of Regina Sports Information
REGINA, Sask. – 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."
The Rams fumbled the ball six times in the win. Five of those fumbles were recovered by UBC's defence, including two inside the Thunderbirds' five-yard line as the Rams were threatening to score. Ben Hladik alone recovered three of those fumbles for UBC, but the Thunderbirds (1-2) were only able to turn those turnovers into seven points.
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.
Michael O'Connor was 30-for-45 for UBC and finished with 332 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown pass put UBC into the lead late in the game, connecting with Trivel Pinto from 25 yards out to give the visitors a 17-16 advantage with just over two minutes to go. Pinto led all players in receiving with 10 catches for 131 yards.
Besides Hladik's three fumble recoveries, the second-year defensive lineman was also credited with five solo tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack. Dante Vigini and Sheriden Lawley both had two sacks, while Schnitzler had the other. Vigini, James Ens, Henrique Custodio, Ryley Butler, and Jean Ventose all joined Hladik with forced fumbles.
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.