The University of Regina Rams overcame an early deficit with a big second half, pulling away in the final minutes of the game for a 40-28 non-conference victory over the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium.

Alberta scored the first 11 points of the game and led 25-13 at the break, but the second half was all Rams. They outscored the Golden Bears 28-3 in the final two quarters, collecting four touchdowns while a late field goal by Alberta turned out to be its only points of the half.

Mitch Thompson had a fine debut for the Rams, collecting four receptions and a game-high 134 receiving yards including an 88-yard touchdown catch from Cayman Shutter on the first play of the third quarter. Shutter also connected with Riley Wilson for a 14-yard touchdown less than four minutes later and finished the game 9-for-15 with 171 passing yards.

Aundrey Webster led all players with 237 all-purpose yards for the Golden Bears, 110 of which came after a missed field goal that the second-year receiver took all the way to the house to open the scoring in the first quarter. Webster was also Alberta's leading receiver with four receptions for 101 yards, while Adam Zajdel had a pair of touchdown catches in the second quarter for the visitors.

After Webster's long return, the Golden Bears failed to take serious advantage of major miscues by the Rams on back-to-back possessions. Jacob Narbonne recovered a Shutter on the first offensive play after the Webster major, but Alberta ended up with just a single after Stephen Fabian missed a 30-yard field goal. It was the same outcome on the next play, as a fumble on an exchange was picked up by Alberta's Sean Davis to give the Golden Bears another short field. This time, Fabian's field goal was good from 21 to give Alberta an 11-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Rams got over their fumble issues on the next possession, as Noah Picton engineered a seven-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a short Jens Johnson touchdown run to get the Rams on the board. After forcing a two-and-out, the Rams got the ball back with a short field and just four plays later they were in the end zone again after a Landon Buch plunge for the touchdown. That gave them their first lead of the game at 13-11, but Alberta quarterback Ryan Schwartz found Zajdel twice in the end zone before halftime to give the Bears a 25-13 advantage heading into the third.

But after the break, it was all Rams. After Shutter's touchdown passes to Thompson and Wilson gave the U of R the lead back, rookie running back Atlee Simon scored for the first time as a Ram with a short run that finished off another long drive with Picton under centre. A late touchdown by Picton essentially put the game out of reach.

Picton ended up 9-for-13 with 139 passing yards, while John Kiesman completed five of his six pass attempts for 35 yards while scrambling twice for 24 yards. Dillon Dawson led the Rams' ground attack with 37 yards on five carries, while Simon rushed five times for 24.

Michael Stefanovic and Zack McEachern led the U of R in tackles, while Stefanovic also registered one of the team's five sacks on the night. Connor Ralph led the Alberta defence with five solo tackles, six assisted tackles, and a pass breakup.

Alberta will now prepare for its first Canada West game of the season next Friday on the road at Calgary. The Rams are at home to open conference play, as they'll host the UBC Thunderbirds at Mosaic Stadium on Friday (7:00 p.m.).

NOTES: Alberta's Tyler Greenslade was ejected from the game following Picton's touchdown late in the fourth ... the Rams kicked off from Alberta's 25-yard line after Greenslade's ejection.