NOAH MILLER
Special to the Sheaf

After allowing the University of Saskatchewan Huskies a touchdown on opening possession, the University of Calgary Dinos struggled to halt the Huskies’ eventual 34-13 victory in the rain at McMahon stadium on Sept. 4 in Calgary.  

A 69-yard touchdown run by Huskies receiver Jeff Hassler opened the scoring a mere 1:36 into the game, foreshadowing the formidable offence that would lead the Dinos 25-13 deficit into the second half.    

Dinos star quarterback Erik Glavic ran in an early equalizer into the endzone but by the time the first quarter ended Saskatchewan led by a score of 17-7 thanks to a 20-yard field goal from Denton Kolodzinski and a 87-yard touchdown from Jade Etienne.  

Another Saskatchewan touchdown from Braedon George made it 24-7. The Dinos managed to erase part of the deficit with a pair of field goals from Aaron Ifield but ultimately failed to match the prowess of the Huskies’ charged offence, who went on to produce 570 total offensive yards, 225 more than the Dinos.*

Adding to the Dinos’ frustrations were three first half turnovers and roster shifts due to pre-game injuries including fifth-year linebackers Andrea Bonaventura, Geoff Paiement and Chris Folk. Making matters even worse for the Dinos was the late second quarter injury and subsequent departure of all-Canadian receiver Anthony Parker.  

A torrent of rain stinted all third quarter offence freezing the score until the fourth but not before Huskies safety Bryce McCall nailed Dinos receiver Anthony Woodson leaving Woodson on the field and delaying the game until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.  

After the scoreless third quarter, the Huskies added some extra insurance with Ben Coakwell’s 20-yard dash for the end zone in the game’s final minutes. 

Dinos two-time national MVP quarterback Erik Glavic completed 15 of 35 passes for 194 yards and had the Dinos lone touchdown, while Saskatchewan’s Laurence Nixon completed 14 of 29 for 290, including the 87-yard monster to Etienne, who led the game’s receivers with 95 yards. 

Despite the Dinos all-around flat performance, Dinos defensive back Sam Hurl managed to fill the linebacker position and accumulate 12.5 tackles including a sack.  Bryce McCall led Saskatchewan with seven tackles.  

The loss came as a huge disappointment to the Dinos following Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s recent announcement which named the Dinos the top ranked team in Canada heading into this season, the first time since 1993. The Huskies were ranked No. 3. To further the U of C’s disappointment, the loss breaks  Calgary’s at-home winning streak for the first time since September 2007. 

The Huskies head back to Saskatoon to take on the UBC Thunderbirds on Sept. 10 at Griffiths Stadium, while the Dinos hope to snap their one-game losing streak against the Regina Rams in Calgary the same day.

Noah Miller is the Sports Editor with the University of Calgary’s student newspaper the Gauntlet.

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image: Sydney Stokoe/The Gauntlet

*Correction: this article originally misstated some statistics regarding the football game. The Huskies managed 570 total offensive yards, not 830 as originally written.