The Huskies put up a fight, but were ultimately overpowered by the Calgary Dinos and fell from the top of the Canada West standings following the loss.

When two undefeated teams met last Saturday night only one could escape with their record unscathed. The University of Saskatchewan men’s football team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Calgary Dinos on Sept. 14.

The Huskies are now 2-1 on the season after dropping the contest 24-36, which ties them for second place with the Manitoba Bisons in the Canada West division.

The first half of the game saw a back-and-forth exchange of leads between the two teams. After Calgary opened with a single point from the kickoff, each team scored off a field goal when Calgary’s Johnny Mark and Saskatchewan’s Denton Kolodzinski each put the ball through the uprights. There wasn’t much of a lead for the Dinos with the score at 4-3 after the first quarter.

A safety to open the second quarter pushed the Huskies ahead 5-4 but it wasn’t long before the Dinos took back the lead after Mark completed another field goal from 11 yards out.

The Dogs came back with their first touchdown of the night when quarterback Drew Burko scampered seven yards into the endzone. The Huskies put another point on the board before the Dinos would score their first touchdown after quarterback Andrew Buckley made his way into the endzone.

After the opening half Calgary was leading Saskatchewan by a mere 14-13.

The Dinos began to pull away in the third quarter, scoring 15 unanswered points and extending their lead to 29-13. From there the home team would not surrender their advantage again.

Kolodzinski would open scoring in the fourth quarter with a single point off a punt followed by a 24-yard field goal a few minutes later. The Dinos would put another seven points up after Mercer Timmis ran six yards into the endzone for another touchdown with three minutes left in the game.

Defensive end Joel Sutter scored the final touchdown of the night for the Huskies after he recovered a fumble and brought it into the endzone in the closing minute of the game. The effort wouldn’t be enough as the Huskies fell 24-36.

The Huskies will look to take away positive lessons from the first defeat of the year. The loss to the Dinos, who have held the top spot in the Canada West Division for five straight years, shows the Huskies will need to be at the top of their game in order to challenge the best teams in the country.

The Dogs will look to get things back on track as they take to the field again on Sept. 20 against the 0-3 Alberta Golden Bears.

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Photo: JoshO’Brien/TheGauntlet