The Huskies are off to a strong start this season after defeating the University of Alberta Golden Bears in Edmonton on Sept. 9, propelling the green and white to a first-place tie with the University of Calgary Dinos in the Canada West division.

The game remained scoreless for the first quarter, but the Golden Bears came out quick early in the second quarter with Daniel Ellis scoring a 22-yard field goal at 13:35.

The Huskies responded with a five-play drive which ended with running back Tyler Chow scoring a touchdown. The Huskies furthered their lead before the end of the half thanks to a 31-yard field goal by Sean Stenger and a 48-yard touchdown by wide receiver Julan Lynch, bringing the the score to 17-3 for the Dogs.

Huskies tied for first in Canada West after a 29-17 win against the Golden Bears.

Stenger completed another 30-yard field goal at 9:07 in the third quarter to bring the Huskies’ lead to 20-3, but the Bears responded with a 68-yard drive and a 37-yard touchdown by Andrew Webster to cut the lead in half by the end of the quarter.

Stenger completed another field goal from 14 yards out to bring the Huskies to a comfortable 23-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Bears responded and closed the gap after Alex Bradley broke into the Huskies’ endzone after a five-yard dash, but the Bears were shutout from then on.

Stenger added two more field goals from 17 and 23 yards out to give the Huskies the 29-17 win, scoring an impressive total of 15 points over the course of the game. So far, the season has been going well for him.

Last week, Stenger was selected as the Canadian Interuniversity Sports special teams player of the week after he recorded the game-tying and game-winning field goals in the Huskies’ 41-39 season-opening overtime victory against the University of Regina Rams.

Stenger was good on six of seven attempts overall against the Rams, scoring a 20-yard field goal on the final play of regulation time to tie the game at 31 apiece before sealing the win with a 10-yard field goal on the Huskies’ second series in extra time. Stenger also hit all three of his extra-point attempts and added a pair of singles to tally 23 of the Huskies’ 41 points, and averaged over 40 yards per punt and over 50 yards per kickoff.

Huskie quarterback Kyle Siemens ended the game 15-for-26 for 152 yards, while Alberta quarterback Ben Kopczynski connected on 13-of-22 pass attempts for 180 yards. He was also the Golden Bears’ leading rusher with 93 yards on 14 attempts.

Huskies running back Tyler Chow’s contribution to the win also cannot be understated. In total, the third-year arts and science student rushed for 191 yards on 29 carries — a career best to lead the Huskies to the win.

On defence, the Huskies were led by Spencer Krieger and Peayton Hall, each with six tackles. In addition, Krieger added a sack and a fumble recovery, earning him the title of the CanWest Division defensive player of the week. Alberta’s Josh Taitinger led the Golden Bears with nine tackles.

The Golden Bears were plagued with penalties throughout the game, losing a total of 156 yards to 14 flags.

The Huskies will be at home on Sept. 16 to host the Calgary Dinos to fight for top spot in the CanWest. The Dinos are coming off of a strong win after crushing the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 35-8. The game starts at 7 p.m. at Griffiths Stadium in Potash Corp. Park.

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Brenden Palmer / Sports & Health Editor

Photo: Supplied / Matt Gutsch