The No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds fell 31-24 to the Manitoba Bisons in the opening Canada West regular season football game for both teams on Saturday afternoon in Vancouver.
The game on David Sidoo Field at Thunderbird Stadium was attended by 1,868 people.
Manitoba running back Nic Demski gave his team the winning points on a six-yard touchdown run at 10:25 of the fourth quarter. A two-point convert made the score 31-17.
UBC quarterback Billy Greene connected with receiver Micha Theil for a 28-yard touchdown pass at 13:00 of the fourth quarter to close to within seven at 31-24.
The UBC defence then forced a two-and-out on the ensuing possession but the Thunderbirds fumbled the punt, ending any chance of forcing the game into overtime.
For the home team, the fumble was just one of many things that didn’t go their way.
“A lot of the stuff we had was there all game,” said UBC head coach Shawn Olson. “You know, we just weren’t hitting it or we weren’t aligning properly. There’s little, subtle things as far as our receivers, things that we talked about all week as far as landmarks, where to be when we run certain plays from and we were three or four yards outside of those landmarks.”
UBC outgained Manitoba in the air (232-194) and on the ground (291-258) and held the ball for seven more minutes than the visitors (33:30-26:30), but the T-Birds trailed for most of the game.
After a low-scoring first half that saw the Bisons take a 9-6 lead into the break, Demski kick-started his team’s fortunes with a 96-yard punt return touchdown. He looked like he was going to be trapped deep in his own territory before breaking through the back and into the open to put his team up 16-6.
The Bisons then gave up a safety before Thomas Moult (Calgary, AB) hit a 27-yard field goal at 13:10 of the third quarter to make the score 16-11 in favour of the visitors. The drive was sparked by a 55-yard run by rookie Lucas Spagnuolo (Grimsby, ON), who also ran in a 15-yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter for UBC’s only points in opening half. He finished his first career CIS game with 79 yards rushing on four carries.
Manitoba running back Kienan LaFrance responded with a three-yard scamper into the end zone to extend the Bisons to 23-11 at 5:53 of the final quarter before Greene answered back by finding receiver Patrick Bull wide open in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to pull the T-Bird within six at 23-17 at 8:00.
LaFrance also scored Manitoba’s lone major in the first half on a one-yard run at 4:08 of the second quarter, which put his team up 9-6. He ended the game with 165 yards on 19 carries, leading all players in both categories.
Greene completed 16 of 32 passes for UBC and threw for two touchdowns. He was also intercepted once. Greene was second on the team in rushing as well with 90 yards on eight carries.
Brandon Deschamps was the leading man on the ground for the T-Birds as he recorded 97 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Vivie Bojilov paced UBC defensively with seven tackles and a sack.
Manitoba quarterback Cam Clark was 13 of 24 with an interception. Ranji Atwall had two sacks to go with his 7.5 tackles.
The Thunderbirds, now 0-1, will play their first road game on Friday, Sept. 7 against the Regina Cougars.
