Lukas Scott pictured it in his mind many times — his foot, high pressure, an arching ball, three points, a win.
But the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ rookie kicker had never experienced that moment in real life until Friday night, when he booted a 47-yard field goal with 54 seconds on the clock. The timely kick gave the Huskies — after a few moments of anxiety a short time later — a 33-30 victory over the visiting Alberta Golden Bears.
“It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I started kicking,” said Scott, whose Huskies are now 2-3. “I had to seize the opportunity. I stepped up there thinking I was going to make the kick.”
“That was electric,” added Huskies’ running back Ryker Frank. “I’m so happy he made that. It’s a career-defining kick right there, and it takes a lot of guts to make that.”
Scott, who redshirted with the Huskies last season, took on kicking duties this year after David Solie’s graduation. He was shaky the first couple of weeks, but is now eight-for-10 on the season. Two weeks ago, he hit from 45 yards against Calgary and also nailed a clutch 25-yard field goal in the first overtime session.
Friday against Alberta, he tied the game 30-30 with a 21-yarder, and booted the winner just under two minutes later. Alberta then drove into field-goal range, but reliable kicker Jonathan Giustini — hobbled earlier in the game by what appeared to be an injury to his plant-leg — couldn’t hit his tying attempt from 51 yards.
“I hit those exact kicks every day, every week,” Scott said. “It’s something you can’t think about too much — just take a deep breath, and kick it the best I can, do the best I can. To be able to support the boys was a great feeling.”
“We knew (Scott) had a leg, and we also knew he’s got some maturing to do. He has, and he has quickly,” Huskies’ head coach Scott Flory said of his rookie kicker. “The first couple games it’s shaky, it’s big, it’s new. But he settled in and the team has confidence in him, and he’s got confidence in himself. He can play.”
The victory was badly needed by the Huskies, who had lost three of their first four games in a tightly-packed Canada West. It didn’t look good for a while — they trailed 20-14 at halftime, and 30-14 early in the fourth quarter.
Flory, not happy with the play of starting quarterback Anton Amundrud, sent him to the bench for a spell, but brought him back to complete the comeback — two touchdowns and two field goals in the game’s last 12:41.
“I’m really proud of Anton,” Flory said. “I pulled him (from) the game, put Jake (Farrell) in there. It got to a point where it’s ‘you’ve got to go win this football game for us. You’re our veteran. You’re our starting quarterback. Lead this team.’ He made plays, other guys made plays. He stepped up, and Lukas hit the big field goal there at the end. We’ve got to build on it, but it’s really good.”
Frank scored on touchdown runs of five and seven yards while carrying 17 times for 185 yards. The Huskies also got a one-yard TD catch from Kody Gutek and a 10-yard scoring reception from Ercy Avul.
Alberta — now 2-3 on the season — got touchdown catches of 13 and 21 yards from Erik Torhjelm, an eight-yard TD reception from Cody Peever and a 30-yard Giustini field goal.
Amundrud finished 19 of 32 for 235 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and Farrell hit five of six for 25 yards and a TD.
“I said to the coaches, and I said to the players, we grew up a lot in this game,” Flory said. “We grew up a lot in the second half.”
The Huskies return to action this coming Friday at Griffiths Stadium against the Manitoba Bisons. They’ll wrap up their schedule with an Oct. 19 home game against the Regina Rams and an Oct. 26 contest in Calgary.
“We knew it was going to be a tough first half of the schedule,” Flory said. “We didn’t set ourselves up, we didn’t do what we needed to do. But we stuck with it.
“This team has never wavered — the effort, the commitment, the work ethic in practice. We made some mistakes, we’ve got some young guys, we’ve got some new guys, but we grew up a lot in this game.
“Like I said (to the players post-game), we can’t all of a sudden think we’re good. We’ve got to get back to work, and we’ve got to build on this.”
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.