Canada West football’s murky playoff picture got a little bit clearer Saturday — not a lot, but a little.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ 22-20 win over the visiting Regina Rams clinched a playoff sport for the former squad, and made things rather complex for the latter.
“Canwest is wide open this year. Anyone can beat anyone,” Rams’ head coach Mark McConkey said at game’s end. “There’s not one team that’s steam-rolling everyone, and it’s coming down to plays.”
The Huskies are third in the conference with a 4-3 record, behind Manitoba (6-1) and British Columbia (5-2). Three teams — Regina, Alberta and Calgary — hold identical 2-5 records, and they’re still fighting en masse for the final Canada West playoff berth.
Regina wraps up its regular season Friday against Alberta, and Saskatchewan plays in Calgary on Saturday. The outcome of those two games will determine which of the three bottom-runners moves on.
The good news for the Rams is they’ve outscored Calgary head-to-head, so they hold the tie-breaker if it comes down to that. But they let the Huskies get away on Saturday.
“I said to these guys, it’s a hard loss,” said McConkey, whose team has lost five in a row after a 2-0 start. “I hate losing to the U of S. I don’t like U of S, they don’t like us. To lose by two, and we’re right there … but I’m so proud of the guys, the way they kept battling all the way to the end. We could have just folded up the tents and called it a day, but our guys kept going. It was something to be proud of.”
The Huskies led 10-3 after the first quarter, but their offence stalled in the second and third frames. The teams took turns chipping at each other — a field goal here, a safety or rouge there. Saskatchewan finally let loose late in the final quarter, getting a 32-yard Lukas Scott field goal and a 24-yard touchdown catch from Daniel Wiebe.
The Rams closed the gap to two on a trick play late in the game, when quarterback Noah Pelletier ran a route instead of taking the snap and scored on a five-yard pass from receiver Emmett Steadman. But they failed to finish the two-point convert, and the Huskies nursed their two point edge over the last two minutes.
“It was up and down, back and forth,” said Huskies’ head coach Scott Flory.
“We’ve got some work to do yet, and we know that. But we found a way to win, and that’s what I said to the guys — I’m proud of them for that.”
Saskatchewan tailback Ryker Frank scored on a one-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter, giving him nine on the season and 21 for his career. That breaks the Huskies’ record of 20, set by Terry Eisler between 1985 and 1989.
Frank says he was surprised to learn he’d set the record — a thing he learned from the public-address announcer.
“I didn’t know I was that close, to be honest,” he said later.
The Huskies’ offence struggled through much of the contest. They managed just one drive of more than 20 yards in the second and third quarters, but when they needed production in the fourth, they took over the line of scrimmage and ate up some yards.
“It’s a little frustrating,” said Frank, who carried 19 times for 85 yards, most of that in the fourth quarter. “You want to extend those drives. But I’ve got to give props to our defence — they were holding us in this one.”
Saskatchewan quarterback Anton Amundrud completed 23 of 34 passes for 278 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Pelletier hit 20 of 38 for 235 yards and one interception.
Saskatchewan got a pair of 32-yard field goals from Scott, while Isaac Wegner connected from 18, 28 and 28 for Regina.
In Saturday’s other game, Manitoba beat Alberta 38-37 in overtime despite trailing 30-4 late in the third quarter.
And now the Huskies and Rams will get ready for one final regular-season game. Saskatchewan knows they’ll have a playoff run coming up, but Regina still has some things to figure out.
“They had our number today,” McConkey said. “We were close, but close isn’t good enough in our league.”
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