#7 Regina clinch first place with 55-21 road win at Manitoba

Winnipeg – in the last conference regular season football game of the 2016 season, the #7 Regina Rams completed a remarkable turnaround and finished in first place in Canada West standings after an impressive 55-21 score against the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday, October 29 evening in front of 523 fans at Investors Group Field.

With the road victory, the Rams ended up with a 6-2 record (held tie-breaker on Calgary) and made the post-season after finishing last season with a 0-8 record. Manitoba suffered their second home loss of 2016 and fell to a 3-5 record and out of the playoffs in fifth place.

Manitoba did have a chance for a playoff spot as UBC Thunderbirds lost earlier in the night by a 41-35 (OT) result but the Bisons could not find that elusive win and the T-Birds captured the fourth and final post-season berth with a 3-5 record and held the tie-breaker over the Herd.

In a game with so much playoff implications, it was the visitors that seemed ready right from the start as they jumped on the Bisons with a quick score only three-and-a-half minutes in to the contest. Rams' third year QB Noah Picton found running back Atlee Simon for a seven yard TD pass. After a William McGee 30 yarder to end the first quarter scoring for Regina, the Rams added another TD (Atlee on a 1 yard run) and another 32 yard FG by McGee and led 20-0 at half.

Any chance for a comeback by the hosts was snuffed out early in the third. Regina continued to show-off their aerial attach as Picton found Simon again for a 18 yard TD pass only two-and-a-half minutes into the second half and then Picton capped a 58 yard drive with a one yard run by himself plus Simon added his fourth TD of the evening with a 22 yard grab and Regina held a 41-0 lead with still six minutes left in the third.

The Bisons finally broke the shutout bid at 2:04 left in the third when Bison rookie quarterback Des Catellier came on in relief and threw his first ever U Sports TD in his career with a one yard pass to Macho Bockru. Manitoba added two late TDs with a one yard run by linebacker Chris Friesen and five TD pass from Catellier to Trysten Dyce. Sam Varao had a touchdown sandwiched in between the Bisons touchdowns at the start of the fourth for a 55-21 final score.

"This was not the way we want to go out with a blowout loss tonight but I'm proud of our effort throughout the season, commented Bison Football head coach Brian Dobie stated after the lopsided loss. "'It's been crazy...I've coached 42 years and never been in situation with so many injuries in a season. It was tough."

In team stats, Regina dominated as much as on the scoreboard. The Rams had 34 first downs to Manitoba's 25 and racked up 673 total offence to 333 for the Herd. The visitors added 528 passing yards to only 192 by the home side and time of possession was 32:45 (Regina) to 27:04 (Manitoba).

Individually for the visitors, Picton added to his U Sports record total with another 400+ game with 27-39 performance for 447 passing yards and three touchdowns. Simon was a beast with 13 carries for 76 rush yards and 1 TD and added three more TDs in receiving on five catches for 57 yards. In addition, Riley Wilson had a game-high 144 receiving yards on four grabs and Ryan Schienbein added 129 yards on six receptions. Linebacker Danny Nesbitt had team-high seven tackles in the win.

Manitoba was paced by running back Alex Christie with 99 yards on 19 carries while Theo Deezar had an off-day throwing for only 116 yards on 10-27 passing and one interception. Catellier added 76 yards with 2 TDs on 7-10 passing. Receiver Kyle Patchell was top Bison with four catches on 56 yards. On defence for Manitoba, DJ Lalama had a game-high ten total tackles to finish the season as the conference leader in 2016 with a total of 72.

The Bisons do not make the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season while Regina is in the post-season for the first time since 2014 and first hosting since 2012. The Rams now host one of the two Hardy Cup semifinals against the defending U Sports champion UBC on Saturday, November 5 at 3:30 p.m. CST at Mosaic Stadium.


Game Notes: Noah Picton set the new U Sports record for most passing yards in a single season with 3,174 (breaking the old record set by Andrew Buckley, Calgary 2015 with 3,162). Picton also finished second with most completions in a season with 224.
For the Bisons, Theo Deezar finished with 2,598 passing yards to set new team mark for most passing yards in a single season (Jordan Yantz had 2,474 – 2013). Plus, Deezar was in first for most completions (192) and attempts (317) in a Bison season. On total tackles, DJ Lalama set a new team mark for most total tackles in a single season for a Bison with 72.0 (Joey Mikawoz had 65 – 2000) and Lalama is now second all-time in total tackles record with 183.5 in his four year Bison career.