Huskies power past young Dinos

CALGARY - Mason Nyhus completed 26-of-35 passes for 408 yards and five touchdowns to lead the second-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies to a 44-5 season-opening win over the University of Calgary football team Friday afternoon in front of 6,249 fans at McMahon Stadium.

The Huskies jumped on top quickly, as Nyhus connected with Daniel Perry for a 75-yard catch and run on the opening offensive play of the game. Saskatchewan forced a turnover on the ensuing kickoff, finishing the short field three plays later on a Josh Ewanchyna six-yard catch from Nyhus to make it 14-1 just 1:41 into the game.

"The guys came in excited to play, but I don't know that they were well prepped," Calgary head coach Wayne Harris said. "You can start right with me down through the coaching staff to the players. It's a team game and we all have to be better prepared - especially when you're playing one of the top teams in the country. We don't make any excuses for the way we played. We had some good things happen, we just aren't consistent. Until we learn to be consistent, we're going to have some troubles."

A Vince Triumbari field goal capped a nine-play drive by the Dinos and brought them back within 17-4 early in the second quarter, but the Huskies responded with two long scoring drives of their own to build the lead back up to 31-4 at the break.

Calgary regrouped after halftime, limiting the high-powered Saskatchewan offence to just 13 points after the break.

The young Dinos offence that graduated the majority of its players from last season finished with just 134 up against the staunch Huskie squad that won the Canada West title a season ago. Matteo Spoletini got the starting nod at quarterback and finished 9-for-14 for 81 yards, while Daniel Sananes also saw action behind center and finished with 53 yards on 9-of-14 attempts.

"We made way too many mistakes," Harries said. "We got off to a bad start, we're down 14-1 and our offence hasn't even been on the field yet. We can't make those kinds of mistakes or we're not going to have success. Especially with a young team.

"I thought we came out and did some things better in the second half. We've got a lot of areas to improve on and that's what we'll focus on."

Calgary hits the road next week for a Friday night showdown in Regina. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Huskies will look to continue their hot start as they host homecoming by welcoming the UBC Thunderbirds to Griffiths Stadium Friday night at 7 p.m.