Kevin Mitchell
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
The battle of Saskatchewan has added some snarl and a bit of bite.
The Regina Rams and Saskatchewan Huskies played three memorably tight games last year — including a conference-final clash, won 19-14 by Regina — and they skirmished in close quarters for first place Friday night at Griffiths Stadium.
The Huskies won 22-20, thanks to Daniel Wiebe’s touchdown catch with 3:18 on the clock. It was a long gallop, a perfectly-thrown pass over his shoulder on the fly, a punctuation mark on a rivalry that stretches across a large portion of Highway 11.
“We fought to the end, two evenly-matched teams,” Huskies’ head coach Scott Flory said after a game played in front of 5,571 spectators.
“That’s football. I just love it. It’s better than any drama or Netflix series or whatever you’re going to watch. The swings, the highs and the lows, the chess match of it. It was awesome, and I’m so proud of the guys.”
Rams’ head coach Mark McConkey pointed out, correctly, that Saskatchewan beat his team by an identical 22-20 score last season on the same turf.
This is the only regular-season meeting between the squads, but McConkey predicted that they just might meet again in the postseason.
“Hopefully we can find our way into the playoffs, and I’m sure we’ll be here, playing these guys again,” McConkey said.
“We’ve got to get a lot better before then, but if we can take care of the next couple games at home and put ourselves in a spot to play in the playoffs, I definitely have a feeling we’ll be playing the Huskies.”
Wiebe, asked about McConkey’s comment, was quick to agree: “In my mind, I think we’ll play them again at some point,” he said.
Both teams are 3-1, which puts them atop the Canada West standings. Should they tie at season’s end, the Huskies will get the nod because of Friday’s win.
Wiebe caught eight balls for 155 yards, including that 60-yard touchdown gallop. Flory said the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ eighth-round draft pick is “borderline uncoverable right now.”
Added Amundrud: “Anytime I get the chance to put the ball in his hands, I want to. He makes plays like that. He’s done it since he’s been here, and he’s a great athlete. We got the right call for it. I knew we had Dan Wiebe open, I let it go, and he did the rest.”
Wiebe’s touchdown set up a roiling three minutes that included both a Rams fumble and a failed third-and-one conversion, along with missed field-goal attempts of 34 and 45 yards from Saskatchewan kicker Lukas Scott.
The Huskies also got a three-yard touchdown run from Ryker Frank — capping off a seven-play, 81-yard opening drive — and a 28-yard Scott field goal.
Regina TD catches came from Renzel Arinaza (seven yards) and Nicholas Sirleaf (nine) plus field goals of 19 and 28 yards from Ty Gorniak.
“Losing sucks,” McConkey said. “We all know that. But perspective for the guys, we’ve been on the road three of four games. We’re at the halfway point, and we’re 3-1. That’s okay. That’s pretty good. Yes, the loss stings, but we’re 3-1, and in the second half of the season we have three of four at home. I think we’re in good shape. We’ve just got to watch the film, get a lot better, correct it, and move on and get ready for Manitoba.”
The Huskies, meanwhile, slide into the second half of their regular season with a road game Saturday in Calgary against the 2-2 Dinos.
kemitchell@postmedia.com
