Best in the West
Bisons thump Rams to capture Hardy Cup
Romer Bautista, Staff
Photo by Chris Shay ©, www.shayphoto.ca ©
For the first time since 2001, the University of Manitoba Bisons football team are champions of Canada West. They dominated every facet of their Hardy Cup final against the University of Regina Rams on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Canad Inns Stadium, winning by a final score of 48-5 in front of 1,750 fans.
It is the second time that Manitoba head coach Brian Dobie has taken the Bisons to Canada West glory. With the win, the Bisons advance to the Mitchell Bowl, one half of the CIS semi-finals.
“To get back to the national semi-final is huge,” said an elated coach Dobie after the game.
The win exorcizes some playoff demons that have been haunting the Bisons since their 2001 Vanier Cup appearance. Despite plenty of regular season successes and accolades over the years, the Bisons have struggled to make it out of the very competitive Canada West conference. Last year, after barrelling through the regular season with a perfect record, the Bisons were up-ended by the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the conference finals.
The majority of this year’s team was there last year, and they were determined to not let history repeat itself.
“I think there was pressure on us. I think there [were] expectations of us to get [to the national semi-finals]. We gave ourselves our own expectations. That’s a lot of pressure,” Dobie said. “This is the most focused team that I’ve ever coached.”
Despite the focus displayed by the Bisons players, things were not looking too good for Manitoba after the first quarter of play. With the offence driving into the wind, the team struggled to move the chains, and fell behind 5-0.
But with the wind at their backs in the second quarter, the Bisons outscored the Rams 26-0 and never looked back from there. The Bisons ended up scoring 48 unanswered points in the final three quarters.
Quarterback John Makie led the offensive surge, completing 18-of-25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Terry Firr (five catches, 98 yards) was on the back end of two of those touchdown passes, scoring from 25 and 32 yards out.
Matt Henry (13 rushes, 113 yards, one touchdown) and Karim Lowen (18 rushes, 92 yards) helped the Bisons dominate on the ground as well, as Manitoba out-rushed Regina 224-yards to 35-yards.
Special teams weren’t left out of the picture, either. Kicker Scott Dixon split the uprights for six field-goals, matching a season-high. Dixon connected on six field goals in the Bisons’ first meeting with the Rams.
While the offence may get most of the praise, the performance of the Bisons defence should not be understated. It was the second time in as many weeks that Manitoba has completely shutdown one of the top offences in the conference. Regina finished the regular season as the highest-scoring team in the conference (32.0 points-per-game) and averaged 416.8 yards-per-game. They were also led by the highly-touted Teale Orban at quarterback. In Saturday’s contest, however, the Rams were limited to a measly 169 yards of total offence.
The Bisons defence has now not allowed a touchdown in over three games.
And not only is the Bisons defence stopping opposing teams from scoring touchdowns, they’re finding ways to score touchdown themselves. Defensive lineman Justin Cooper, who earlier this week was named the Canada West Outstanding Lineman of the Year, caught a two-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, putting the proverbial icing on the cake for Manitoba.
“There is nothing better than this. This is what we’ve been working for. We came up short last year at this point, but this year we’re coming through. Hopefully we have two more weeks to go,” said Makie.
The Bisons will now play host to the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the Mitchell Bowl. The Mustangs advanced to the Mitchell Bowl by virtue of their 34-21 victory over the University of Guelph Gryphons in the Ontario University Athletics conference finals, the Yates Cup.
In the other CIS semi-final, the Uteck Bowl, the Université Laval Rouge-et-Or won the Dunsmore Cup by defeating the Concordia University Stingers 35-10, and will represent the Quebec University Football League conference. They will travel to meet the winners of the Atlantic University Football conference, the Saint Mary’s University Huskies, who defeated the St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in the Loney Bowl 25-24.
The Mitchell Bowl is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Canad Inns Stadium.
