Dinos fight hard, but take a tough OT loss

By Todd Penney

The 2001 Canada West Champion University of Manitoba Bisons rolled into town Fri., Sept. 6 to square off against the U of C Dinos in what was sure to be a clash of the titans. In the Canada West semi-finals last year, the Bisons blew the Dinos out of the stadium–so the red and gold were looking for revenge in their first home game of the season.

From the opening kick-off, things did not look good for the Dinos. Rookie kick-returner Alex Andrews mishandled the ball and most of the 3,000 plus Dinos fans groaned in unisen as they watched the ball flounder around on the turf. The Dinos began the game with the ball on their own goal line and by the 13 minute mark of the first quarter, Manitoba had a very authoritative 10–0 lead.

However, Calgary stormed back. Andrews redeemed his ugly game opening return by carrying the ball 40 yards on the following return thanks to a beautifully constructed seam by the kick-return team. Wasting no time, quarterback Lincoln Blumell aired out a flawless 68-yard pass to receiver Jamie Elliott for the score.

The Dinos opened the second quarter with another six points, as Blumell took matters into his own hands and trotted fearlessly into the Bisons’ endzone on a tricky quarterback sneak play. However, the rest of the half was all Manitoba as they replied with a field goal, a touchdown and a two-point conversion. The two-point conversion seems to be the thorn in the Dinos’ side as they gave up a two-point conversion to the Alberta Golden Bears in their season opener.

In the second half, the refs started to get a bad case of the Pamela Anderson syndrome and made several bad decisions that flustered the Dinos. The refs made a roughing the passer call on the Dinos defense in what looked to be a fingernail from one of Dinos’ defensive players making contact with Bison quarterback Shane Munson. Shortly after, Bison receiver Mike Kelly very blatantly pushed off of a Dino defensive back to get plenty of separation and catch a 21-yard-pass from Munson for the score. In the final quarter, Calgary marched down field on two incredible offensive drives where Blumell connected with receivers Jamie Elliott and Blake Machan for back-to-back touchdowns. The game now tied at the end of the fourth quarter and the Dinos sideline was brimming with celebration. They overcame what looked to be an insurmountable 14-point lead and took the deflated Bisons to overtime.

The Dinos took possession of the ball on the Bison 35 yard line to start ot and the teams demonstrated the recently inked rules of overtime in the Canadian Football League. A valiant effort from the Dinos resulted in a 37-yard field goal from kicker Matt Nimik, but the Bisons showed why they are the defending Canada West champs when receiver Andrew Sharp connected with Munson for a td on the first play of their series to end the game.

The Dinos put everything they had on the table and walked away with a respectable point from this game.

"We started slow," said Head Coach Tony Fasano. "But later in the game we had a good presence out there. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times but we hung in there and the guys believed in what we were doing."

Several players had outstanding games, including receivers Elliott and Machan. Quarterback Blumell played another confident game, passing for 396 yards and avoiding tackles gracefully. Blumell could not avoid them all, however, and was sacked five times which reflects poorly on the offensive line. The special teams looked better this week as the Dinos blocked two field goal attempts and Alex Andrews stormed the ball down field on three of his four kick returns.

Up next, the Dinos are at Simon Fraser University on Sat., Sept. 14 to face the newest edition to the Canada West Conference, the Simon Fraser University Clan.

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