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October
25 - Saturday at a blustery University Stadium, Bison safety/place-kicker/punter
Jamie
Boreham put an exclamation point on his storied CIS career by
kicking a 37 yard game-winning field goal into the wind with no
time remaining on the clock to give the Manitoba Bisons a 25-23
victory over the UBC Thunderbirds.
In
a game that was dominated by penalty flags,(both teams were flagged
for a combined total of 255 yards on 29 fouls), the Herd looked
to be in complete control of the game as they led 22-9 with only
6:18 to play. However, some late-game heroics by both Blake Selsmer
and Mike Lindstrom gave the Thunderbirds a great opportunity to
notch their first win of the season. However, it was not to be as
Bison quarterback Brad
Sarna engineered an impressive 45 yard drive in the last :56
seconds to get the ball down to the UBC 30, setting up Boreham's
winning kick.
Manitoba
opened the scoring only 5:16 into the game when Mike
Faisthuber caught a 10 yard pass for a TD. The Herd looked extremely
sharp on the 7 play 61 yard drive as Sarna hit Faisthuber three
times and also used tailback Pablo
Henriquez effectively on the ground.
Shortly
before the end of the first quarter UBC got on the board on a 41-yard
Leon Denenfeld field goal. The 3-pointer was set up by excellent
field position that resulted from a combination of a poor Manitoba
punt and two penalties called on the Herd. Manitoba was called for
both objectionable conduct and no yards on the punt play bringing
the ball to the Manitoba 36 yard line.However, UBC could not take
advantage of the good field position and settled for the three points.
On
the very next play after Manitoba had taken the ball at their own
35-yard line, tailback Pablo Henriquez fumbled and the ball was
recovered by UBC's Geoff Smythe at the Bison 37 yard line. UBC went
to work quickly as Blake Smelser fired a rocket to Mike Lindstrom
that was good for 30 yards and put UBC on the Manitoba 7 yard line
with a first and goal situation. After a series of penalties by
both teams and a couple of misfires by Smelser put the ball back
on the 12 yard line, Denenfeld kicked his second consecutive field
goal to make it 7-6 Manitoba.
UBC
got the ball back again in good field position for the third straight
time after a 2 and out by Manitoba. Neil
Fulgueras who punted several balls in place of an ailing Boreham
today could manage only a 23-yarder into the wind and UBC took over
at the Manitoba 45. However, halfback David
Hewson picked off an errant Smelser pass attempt to snuff out
the UBC drive on the very next play with no time remaining in the
1st frame.
Neither team could manage anything on offense in the second quarter
and after the half, UBC got on the board first on Denenfeld's third
field goal of the game this time from 21 yards out. However, two
plays previous to the field goal it looked as though UBC had scored
a major but Smelser's 19-yard strike to Lindstrom was called back
on an offensive pass interference call on a UBC receiver.
With
UBC leading 9-7, Jon Hooton came in for Sarna and immediately led
the Herd on an impressive 62 yard drive that resulted in a one-yard
plunge by fullback Darin Kozak. On the drive, Hooton hit Blair Atkinson
for 15 and 37 yards and Faisthuber for 12 yards before giving to
Kozak on 1st and goal. On the ensuing kick-off Boreham nailed an
85 yard single that bounced through the end-zone for a single point
making the score Manitoba 15 UBC 9.
With
Manitoba heading into the wind at the start of the fourth quarter,
a bizarre set of circumstances led to the Herd's third touchdown
of the day. Brad Sarna, who had come back into the game in the third
quarter, tried to hit Faisthuber on what looked to be play set up
for Faisthuber to throw the ball down field. With Faisthuber standing
about 5 yards behind and 10 yards to the right of Sarna, the Bison
QB turned and air-mailed the ball way over the slotback's head with
the end result a net loss of 26 yards on the play. On 3rd and 36
Manitoba kicked the ball away but UBC was called for roughing the
kicker as a UBC player ran into Boreham. That penalty is an automatic
first down and gave Manitoba the ball back at their own 50 yard
line with a fresh set of downs.Manitoba then went to the ground
game using Darwin
Thompson who rushed three consecutive times for a total of 42
yards bringing the ball down to the UBC 18 yard line. On the very
next play Sarna hooked up with slotback Andrew
Sharp for an 18 yard TD. Boreham's convert made it 22-9 Manitoba
with only 11:00 minutes remaining.
Things
got really interesting at the 6:18 mark of the final frame when
Smelser aired it out for Lindstrom once again and the speedy wide
receiver made a great catch near the Manitoba end zone, made a couple
of moves and ran it in for a 33 yard major cutting the Herd's lead
to 22-16.
After
a Manitoba drive stalled, Boreham pinned the T-Birds down on their
own 14 yard line on a 37 yard punt with 2:09 remaining ,and the
game looked to be all but over. However, Smelser and Lindstrom had
other ideas. After the UBC QB hit three different receivers to get
the ball to the T-Bird 44 yard line, he went back down the sidelines
to Lindstrom for a 66 yard catch and run for the major score putting
UBC up 23-22 with only :56 seconds remaining.
In
the last CIS drive of his career, Bison QB Brad Sarna quickly drove
the ball 45 yards down to the UBC 30 yard line setting up Borehmam's
last CIS field goal. The 37 yarder was good giving the Bisons the
25-23 victory.
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