September 22 - In a sunny but breezy day, the #2 Saskatchewan Huskies traveled to University Stadium and lost to the #4 Manitoba Bisons by a 15-10 score. The Bisons extended their consecutive regular season win streak to 13 games (spanning three seasons: 2005-07) and moved their unblemished record to 4-0 in 2007. The Huskies suffered their first loss of the campaign and fell to 3-1.

In front of a loud 2300 crowd, the game had a feel of a major boxing match. The match-up of two of the top teams in the country proved to be a tough battle in the trenches. Both opponents were looking for a knockout punch but the defence became the stars of the game as offence was at a premium.

The game did not have many major plays but Manitoba capitalized with a strong third quarter and registered 12 unanswered points. The Herd continued to build on the momentum of the third quarter and held the Huskies scoreless for 40 minutes before the visitors found the end zone with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

“We are happy with the victory. Saskatchewan is a very good team and we are glad to be able to reach the bye week with a solid place in the Canada West standings,” stated Bison Football Head Coach Brian Dobie.

There was very little scoring in the first half. Saskatchewan had control of the play, especially with the wind in the second quarter, but could only put up three points on the scoreboard. The Huskies were victims of three missed field goal attempts in the half (four all together) as the holder Lawrence Nixon had trouble with snaps and the pressure of the Bisons (mainly DB Mike Howard) allowed the Herd to avoid being down by a larger margin. At the half, 3-0 Saskatchewan. An indication of the defensive struggle was the halftime stats of 180 total offence yards and 35 rushing yards for Saskatchewan while Manitoba had 158 overall yards and 50 yards on the ground.

In the third, the hosts regained the momentum as they held the ball for almost ten minutes and started to move against the stingy Huskies. Bisons placekicker Scott Dixon drilled his first field goal of the game from 27 yards to cap a six play, 52 yard drive. Running back Karim Lowen ran for a hard fought nine yard touchdown to finish off another long seven play, 77 yard drive that ate over three-and-half minutes and the Huskies conceded a safety at the end of the quarter. After three, the Bisons had their first lead at 12-3.

In the final frame, Manitoba continued to control time of possession for the early part of the quarter and added a 16 yard FG by Dixon to push the lead to 12 points. The Huskies refused to surrender and marched 75 yards on a methodical 11 plays that took almost three minutes before scoring with only 1:28 left in the game. Saskatchewan missed the on-side kick as it went out of bounds but they kept the fans in their seats when Taylor Wallace made a sack and forced a punt.

After a short kick, the Huskies had one last shot for the winning touchdown. With 71 yards from the end zone, the Bisons defence rose to the challenge and stopped the #2 team in the country and forced them to turn over the ball on downs and secure the 15-10 home victory.

For the Bisons, QB John Makie went 18-32 for 214 yards and 1 INT. RB Karim Lowen went for 85 rushing yards on 15 carries with 1 TD and Randy Simmons had five catches for 83 receiving yards. DB Mike Howard had a spectacular game on special teams and defence with a game-high nine tackles (two for losses). Jim Jeavons had eight tackles and one breakup while Justin Cooper had six tackles (three for losses) and two sacks.

QB Bret Thompson led the Huskies. He went 18-33 for 237 yards and backup RB Ben Coakwell had 65 yards on seven carries while Thompson had 47 yards on nine carries. Coakwell was also the team-leading receiver with five catches for 42 yards. Gabe Mackesey led the way with eight tackles; Taylor Wallace had seven tackles, one sack and Dylan Barker with five tackles and one interception.

Saskatchewan had 388 yards on offense and the Herd had 364.

Manitoba (4-0) will now enjoy the conference bye while Saskatchewan (3-1) goes on the road to play the UBC Thunderbirds (20-2) on Saturday, September 29.

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