It was the first CIS football game ever played on Vancouver Island and it was played by two teams featuring several Island born and bred players. On this night UBC wished they had done better. The scoreboard left little to the imagination. It was 9-0 for the Bisons after a quarter. 34-0 was the score at the half.
When a wild tipped pass, catch and run touchdown by UBC slotback Michael Mann was called back midway through the second quarter on a holding penalty, which would have made the score 16-7 Manitoba, the air was officially let out of the UBC balloon.
“We just came out flat and played terrible,” bluntly said UBC quarterback Michael O’Connor postgame. “These ones are tough to swallow but you just have to get back watch the film and get better from it.”
O’Connor and his offence’s tough night included three interceptions and two lost fumbles. Bisons starting quarterback Theo Deezar‘s stats were the opposite. The second year pivot threw for three touchdowns in the first half. Ā Four different receivers caught touchdowns for Manitoba on the night. The Bisons’ fifth major was on a Marcel Arruda-Welch 34 yard interception return.
“I don’t think there is that much of a difference between this team and the one from eight months ago,” said UBC Head Coach Blake Nill. “I think what was disappointing tonight is we didn’t play at the tempo we need to and our inability to make plays.”
The main story of the night was the atmosphere at Westhills Stadium. The crowd was energetic and engaged from the kick-off to the final whistle, with a large portion of the audience made up of young children and youth football players.
For the Herd on this historic night, starting quarterback Theo Deezar led with 12-18 for 210 passing yards and 3 TDs. Des Catellier came on in the second half and went 9-14 for 138 passing yards and 1 TD. There was 12 different Bison receivers who caught at least one ball. Stephen Ugbahwas top Bison with three grabs for 93 yards while Jessie Walker had three receptions for 67 yards and 1 TD. On the ground, Manitoba was paced by Wayndel Lewis with 26 yards on nine attempts and Alex Christie with 23 yards on five carries.On defence, linebacker DJ Lalama had ten total tackles with one sack, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one interception. Linebacker Bami Adewale had five total tackles and one forced fumble while Ean Foster had four total tackles and three sackles plus Jayden McKoy added four tackles and two break-ups. The Bisons had four interceptions (Lalama, Tanner Hamade, Tristen o’Meara and Marcel Arruda-Welch – 34 yard INT return for a TD).
On special teams, Manitoba had Christie with 143 kickoff return yards on three attempts with McKoy registering 82 punt return yards on six attempts. Kicker Ryan Jones went 3-6 on field goals and had 38 yard punt average on two kicks while Matt Riley added 46.5 punt average on two punts.
UBC’s will have a week worth of practice to get ready for their season opener versus Alberta on September 3. Manitoba welcomes the Calgary Dinos to Winnipeg on September 1 to begin the 2016 Canaad West regular season.Kickoff at Investots Group Field at 7 p.m. CT.
Manitoba touchdowns:
21 yard TD pass from Theo Deezar to Jessie Walker (1st Q)
14 yard TD pass from Theo Deezar to Shai Ross (2nd Q)
34 yard TD intercption return by Marcel Arruda-Welch (2nd Q)
14 yard TD pass from Theo Deezar to Cam Fox (2nd Q)
10 yard TD pass from Des Catellier to Trysten Dyce (3rd Q)
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