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Friday’s Hardy Cup rematch at Griffiths Stadium didn’t disappoint.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies were able to hold off a potent University of Calgary Dinos offence on its way to a 29-15 win in the first game between the two teams since the Huskies shocked the Dinos and walked away as 2018 Hardy Cup champions last November.
“We just kept making plays,” head coach Scott Flory said following the win. “Man, there’s a pick, turnover, pick, fumble — it was crazy. That’s football, man. That’s why it’s the best game ever.”
Saskatchewan was able to hand the Dinos it’s first regular-season loss since the University of Alberta Golden Bears beat them on Oct. 28, 2017. The only Dinos losses the past two seasons have come against the Huskies, who now hold second place in the conference with a 3-2 record. The Dinos remain atop the Canada West standings at 4-1.
Friday’s game started off with a bang as the Dinos didn’t break a sweat during a six-play opening drive that took 2:49 off the clock and put the Dinos up 7-0 early.
It looked like it could be a really long night for the Huskies, but third-year quarterback Mason Nyhus responded immediately with a four-play touchdown drive after running back Adam Machart rumbled for 46 yards and caught an 11-yard screen pass to finish the drive.
Canada West’s leading rusher knew his team needed an answer for Calgary’s hot start.
“We had to take away that momentum from them. You just can’t let them get away with something like that, especially in our own barn. We knew we had to bring some juice and go get that back,” Machart said.
After both teams turned the ball over on downs, a Saskatchewan fumble would give the Dinos an easy path to the endzone for a 14-8 Dinos lead after the first quarter.
Nyhus would follow up a 47-yard field goal from David Solie with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Niol Piok to give Saskatchewan a 19-14 lead at halftime.
After missing last week’s loss to Alberta with an injury, Nyhus was anxious to return to the field, especially with a revenge game against Manitoba next up on Friday.
Manitoba easily handled the Huskies for a 43-19 win on Aug. 30 to open the season.
“It’s great for our confidence rolling into Manitoba. Honestly, we got kind of punched in the mouth last time we played them, so it’s good to get that confidence rolling into next week,” Nyhus said.
Dinos quarterback Adam Sinagra, who threw for 569 and three touchdowns during his last visit to Griffiths Stadium, withdrew from the game in the second half after taking a couple big hits from Saskatchewan’s defensive line.
That defensive core would continue to hold the Dinos offence to few big plays before Machart scored another major on an 11-yard run to widen the lead and secure the victory late in the third quarter.
Nixen Voll was Saskatchewan’s top defensive performer for reeling in two interceptions.
Machart ran 23 times for 178 yards and a touchdown, and added another 34 yards and a touchdown on three catches.
Sinagra completed 18 of 27 passes for 287 yards while throwing one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jalen Philpot caught seven passes for 143 yards in the loss.
Beating the Dinos and furthering chances for a home playoff game didn’t mean much to Scott Flory after the game. He was just happy to win this weekend before moving on to the next opponent. His players were the ones savouring the victory.
“It’s a super big confidence booster. We kind of know what we’re capable of and I think we showed a little bit of that tonight,” Machart said. “We just got to keep on carrying on.”