U of S Huskies complete comeback over Regina Rams to win Hardy Cup

For the third time in Canada West history, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Regina Rams lined up against each other in the Hardy Cup Final at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon on Saturday.

The all Saskatchewan matchup was bound to be an instant classic looked back on for generations and the 88th Biosteel Hardy Cup did not disappoint, with the Huskies winning winning 25-24 after last taking the championship when they beat UBC Thunderbirds 23-8 in 2022.

The Rams were looking to repeat as Canada West Champions after they beat the Huskies 19-14 in 2024.

Read more:

• ‘The play you dream about’: Tommy Nield’s late touchdown sends Riders to Grey Cup
• Cyclones roll past Wildcats 51-8 to win 5A provincial football title
• Saskatoon Holy Cross beat Regina Miller 21-16 in 6A football final

The first quarter was a defensive clinic, with a Lukas Scott 31 yard field goal giving the Huskies an early 3-0 lead. Scott also started off the second quarter the same way before Rams quarterback Owen Sieben found the end zone twice and a filed goal from Ty Gorniak brought the score to 17-6.

The Huskies managed one more field goal, making it 17-9 at halftime.

The Huskies offence wasn’t able to get anything cooking in third quarter either, and an errant snap recovered by Rams linebacker Brandon Wong gave the Rams a 24-9 lead going into the fourth.

The momentum shifted after Huskies quarterback Jake Farrell found receiver Liam Piccinin to make it 24-16, and a Rams fumble on a Huskies punt led to Farrell airing one out to receiver Mason Grabowski, bringing the score to 24-22 after a failed two-point conversion.

With 25 seconds left in the game Scott hit his fourth field goal for the 25-24 final score, completing the comeback.

“(We) got super close (and) I just knew I got to hit this one for the boys,” said Scott.

“Earlier this year I ended up missing a game winner and I was just thinking back to that and I really wanted to be able to lift up the boys, and that’s exactly what I did.”

“I believe in the kid,” said Huskies head coach Scott Flory.  “We knew with the game on the line we were going to go to him and just knew he could make the play.”

Rams head coach Mark McConkey said the loss will sting for a bit.

“There’s nothing I can say to them that would cheer them up,” he said.

“It’s a gut-wrenching loss — there’s two good teams, there’s a good football game (and) unfortunately they just made more plays than we did near the stretch.”

McConkey said despite the result a new standard has been set for the Rams organization.

“The foundation is being built and this is a program that wants to be in this game every single year,” he said.

“That’s the goal. We just got to keep moving forward.”

Flory said he’s really proud of his group for what they overcame in the game.

“(They’re) a resilient group, I’ve been saying that all year,” he said. “We made it hard on ourselves with a few turnovers, a couple of missed plays here and there, but at the end of the day you got to make the plays when the plays are needed.”

He said it’s important that the team enjoys and embraces the moment.

“We’re one of four teams that still gets to play football in this country, so that’s pretty cool.”

The Huskies will now host Queen’s University in the Mitchell Bowl on Nov. 15 at 2:15 p.m.

— with files from CKOM News

Read more:

• ‘The play you dream about’: Tommy Nield’s late touchdown sends Riders to Grey Cup
• Cyclones roll past Wildcats 51-8 to win 5A provincial football title
• Saskatoon Holy Cross beat Regina Miller 21-16 in 6A football final