Rams clinch postseason berth with win over Calgary

QUICKLY

• The No. 6-ranked University of Regina Rams locked up a Canada West postseason berth with an 18-12 win over the Calgary Dinos on Saturday afternoon in a defensive struggle at Mosaic Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• For the second consecutive week, the Rams were held scoreless in the opening quarter. Calgary's Vince Triumbari hit a pair of field goals to put the Dinos up 6-0 after the first, but the Rams countered with six of their own in the second quarter. Regina's six points came on a 52-yard punt by Isaac Wegner into the end zone, a Ty Gorniak 42-yard field goal, and a conceded Dinos safety as the two teams went into the half deadlocked.
• Triumbari added a 46-yard field goal on Calgary's opening drive of the second half, but the Rams replied immediately with what would turn out to be the only touchdown of the game for either team. Most of the work on that 10-play, 75-yard drive was done by Marshall Erichsen, and he finished it off himself with a 7-yard touchdown that gave the third-year running back his ninth touchdown run of the season.
• The Rams added to the lead with two more Gorniak field goals in the fourth quarter as they briefly made it a two-score game, but Calgary responded with another Triumbari field goal to make it 18-12 Regina with 2:35 to go.
• Regina got two first downs on the drive following the Triumbari field goal, but Calgary got one last chance after Rams quarterback Owen Sieben and Erichsen had trouble with a handoff and the Dinos' Nathan Okoroafor pounced on the fumble. The Dinos took over with 1:15 to go just on the Regina side of midfield, but weren't able to capitalize on a 3rd-and-4 situation when Toryn Swystun-Bernes led an array of Regina tacklers which held Zion Grant to just a one-yard completion and gave the ball back to the Rams.

 
OFF TO THE POSTSEASON

• The Rams become the first Canada West team to clinch a postseason berth as they move to 5-1 on the season.
• The Rams are also close to locking down a top-two spot in the conference standings, which would come with it the right to host a home game in the Canada West semifinals. Only a three-way tie at 5-3 with Manitoba and Saskatchewan can result in the Rams falling into third place.

QUOTABLE

• "Our team continues to find ways to win close games. I didn't think we played our best game of football today, but we achieved our goal of going 1-0 this week. Our defence continues to be strong for us and those guys did a fantastic job of shutting them down all game." — Rams head coach Mark McConkey

RUSHING TOWARDS UNCHARTED TERRITORY

• Erichsen led the way once again for the Rams offence, finishing with 26 rushes for a hard-fought 134 yards on the ground while also catching 7 passes for 44 yards.
• His ninth touchdown run of the year puts Erichsen into a three-way tie in the school single-season record book along with Neal Hughes (2003) and Adrian Charles (2010).
• Erichsen, who also had a touchdown catch earlier in the season, now has a total of 10 touchdowns scored. He's just the fourth U of R player to hit double digits in a single season, joining Jason Clermont (14 in 2001), Mitchell Picton (11 in 2016), and Chris Bauman (10 in 2006).
• Erichsen now sits at 859 rushing yards for the season. It's already the sixth highest total in school single-season history with two games still remaining on the Canada West schedule, and Erichsen is just 113 short of Charles' school record of 972 yards set back in 2010.

DEFENCE REIGNS

• The Rams defence surrendered just 11 first downs and 241 yards of offence to Calgary in the win.
• Liam LaBelle and Anthony Montas Leipert both had sacks for the Rams while Brad Rodin and Jacob Dakiniewich also shared a tackle for loss.
• Regina collected a total of four pass breakups on Saturday as Carson Sombach and Jacob Tkachuk had two apiece.
• Sombach and Montas Leipert tied for the team lead in tackles. Both players finished with three solo and two assisted.

OTHER NOTES

• All five starting receivers had at least one catch for the Rams. Renzel Arinaza had 4 catches for a team-high 45 yards, most of which came on a 34-yard pass from Sieben in the third quarter.
• Sieben entered the game at quarterback in the final seconds of the first half. He played all of the final two quarters, completing 8 of his 10 pass attempts for a total of 68 yards.

NEXT UP

• The Rams will have next weekend off for the Thanksgiving bye. Their final two games of the schedule will see them travel to Edmonton for a Week 7 battle at Alberta on Oct. 18, then close out the Canada West slate against UBC at Leibel Field on Friday, Oct. 24.