If you had to pick one graduate of Victoria’s Mt. Douglas Secondary Rams to make the biggest impact in Saturday’s key Canada West football game between the UBC Thunderbirds and the No. 9-ranked Manitoba Bisons, you would have guessed it was a coin flip between a pair of ‘Birds.
Heads it’s Terrell Davis, tails it Marcus Davis.
In the end, however, it wasn’t either of UBC’s two highly-touted incoming running backs, but a former Rams’ pivot turned defensive back, who wound up making the game’s biggest play.
With UBC trailing 20-10 and driving for a touchdown which would have out them right back into the game with 2:30 remaining, Tyler Fong picked off UBC quarterback Carson Williams deep in Manitoba territory, killing a promising late drive as the score held and the country’s preseason No. 7-ranked team suffered its third straight loss to open the season.
“There were a number of plays that were key and that was definitely one of them because Fong made a great play,” UBC head coach Shawn Olson said of Terrell Davis’ former high school teammate. “He snuffed out our chances.”
Following its 59-11 loss last week at home to No. 2-ranked Calgary, UBC had a laundry list of items that needed to be cleaned up. On Saturday, the Birds showed they had come a long ways. But one key issue is yet to resolved, and until it is, it’s hard to know when their elusive first victory will come.
“Right now we are not playing well enough to beat anyone,” said Olson. “We are just not able to generate a consistent ground game, and that has been the biggest thing for us. We just haven’t been able to get first downs on the ground. We just need a few more explosive plays”
It has been the theme of the season.
UBC’s ground game was expected to be its strong suit. But until Terrell Davis capped a 75-yard drive in the second quarter with a four-yard TD run to pull UBC to within 12-7, the Birds had not rushed for a major score this season. UBC passed for 279 yards but rushed for just 85 yards on 28 carries, with no carry longer than nine yards.
The biggest bright spot on offence was the step taken by second-year receiver Alex Morrison, who made three big catches on the Davis scoring drive and finished with seven catches for 108 yards. Unfortunately for UBC, however, Morrison made a key drop of a certain touchdown pass from Williams in the first quarter. With that play, and without its two conceded safeties, the score might well have been a lot different.
UBC hits the halfway point of the regular season Saturday (2 p.m.), playing host to the Alberta Golden Bears in a clash of conference cellar dwellers.
