8/28: @ Saskatchewan L26-21
9/4: vs. British Columbia L 25-24
9/12: @ Calgary L34-31
9/18: @ Simon Fraser W 28-16
9/25: vs. Saskatchewan W27-7
10/3: @ Manitoba W 1-0
10/17: vs. Regina W33-22
10/23: @ Saskatchewan L39-3
10/31: vs. Calgary L 40-5
11/7: @ Calgary L45-13
Schedule
| October 17, 2009 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| University of Regina | 0 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 22 | |
| UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA | 10 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 33 | |
| AB TDs: Jess Valleau, Quade Armstrong, and Matthew Jarvis | ||||||
Home team is shown in CAPS | Game Stats
(October 17, 2009) In his four years with the Alberta Golden Bears, back-up running back Matthew Jarvis has always been a player that head coach Jerry Friesen could count on to chip in with some offence on key drives. However none have been bigger than Saturday afternoon at Foote Field as the Bears pulled out a 33-22 win over the Regina Rams to help Alberta inch closer to clinching their first playoff berth in three seasons.
With Alberta holding a slim 16-14 lead in the second half and their offence sputtering out of control, Bears quarterback Quade Armstrong (Claresholm, AB, 5th) put the ball in Jarvis’ hands seven times and he rushed for 54 yards and hauled in an 18-yard catch, setting up a one-yard plunge from Armstrong that capped off an 11-play, 84-yard drive to give Alberta a 23-14 lead.
Jarvis (Beaumont, AB, 4th) would finish with 117 total yards, including 18 carries for 99 yards. He didn’t score on his big drive, but he was rewarded in the fourth quarter after he punched the ball in from six yards out to give Alberta a commanding 33-14 lead.
“Matt has had great games in the past, but nothing like today,” said Bears head coach Jerry Friesen. “He was our key 'back' on that drive, and that really changed the momentum. We just had to keep feeding the guy that was hot.”
With the Golden Bears victory, the race for the final two playoff spots in the Canada West got even blurrier. Alberta improves to 3-3, while the loss drops the Rams to the same record. Simon Fraser completes the trio with a 3-4 record, creating a three-way tie for third place. Manitoba currently sits in the fourth and final playoff position with a 2-4 record.
“This is playoff football, when you get to these games in the mid section; every game is a must win,” added Friesen. “In games like these, you need guys to step up and make big plays for us, and we got that from a number of different people.”
If there was one area the Bears could exploit their rival Rams, it was on the ground.
Entering Saturday, Regina was ranked sixth in the Canada West in rushing yards against.
The Golden Bears would finish with 173 yards on the ground as starting tailback Tendayi Jozzy would finish with 77 yards on 14 carries.
Thankfully for the Bears, they were able to rely on their running game, when their passing attack began to struggle.
“All year, we’ve just been trying to get the ball in the hands of the guys that are going well, and today that was me,” smiled Jarvis. “I just tried to hit the holes hard and give it one cut and go, and it started to really work. I think we were able to soften them up a bit with our running game in the first half, and you could tell by the second half, we started imposing our will and we were moving the ball really effectively.”
Alberta would jump out to a quick 13-0 lead thanks in large part to the arm of Armstrong and the leg of kicker Hugh O’Neill who hit two big field goals (47, 50 yards).
After O’Neill opened the scoring with his 47-yarder on the Golden Bears first drive, Armstrong capped off a brilliant start, connecting with wide receiver Jess Valleau on an eight-yard strike with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter.
The veteran QB would finish the first quarter 9 for 11 and 88 yards. He would finish the game completing 16 of 29 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown and one interception.
Despite being down 13-0 midway through the second quarter, Regina, who is also in the thick of the playoff race, didn’t lay down.
Quarterback Marc Mueller (Regina, SK, 3rd) did his damage through the air completing 26 of 41 passes for 323 yards and one touchdown. He hit his biggest target and well-known Golden Bear killer Jordan Sisco (Regina, SK, 4th) with 10 catches and 143 yards.
Running back Graham Mosiondz (Regina, SK, 4th) cut the Alberta lead to seven, hauling in a 19-yard pass with 9:03 remaining in the second quarter.
Sisco would give Regina their only lead of the game when he fooled Alberta as he turned what was supposed to be a one-yard plunge on a third-down gamble into a 15-yard touchdown run.
Sisco would later score from one-yard out to round out the scoring on both sides.
“There are a lot of ebbs and flows in a game. They pulled off some things in that second quarter that we just didn’t have the answer for, in particular their running game,” added Friesen. “We talked about some things at the half, and we had to get back on the same page and we did that in the second half, both on the defensive side of the ball and in our running game.”
Golden Bears safety Jason Hetherington (Moose Jaw, SK, 2nd) continued his ball-hawking dominance as he came into the contest against Regina leading the Canada West with six interceptions. He extended his lead with two interceptions, his second crushing Regina’s hopes of any kind of comeback as he waited in the weeds and picked off an overthrown pass from Mueller.
In fact, of Hetherington’s 10 career interceptions, nine of them have come against either Regina or the Saskatchewan Huskies.
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe the teams I play closer to my hometown, the better I play,” laughed Hetherington, who hails from Moose Jaw, which is just 30 minutes west of Regina.
“This was a crucial game. Both teams made some big plays, but we came up with the timely plays that really helped us turn the momentum in our favour.”
Alberta and Regina will try to clear up the murky playoff picture in the coming weeks as they will both face the Calgary Dinos and Saskatchewan Huskies to close out their respective seasons.
The Bears travel to Saskatoon to take on the Huskies on October 23, and then close out the regular season at home on Halloween night against the Dinos.
Regina travels to Calgary next week, and then hosts Saskatchewan on the final week.
STATS PACK:
Hetherington’s 10 interceptions tie him for ninth all-time on the Golden Bears. He is two back of the Golden Bear interception record, and four back of the single-season Canada West record.
