Rams hammer Dinos in gridiron warm-up game

Young players saw significant action Wednesday as the University of Regina Rams knocked off the University of Calgary Dinos 39-3 in non-conference U Sports football action.

While the contest started with the teams’ respective top units playing each other, substitutions began early and often as the Canada West combatants got a look at their recruiting classes before the real season begins next weekend.

“There were some positives,” Dinos head coach Wayne Harris said. “The first half was pretty even, and neither team really did very much on offence — and then we started making a lot of subs. The bottom line, though, is that guys need to learn to play and to execute at this level. At times we saw that.

“A lot of guys got a lot of game time, more than in past years, and that was our plan going in.”

With the teams set to play each other in two weeks, neither went deep into the playbook with the first teams on the field. Regina quarterback Noah Picton, the reigning Hec Crighton Trophy winner, went just 1-for-6 for 16 yards with one interception before giving way to Seb Britton.

On the Calgary side, Josiah Joseph got the starting nod as his battle with Adam Sinagra continues. Joseph went 3-for-9 for 22 yards.

Sinagra, who led the Dinos to the Hardy Cup title last year, completed 3 of 5 passes for 34 yards before a trio of freshmen — Cole Belway, Dylan Coveney, and Caleb Cutcliffe — each took reps.

Harris remained coy on his starter for next week’s season opener.

“We’ll have a starter,” Harris said with a laugh. “We decided a long time ago to start Josiah — we’ve seen Adam in a starting role, and we wanted to see how Josiah looked. It was a good test to see what he could do, and we’ll go back, review the film, and go from there.”

The Dinos open the regular season Sept. 1 against the University of Alberta at Foote Field in Edmonton at 7 p.m., live on CanadaWest.tv.