Dinos won’t take Bears lightly as rivals meet in Canada West opener
The University of Calgary Dinos open the 2017 Canada West football season Friday night against a team they’ve enjoyed plenty of recent success against — the Alberta Golden Bears.
But you won’t find them looking past their provincial rivals.
While the Battle of Alberta has been decidedly one-sided of late, the Golden Bears are closing the gap and will field a deeper, more experienced squad than a year ago when the Dinos won the lone match-up of the 2016 U Sports Canada West season 50-15 at McMahon Stadium. But even that game was tight through three quarters before the Calgary crew broke it open late.
“We’ re preparing for a tough game Friday night,” said third-year Dinos head coach Wayne Harris of the tilt at Foote Field (7 p.m., Canada-West. tv). “Alberta is a much better team and played us tough through most of the game last year. Going into this one, we expect nothing less than a very strong effort from every one of our players — to not do that would be a sad mistake. It’s a matter of what we focus on each week — we need to execute, stay disciplined and do the things we need to do in order to be successful.”
The two squads are on opposite ends of the pre-season Canada West coaches’ poll, with the Dinos picked as the favourite with four of six first-place votes, while the Golden Bears are placed sixth after their 1-7 campaign in 2016. The UBC Thunderbirds took the other two first-place votes to slot in behind the Dinos, followed by the Regina Rams, the Manitoba Bisons and the Saskatchewan Huskies.
For the Dinos, Friday night marks their first game of substance since their bitter Vanier Cup loss last November in Hamilton, but it’s also the beginning of a new era.
After back-to-back seasons graduating their starting quarterback, the Dinos will turn to Adam Sinagra in the starting pivot role. Sinagra, who came in to relieve an injured Jimmy Underdahl for much of last season, was the offensive MVP of last year’s Hardy Cup game, the Canada West Championship match. Waiting in the wings is Josiah Joseph, who started the pre-season game against the Rams last week and has taken virtually equal reps with Sinagra throughout training camp.
That pre-season game in Medicine Hat was a chance for the coaching staff to evaluate their impressive group of recruits, and a few youngsters played their way into a travel roster spot and will make their U Sports debut Friday night.
“A few guys like (receiver) Jacob Izquierdo and (offensive lineman) Tyler Packer played really well, along with (defensive back) Deane Leonard,” said Harris.
The Dinos and the Golden Bears will bookend their seasons against one another, with a return match set for McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Saturday, Oct. 28, the final day of the regular season.