Thunder roars back against Hilltops
The Regina Thunder has evened the score with the Saskatoon Hilltops.
Regina avenged a season-opening, 37-20 PFC loss to the Hilltops by winning 29-26 in Saskatoon on Saturday. Sawyer Buettner hit Lee Brown with a game-winning, eight-yard touchdown pass with one minute left in the fourth quarter. Levi Paul added a two-point convert.
Saskatoon had gone ahead 2621 at 12:13 of the fourth quarter on a touchdown pass from Jordan Walls to Sam Mike.
After Paul’s two-point convert, the Hilltops drove deep into Thunder territory before Walls was intercepted by Tyrel Latoski.
Buettner completed 33 of 40 passes for 374 yards, with two TDs and one interception. His first TD pass of the day was to Isaac Foord.
Paul led the Thunder’s receivers with 10 catches for 120 yards. Victor St. Pierre-Laviolette rushed nine times for 82 yards, including a 45-yard TD.
Eric Maximuik had two field goals, two converts and a single for Regina.
Tyson Haubrich paced the Thunder’s defence with six solo tackles, three assisted tackles and a pass knockdown.
Regina and Saskatoon emerged from the game with 3-1 records. The Edmonton Huskies lead the PFC at 4-0.
The Thunder is to return to action Saturday against the 3-1 Winnipeg Rifles (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
The University of Calgary Dinos put forth a powerful performance while defeating the Rams 46-26 in Canada West football action at McMahon Stadium.
Calgary got three touchdown passes and 350 aerial yards from Adam Sinagra, three majors from Hunter Karl, and 114 rushing yards from Jeshrun Antwi.
Regina’s Noah Picton passed for 300 yards, including touchdown tosses to Mitch Picton, Mitch Thompson and Kyle Moortgat.
Calgary, which was ranked third in the nation entering the game, improved its record to 2-0. The fifth-ranked Rams dropped to 1-1.
The Rams are to return to action Saturday, 2 p.m., against the University of Alberta Golden Bears at Mosaic Stadium.
The U of R Cougars women’s soccer team opened its Canada West season on the weekend in Winnipeg.
Regina played to draws with the University of Manitoba Bisons (0-0 on Friday) and University of Winnipeg Wesmen (1-1 on Saturday).
Savannah Williams registered the shutout for Regina on Friday. Sally Bachmann scored for the Cougars the following day.