T-Birds fail to hit Huskies’ heights
UBC’s season ends with heartbreaking Hardy Cup overtime semifinal loss to Saskatchewan
It was the end of the UBC Thunderbirds season. It could also be the end of the Michael O’Connor era.
It’s also the beginning of a new chapter for the T-Birds’ football program.
After his team’s heartbreaking 31-28 overtime loss to Saskatchewan in the Hardy Cup semifinal on Saturday afternoon, UBC coach Blake Nill wasn’t thinking about the immediate and painful past, but the future.
“In the end, this game reflected how our entire season has gone. We’ve been inconsistent. … We were able to pull off enough wins to get us to this point, but in the end, it wasn’t enough,” said Nill, who won’t be coaching in the Hardy Cup final for the first time in 11 years.
“Consequently, it’s time for everyone to sit back and say ‘Where do we go from this point?’
“UBC is a tough place to run a program. (The school has) been totally committed since I’ve been here, to building the kind of program they want. And now though, it’s going to be a new chapter.
“We’re going to lose a lot of players, it’s going to require a commitment to get back to keep this kind of talent here, to keep these kinds of student-athletes coming in, these kind of coaches here. Right now, to be honest, it feels like — I don’t want to say we’re at a crossroads — but we’re definitely at a new chapter now. New chapter, new era.”
The Thunderbirds could potentially could lose up to 14 players, with five graduating seniors and nine CFL draft-eligible players, including record-breaking quarterback O’Connor and potential lottery pick Trivel Pinto.
“This year, we had the talent to take a legitimate run at the conference and the national championship. But the football gods made it tough on us,” said Nill.
“We had moments where we looked unbeatable. We had moments where we looked like where we couldn’t compete at this level. It’s a bitter pill to swallow right now. It’s been a year where we’ve had our chances and haven’t been able to get there.”
It was agonizingly close for the Birds.
UBC rallied from a 10-point deficit to take the lead with 1:47 left in the game, after O’Connor hit Pinto in the end zone on a four-yard pass, then hooked up again on a twopoint convert to make it 28-21. It was the first time since 12:44 of the second quarter they had the lead.
And it looked like they would put the game out of reach when Stavros Katsantonis picked off Huskies’ quarterback Kyle Siemens with just over a minute left, but the Birds couldn’t move the ball. A punt, combined with penalties for no yards and a face mask, put the Huskies at the UBC 47-yard line with 51 seconds left.
Siemens drove the Huskies down the field, connected with Jesse Kuntz for a the tying points and sent the game to overtime. In the extra frame, the Birds were faced with a second-and-1 but were stuffed for a loss, and kicker Greg Hutchins pulled his 33-yard field goal wide.
Saskatchewan ran two plays then kicked the winning points, sending the Huskies’ sideline pouring onto the field in celebration.
“We really believed we were going to win the game. It’s a tough way to go out,” said O’Connor, who had 435 yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-41 passing, his thirdstraight game over the 400yard mark.
“Hindsight’s 20-20,” he said of the fateful play in overtime where the Birds couldn’t pick up the first down to keep the ball moving.
“There’s always plays you want back, and opportunities missed. It was execution — at the end of the day, it’s half a yard. We have to be able to get that.”
The UBC offence racked up 551 total yards, including 124 yards and a score from Pinto. When fourth-year running back Ben Cummings went down late in the fourth quarter with a left ankle injury, it took a significant weapon out of action. He’d compiled 69 rushing yards on 14 carries, and another 41 receiving yards and a touchdown.
But rookie Sharique Khan stepped in seamlessly, rushing eight times for 33 yards and several key first downs in the fourth quarter alone.
Siemens was 19-of-32 for 222 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, as the T-Birds limited the Huskies to just 300 net yards. Ben Hladik led the defence with 10 tackles and half a sack.
The Huskies now face the Calgary Dinos in next week’s Hardy Cup final.