Mueller pulls off late heroics
Marc Mueller’s grandfather would have been proud.
Mueller quarterbacked the University of Regina Rams on a 11-play, 95-yard drive in one minute 38 seconds for a late, game-winning touchdown Friday in a 30-27 Canada West victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons at Mosaic Stadium.
Fittingly, the final play of the drive was a 23-yard touchdown pass to Connor Haas, who wears No. 23. Mueller’s grandfather, Ron Lancaster, sported that number for 16 seasons as a quarterback with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“He never got to see me play (with the Rams), but he gets to see all my games now,” an emotional Mueller said of Lancaster, who died in September of 2008.
“The guys believed in me. These are the kinds of things you dream about.”
The Rams led 20-10 entering the fourth quarter Friday, but the Bisons responded with 17 of the game’s next 20 points. Manitoba took a 27-23 lead with 2:03 remaining when Cam Clark threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Brendon Bowman.
After the kickoff, Mueller was sacked on the first play — and injured the right shoulder which he hurt in the first game of the 2011 season.
But Mueller shook that off and led the Rams down the field. They appeared to take the lead on a 20-yard pass from Mueller to Jared Janotta, but the Regina receiver was flagged for offensive pass interference.
Mueller completed a 12-yard pass to Janotta on the next play to set up a thirdand-13 from the Bisons’ 23. From there, Mueller hit Haas across the middle and the diminutive slotback fought his way into the end zone.
“We called the play and broke the huddle and Mueller said, ‘Connor, be the man,’ ’’ Haas said after Regina improved to 4-1-0. “It was coming to me all the way. I just went out there and made the play and got the team the win.’’
Manitoba head coach Brian Dobie paid tribute to Mueller after the drive that ultimately dropped the Bisons to 3-2-0.
“Marc Mueller knows how much respect I have for him,” Dobie said. “He just wasn’t going to be stopped on that drive.
“We had him in a bind with that pass interference, but he worked his way out of it. That’s what an experienced, seasoned, outstanding quarterback does.”
Mueller wasn’t sure about the extent of the damage to his shoulder, but he hoped the Rams’ bye next weekend will help it heal.
“I don’t know (how he overcame it Friday); I just played,” said Mueller, who was 35-for55 passing for 397 yards. “It hurt like hell between plays, but when the ball is snapped, you just execute the play.”
“I would not have any other guy behind centre with me,” Haas noted. “He’s a really good friend and a great guy. I would put him right up there at the top of the CIS quarterbacks.’’
The Rams trailed 3-0 after the first quarter, but it could have been worse.
Manitoba started three of its five possessions in the opening frame beyond its own 50-yard line, but couldn’t capitalize. Nick Boyd’s 21-yard field goal was all the Bisons had to show for the first quarter. After Taylor Wandler tied the score 3-3 with a 21-yard field goal early in the second quarter, Kolten Solomon scored the Rams’ first touchdown in spectacular fashion. He used one hand to spear a Mueller pass and dragged a defender into the end zone to complete a 49-yard pass-andrun play.
The Bisons tied it just over a minute later, when Thomas Miles returned a fumble eight yards for a major. A Wandler single gave Regina the 11-10 lead it took to the locker room at halftime.
The game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes early in the third quarter after Rams slotback Jason Price suffered a suspected neck injury. Price stayed down on the field after being tackled and, eventually, was removed from the stadium in an ambulance.
After a conceded safety put the Rams ahead 13-10 midway through the third, Mueller gave them a 10-point lead with a 12-yard run.
The Bisons pulled to within a touchdown on a 27-yard field goal by Boyd four minutes into the fourth quarter, a play that was set up by a blocked punt. A 23-yard field goal by Wandler restored the Rams’ 10-point lead, but the Bisons answered on their next possession. A drive aided by two pass interference penalties against Regina ended in a 19-yard TD pass from Clark to Anthony Coombs. Boyd’s convert cut the lead to 23-20 with 4:11 left.
That set the stage for a frantic final two minutes in which each team scored a major, including Haas’s game-winner.
“That’s a drive a championship team makes — and we think we have that kind of team around here,” Mueller said. “It was a helluva victory.”