Unstoppable Dinos clinch first place in Canada West

By Sonny Sachdeva, October 20 2015 —

The Dinos football team’s banner 2015 season continued on Oct. 16 with a dominant 44–15 win over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in front of 4,254 fans at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium.

The victory was significant for the Dinos, who clinched first place in the Canada West division and will hold home-field advantage throughout the divisional playoffs.

The University of Calgary’s offence continued to run rampant in their matchup against the Huskies, posting an impressive 622 total yards to easily trounce the U of S for the second straight game. Dinos quarterback Andrew Buckley threw for 427 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were caught by star receiver Rashaun Simonise, who finished the night with 130 yards.

The Dinos rushing game had a big impact once again — four different Dinos rushed for touchdowns in the contest. Dinos runningback Mercer Timmis ran in the first of these scores 11 and a half minutes into the game, before runningback Bryce Harper and quarterbacks Buckley and Jimmy Underdahl each added scores themselves.

The Huskies held on as long as they could, tying it up at 7–7 near the end of the first quarter, but were simply unable to keep pace once the U of C’s offence settled in and went to work. The Dinos finished the first quarter with a late touchdown to take the score to 14–7, and would add four more touchdowns over the next two quarters.

Calgary’s top offensive weapons continue to reign supreme over Canada West. Buckley leads the division with 395.2 yards per game while also sitting second among all quarterbacks with 14 touchdowns. Timmis leads all Canada West runningbacks in both yards per game and touchdowns, with 144.8 and eight, respectively. Similarly, Simonise leads all Canada West receivers in yards per game and touchdowns, with 128.3 and eight.

The 2015 campaign has been an exceptional one for the Dinos, who head into the final two games of the season with a flawless 6–0 record. The U of C is one of only two teams in the CIS that have yet to lose a single game, matched only by the 7–0 Western University.

The last time the Dinos went undefeated through their regular season schedule was in 2013, when they advanced all the way to the Vanier Cup before falling 25–14 to Université Laval. The U of C’s
final two regular season games will be against the University of Regina and the University of Alberta at the end of October. Calgary has outscored the two teams by a combined total of 152–26 during their previous matchups this year, and have an excellent chance at finishing the season with an 8–0 record once again.

The Dinos’ match against U of R begins at 1 p.m. on Oct. 24, marking both their return to McMahon Stadium and their final home game before the Canada West playoffs kick off in November.