REGINA, Sask. - The University of Saskatchewan pulled away from the Regina Rams in the second half as the Huskies earned a 57-14 victory on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium in what was both teams' final game of the Canada West schedule.
The loss ends the season for the Rams, while the Huskies will now cheer for Manitoba as a Bisons win over UBC on Saturday would give Saskatchewan a home playoff game for the first time since 2014.
Starting their fourth different quarterback in the last four games, the Rams hung tough with the Huskies until what was the turning point of the game late in the second half. Saskatchewan took advantage of a 15-yard no-yards penalty to take over the ball just on the Huskies' side of midfield, and a 34-yard completion from
Kyle Siemens to
Adam Machart turned what had been a one-score game into a 27-14 advantage for the visitors at the break.
Saskatchewan scored three touchdowns in the span of four possessions over a nine-minute stretch in the second half to end any hope of a Rams comeback.
Kyle Siemens completed 21 of his 31 passes for 321 yards and threw four touchdowns for the Huskies. Five different U of S players had touchdown catches as
Colton Klassen, Machart,
Jesse Kuntz,
Joey Trumpy, and
Kyle Newton each hauled in majors. Klassen (5 catches for 121 yards) and Kuntz (7 for 106) both hit triple digits in receiving yards, while
Tyler Chow had 14 rushes for 99 yards to finish just short of the century mark.
Tristian Koronkiewicz and
Riley Pickett both had sacks for the U of S defence, with Koronkiewicz also registering a pair of pass breakups in the win. Pickett's sack caused a fumble which was recovered by
Evan Machibroda, leading directly to one of the Huskie touchdowns late in the third.
Brandon Brooks had his first U SPORTS interception for the Rams, while Ryan Warner had Regina's lone sack.
Saskatchewan will finish either second or third in the Canada West standings and will face either UBC or Manitoba in the conference semifinals next weekend.