SASKATOON, Sask. - On a rainy Friday night (Sept. 13) at Griffiths Stadium the Saskatchewan Huskies captured their first win of the season over the Calgary Dinos in a 44-40 Homecoming slugfest. The Dogs were led by standout running back
Ryker Frank in the overtime victory, who posted a career day in the 2024 edition of USask's Homecoming game presented by Original 16. Frank total 223 yards and three majors, giving the 8,766 fans in attendance plenty to cheer about. With the win the Huskies improve to 1-2 in the Canada West conference standings while the Dinos pick up their second loss of the campaign and move to 1-2.
Following a quick offensive series by the Huskies to open the game, things quickly shifted in the Dinos favour after a blocked punt led to a scoop-and-score to put the visiting team up early. Despite the special team miscue early, the Huskies responded with a 9-play 75 yard drive ending in a
Javin Boynton on 3rd-and-goal from a yard out. After the two teams exchanged defensive stops into the second quarter, the Huskies would retake the lead 10-8 thanks to one of three field goals from rookie kicker
Lukas Scott.
Now trailing, the Dinos offence responded with a three-play drive featuring a 60-yard touchdown pass from Dom Britton to Isaiah Woodley to retake the lead. In what was a tightly-contested first half, the Dinos and Huskies exchanged the lead four times before the break.
Four drives later the Huskies regained possession looking to give fans something to cheer about. Over the course of the ensuing four plays, three would see running back
Ryker Frank carry the ball. The fourth-year engineering major broke of runs of 12 , 35, and 9 yards before entering breaking the plane for his first touchdown of the game.
Frank carried the ball 34 times Friday night to the tune of 223 yards and three scores, all new career-highs for the product of Regina. His performance also placed him to the Huskie Football record books for single-game carries (2nd), rushing yards (Tied 4th), and rushing touchdowns (Tied 2nd).
Following
Lukas Scott's second field goal of the game, the Dogs headed into the locker room leading the Dinos 20-16.
A defensive third quarter saw both teams struggle to get into scoring position until the Huskies extended their lead with Frank's second major late in the frame. After the opening score of the second half, the Dinos responded with a 4-yard touchdown pass set up by a 75-yard run from Calgary running back Mattieu Clarke.
Early in the fourth quarter the Dinos would tie the game 27-27, marking the third time the two teams entered a stalemate. The next drive saw another impressive series from Frank, who carried the ball four times before finding the endzone for the third time. The drive also featured a critical 2nd-and-8 conversion from Antoon Amundrud and
Rhett Vavra, who connected seven times for 88 yards on the day.
After missing week 2 in Regina, Vavra had a strong return to action with Amundrud going to the veteran receiver three times in the opening quarter. Receiver Jesse also set a new career high Friday night, besting his previous record of 108 receiving yards with a 110 performance.
After a late touchdown by Calgary tied things at 34 apiece, the two defences would provide fans with some extra football, sending things to overtime.
After both teams kicked field goals in their opening possessions, double overtime would be needed to decide the outcome. The Dinos, who started on offence in the second overtime period, would be forced to settle for a field goal after the Saskatchewan secondary forced back-to-back incompletions. With a chance to win the game the Huskies would go to rookie running back
Javin Boynton who took the pitch from Amundrud through the goal line for the walk-off major and the Huskies first win of the 2024 campaign.
Defensively, the Huskies were led by third-year defensive back
Carter Stadnyk who totaled six tackles in the contest. Impressing on the defensive lien was rookie
Riece Kack, who recorded four tackles, including the Dog's only TFL of the game. Finaly, the linebacker duo of
Seth Hundeby and
Jayden Engel were all over the field at Griffiths, combining for 9.5 tackles. Hundeby also made a game-changing double overtime play, stopping Matthieu Clarke for a two yard gain on 2nd-and-5 to force the field goal attempt.
UP NEXT
The Huskies will look to carry the momentum gained off their first win to Vancouver, where the will face off with the 2023 Vanier Cup runner-ups in the UBC Thunderbirds. Last season, the Huskies and Thunderbirds combined for a thrilling 34-31 USask win at Griffiths. Catch the action live online at
CanadaWest.TV.
