CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos used a big second quarter to build up a solid lead, holding on to defeat the Alberta Golden Bears 20-14 Saturday night in exhibition football action at Hellard Field in Calgary’s Shouldice Park.
It was clearly the first action of the season for both teams, and the Dinos and Bears substituted liberally throughout the evening to give every one of the 70-plus players dressed on each side a chance to hit the field.
The 2010 Canada West season opens next week, when the Dinos host the Saskatchewan Huskies in a re-match of a classic 2009 Hardy Cup final. The game goes Saturday, Sept. 4 with kickoff at 7 p.m. MT from McMahon Stadium, live on Shaw TV and AM 770 CHQR.
The two-time defending conference champion Dinos used four different quarterbacks and as many tailbacks on the night, doing just enough to get past their provincial rivals.
The two teams’ starters took the field to open the game but vacated it quickly, with starting quarterbacks Erik Glavic and Julian Marchand combining for just 17 passing attempts between them. Glavic, the reigning Hec Crighton winner, played just two series, going 4-for-7 for 61 yards before being replaced by Idahoan freshman Eric Dzwilewski.
Dzwilewski led the way for the lion’s share of the Dinos’ scoring on the evening. He led a 10-play, 105-yard drive that was capped off by a 10-yard Steven Lumbala touchdown early in the second quarter, and Aaron Ifield added a 12-yard field goal minutes later to give Calgary a 10-0 lead.
Calgary’s defence got into the act as well. Fourth-year defensive back Michael Lau picked off a Curtis Dell pass and ran it back 45 yards for the score, giving the Dinos a 17-0 halftime lead. It was one of three picks on the night for Calgary, with linebackers Travis Payne and Geoff Paiement also hauling in errant throws from Marchand. The momentum shifted in the third quarter when Dell found Brad Quartel for a 10-yard TD strike just over two minutes after halftime. A pair of safeties and a 34-yard Hugh O’Neill field goal later, Calgary’s lead had been cut to 17-14 heading into the fourth.
A 23-yard field goal from freshman Johnny Mark for the Dinos was the lone scoring play of the final quarter.
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Alberta returned to Edmonton immediately following the game and will begin preparations for their season opener next Saturday afternoon when they visit a newly-turfed Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. In the nightcap next Saturday, Calgary hosts Saskatchewan, marking the third straight year the two teams have opened the season against each other.