Box Score WINNIPEG – In a game that saw two winless team enter week three of the 2016 Canada West football regular season opener, the Manitoba Bisons scored their highest point total of the young season with a 42-12 home win over the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday, September 16 at Investors Group Field in front of 1,438 fans.

With the victory, the Bisons improve to 1-2 record while the Bears drop to 0-3 in the young Canada West regular season. This is the first of two match-ups this season between the teams and they meet again on October 22 in Edmonton.

The final result would not reflect it but the visitors jumped out to a fast start. Alberta had a quick ten points only four minutes into the contest. Second year kicker Brent Arthur had the first points of the game from a 25 yard field goal to finish off an efficient starting drive and then the Bears' defence capitalized on a 45 yard fumble recovery for a TD by second year defensive back Griffin Dear.

The rest of the game was all Manitoba as they proceeded to score 42 unanswered points.

The home side responded with a touchdown just a minute later when Bison third year quarterback Theo Deezar found rookie receiver Riley Harrison from 21 yards out. At the end of the first, Alberta led 10-7.

Deezar completed a ten play, 71 yard drive with a one yard plunge to begin the second quarter. The Winnipeg pivot then found a streaking Shai Ross with a laser-like 40 yard bomb only a minute later and with a safety, Manitoba had 23-10 advantage at half.

Deezar continued his assault in the second half as he found Harrison again on a 15 yard strike and then Ross for his second TD, this time from 26 yards out and a Ryan Jones 22 yard field goal but the game out of reach. Both teams exchanged safeties in the fourth to end the scoring and the Bisons walked away with their first conference win of 2016.

"That was as good of a football game as I've seen in awhile," commented Bison Football head coach Brian Dobie after the game. "We scored 42 points in a row and it was combination of all three units that played so well tonight."

The stats proved out how much the hosts took over the game after Alberta early lead. Manitoba had 559 total offence yards compared to only 251 for Alberta. The Bisons also had 29 first downs to 19 for Alberta.

Individually, Alberta split the duties at the quarterback position. Second year Ben Kopczynski played the first half and went 6-16 for 59 yards and 21 rushing yards. Third year QB Scott Pearson replaced Kopczynski at the start of the third and went 6-13 for 70 yards and three interceptions and notched 20 rush yards. Fourth year receiver Taylor Henry was top Bears' with five receptions with 57 yards and fourth year running back Ed Ilnicki churned up 46 yards on seven carries. Fifth year linebacker Tom Tsoumpas tied for the game-high with seven total tackles and second year linebacker Josh Taitinger and second year defensive lineman Lucky Daniels added 5.5 tackles each.

Deezar had one of his best games in his three year Bison career. He passed for 21-27 (77.8%) for 345 passing yards along with one rush TD. Harrison had two TD receptions with six catches for 103 yards while Ross had two TDs and five receptions for 104 yards. Bison second year slotback Jesse Walker added six grabs for 92 yards along with 51 rush yards on five carries. Fourth year running back Alex Christie registered 67 rushing yards on 12 carries. Fifth year defensive lineman Evan Foster had seven total tackles with two sacks. Second year defensive lineman Derek Dufault and fourth year linebacker DJ Lalama notched 4.5 tackles each. The Bisons had their first three interceptions of the season (Tristen O'Meara, Evinn Lyons-Keely and Jayden McKoy).

Up next in week four action, Alberta (0-3) will be at home against the defending CIS champion UBC on Sat., Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. MT. Manitoba (1-2) hosts Saskatchewan (2-1) at home during the annual Homecoming game also on Sat., Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. CT.


Game Notes: The Bison football team won their third consecutive victory over the Alberta Golden Bears at Investors Group Field (the inaugural Bison home game at IGF was versus Alberta and Manitoba won 65-41 on Aug. 30/13 and then won 29-7 against the Bears on Oct. 23/15) in the four year history of the stadium. Evinn Lyons-Keely had a 75 yard interception return at the end of the third quarter and this tied for the fifth longest interception return in Bison history. Deezar has now thrown for 457 yards in game two and 345 yards in the home win in game three for a two game total of 802 passing yards. Deezar now moves into sixth place in most passing yards in Bison history.