They had no shot at making the playoffs. That's what the critics said.
An 0-3 start (losses to nationally ranked UBC, Alberta and Saskatchewan), the status of their elite starting quarterback up in the air following week two -- and most recently -- trailing the host Calgary Dinos Saturday afternoon by 20 with 12 seconds left, not many people thought the 2023 Manitoba Bisons were going to make the post-season.
Until they did.
With their season on the line, needing to either beat the Dinos outright, or lose by 12 points or less, Manitoba got it done, adding another chapter to what head coach
Brian Dobie called their "second season" (following week three).
Manitoba didn't win the football game, but they did just enough to steal the fourth and final playoff spot away from the Dinos, on the last play of the game no less.
Both teams finished 3-5 on the season, but because the Herd won by 13 against Calgary earlier this year, they claimed the final ticket to the dance.
It couldn't have come in more dramatic fashion.
Up 35-15, Calgary set up shop following a turnover on downs by the Bisons at the Dinos four yard line. They moved the pigskin up to the 20, and twelve seconds separated them from a trip to British Columbia to face the top-seeded Thunderbirds.
Cue The Manitoba Miracle.
Running back Matthieu Clarke -- who had chunked up over 100 yards already -- took a handoff right up the gut and looked for space. After gaining a few yards, he was met by defensive end
Cole Barron, a senior out of BC who was playing in his last regular season U SPORTS game after previously suiting up for the T-Birds and Langley Rams in the BC junior league.
He slid into the a-gap, getting just enough of Clarke to slow him down, allowing fourth-year safety
Stephen Adamopoulos to make the play of the season for his Bisons.
The 6'4" standout – the brains of Manitoba's secondary – had crashed down from his regular position, sneaking into the play at the perfect time to punch the football out of Clarke's hands. He never saw the St. Paul's product.
The ball bounced around, finally being picked up by fourth-year halfback
Nick Conway, who evaded a diving Matt Sibley just behind the original line of scrimmage, and dialed up a house call.
With no time on the clock, Manitoba needed a two-point convert to earn a fifth consecutive trip to the post-season – a program record. With their season on the line, offensive coordinator Vaughan Mitchell called a perfect play and the team executed.
On the play, Manitoba had three receivers to the strong side. Their best blocking running back,
Breydon Stubbs, crashed down to negate the defensive end while receivers
Braeden Smith,
Michael O'Shea Jr. and
De Shawn Le Jour went in motion.
Smith ran a vertical route into single coverage, O'Shea Jr. motioned from the wideout position all the way to the front side tackle and Le Jour timed his break to shift from near, to away from O'Shea at the last second.
Everyone needed to do their job, and they did.
Smith took one defender out of the area with his route, while O'Shea took care of two defenders, who both locked onto him while in motion.
It was, what some would call the O'Shea effect.
It was clear that Calgary was worried about the CJFL National Champion near the goal line. Because of this, they left Le Jour wide open on the field side with enough space to drive a truck through.
O'Shea Jr. didn't even run a route on the play. Instead, he blocked the closest defender to allow quarterback
Jackson Tachinski time to roll out and find Le Jour for the playoff-clinching moment. The second defender was too concerned about O'Shea and Tachinski on the play, and Le Jour took advantage.
Madness at McMahon ensued.
Players jumped around in joy, hugging each other and soaking in what just happened.
"That play worked perfectly. When O'Shea came and motioned, [Calgary] kind of just converged down. Everybody shrunk down, and they had two guys on O'Shea," said Dobie.
"[Le Jour] had to have been open by 15, 17 yards easy. They just didn't cover him. It was just meant to be. A lot of it feels like a blur. It was very surreal. Our guys were running around like mad men, you just saw white jerseys everywhere in all different directions."
Through it all, it was Adamopoulos – an East-West Bowl selection along with Conway – who said it best after the game.
"This is a team that can do anything when we
believe in ourselves."
"His statement is universally true for any good team that buys in and believes in each other and everything that's going on around them," added Dobie.
"For what it's worth, none of us will ever forget this game to the day we die. This is one of those games that will always be brought up, long after we're gone. This will be a part of Bison football tradition. It just will be. It's a great moment in the program's history. It didn't result today in a Vanier Cup win, but it did get a team into its fifth straight playoff and set a record that way. I'm super happy for these guys, I'm proud of them."
'Everything we do, we do as a team'
Belief. By definition, it's trust, faith and or confidence in something, or someone. In 2023, the Bisons football program had belief. And they harnessed this, because they've been through the ringer….. together.
A few seasons ago, this program lost someone very important to them; receivers coach Scott Naujoks. His sudden passing sent shockwaves through the school, the locker room and the community that he was such a massive part of.
His picture still hangs up in the coaches room, and decals were put on the team's helmets with the initials 'SN.'
Naujoks' photo is the first thing you see to your left when you enter the room. Along with his image is a quote, 'the only way out is through.'
"[Naujoks] put in so much time and effort and he was a great coach and a great guy," noted professional receiver
Gavin Cobb in 2021.
"I started to get to know him pretty well here over the short time that I knew him. It was very sad, but he's still here with us watching over us, and
we're going to continue on for him."
Even when he was not at one hundred percent, Naujoks continued to come to practice, to be with the team. He thought of others before himself.
His dedication will always serve as a reminder that when you suit up for Bisons football, you're playing for something more than yourself. You are making a
commitment to the brothers and sisters that line the locker room with you, that every single day you will do what it takes to be there for each other.
Much of the 2021 roster – which advanced to the Hardy Cup led by Tachinksi, who took over after a season-ending injury to starter
Des Catellier – is still around today. They rallied together to honour Naujoks then, and they rallied together again on a brisk winter day in Calgary in late October 2023.
It's fitting that the defensive touchdown to keep Manitoba's season alive was set up by two local members of the roster who've been there every year of the playoff streak.
Adamopoulos and Conway are wholeheartedly made in Manitoba. Just like Tachinski, just like
AK Gassama (originally from Sierra Leone), the longest-tenured member of the roster.
All four of these student-athletes stepped up when it counted. Gassama had two majors, and became just the seventh player in program history to have at least 100 catches and 1000 yards as Bison.
He overcame a badly torn knee early in his career to become an All-Canadian. He didn't quit on his team when times got hard, just like Tachinski didn't quit on his team.
When QB1 suffered an upper body injury on a blindside shot in week two against Alberta, some thought he would be gone for weeks.
Instead, he came back after just one game, guided the Bisons to three straight wins and put up 1698 yards of total offence in the final five games.
It was his unwavering dedication to the program, a promise to never give up on the Herd, that shone through.
When Tachinksi was being recruited as a high school senior in 2019, he could have played anywhere. He was one of the best athletes in the nation, and one of the top prospects to ever come out of Manitoba. Winning programs wanted him badly, but he chose UM.
Dave Mahussier, Bison Sports
At the time, the team had made the post-season just once the prior three years, with a combined regular season record of 11-17. He didn't care, and he made that perfectly clear during training camp this summer.
"I came here, because
I just wanted to win for Manitoba.
I love my province, I love my city. I think it would be the coolest thing to win for Manitoba. I bet you every other quarterback in that room has the same thinking. They just want to win for their home province, their home city. I think that brings some passion that's really good for our football team."
In a province where the winters are cold and long, and when isolation and hopelessness can sink in and overtake your mind, Manitobans lean on each other, finding common ground in the struggle, the desire to get through another day and to keep fighting.
Tachinski's desire to be there for his teammates, many of whom are from Manitoba, and the program's desire to never give up, even when life gets hard, make them a dangerous team in the post-season.
When there's nothing left but to rally together, the Bisons answer the call, just like they will when the travel to BC this weekend to face the top-ranked Thunderbirds.
"Everything we do, we do as a team. If one of us is playing poor, the whole team is playing poor. It just really means a lot to have that family in the locker room believing in you, because we all have confidence in each other and we're all ride or die," noted Tachinski.
"We either go down together or we have success together. In that locker room it's a really tight group. We all have unbelievable confidence in each other and we're a family. One heart, one herd. That's our motto and that's what we live by."
