Game Day Notes: University of Manitoba Bisons (1-0) vs. University of Saskatchewan Huskies (1-0)
Saturday September 8, 2012

The Manitoba Bisons football team host their first Canada West conference regular season game of the 2012 season when they play at home against the #8 Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday, September 8 starting at 1 p.m. at University Stadium (U of Manitoba campus).

The Bisons opened a football season with a win for the first time since the 2008 season (Manitoba win 25-12 over Regina at home) when Manitoba defeated then #7 UBC on the road by a score of 31-24 on Saturday, September 1. They are tied with Saskatchewan plus four-time and defending Canada West champion Calgary with a 1-0 record in 2012.

Last season, Manitoba won the lone match-up against Saskatchewan (Manitoba 26-16 at Manitoba on Sept. 17/11) and overall during Brian Dobie's 16 year tenure has a 6-7 conference regular season record versus the Huskies at home.

Heading into this second week of the 2012 campaign, both teams won their first games. Saskatchewan won 32-0 over Alberta in Saskatoon on Friday, August 31.

This will be the first of two meetings this season between the two teams (Fri., Oct. 12 at Saskatchewan at 8 p.m. CT).

For the 2012 season, there are eight of 12 starters on the offence and seven of the 12 starters on defence returning to the Bison squad. Five years removed from winning their third Vanier Cup Championship in team history, the Manitoba Bisons football team only has two players left (Landon Rice and Thomas Hall were both red-shirt players) on this year's edition that were part of the 2007 Vanier team.

The Bisons are looking to open a football season with a two consecutive wins since their perfect season when they won the 2007 Vanier Cup Championship.

Over the last 16 seasons that Brian Dobie has coached at Manitoba, the Bisons are tied 11-11 regular season record over Saskatchewan.

For game two of 2012, the Manitoba Bisons line up has one significant change as 2011 CIS First Team All-Canadian, 2011 Canada West All-Star and International Bowl MVP running back/kick returner Anthony Coombs make his first start of the season after not playing in game one. The second year star player looks to take first team reps on offence and special teams vs. Saskatchewan.

In game one at UBC, Manitoba had seven CIS rookies (SB Andrew Smith, CB Cam Teschuk, DL Ranji Atwall, OL Nevin Gamblin, DL Max Amyotte, OL Mitch Mackay, SB Danny Turek) out of the 40 person road roster. Of those seven, five were starters and only Amyotte and Mackay were in non-starting roles.

With the increase to a 50 person roster for home games, there are 11 fifth year players  (WR Xavier Johnson, WR Brendon Bowman, QB Cam Clark, SB Tyson Hinds, OL Scott Johnson LB Thomas Hall, DL Jesse Schryver, LB Eric Vincent, LB Chris Laubenstein, OL Landon Rice, DL Adam Hindley) with six are starters except Hinds, Johnson, Schryver, Vincent and Laubenstein.

Bisons on the roster for the first time in 2012 are: OL John Mark Welsh, OL Bobby Thomson, OL Scott Johnson, SB Alex Vitt, SB Nick Evans, RB/KR Anthony Coombs, QB Ryan Marsch, FB Bryan Giesbrecht, SB Tyson Hinds, DL David Onyemata, DL Shahpour Birjandian and DL Gabriel David.

Starting Bison QB Cam Clark will make his first-ever CIS home start in his fifth year of eligibility. In his first-ever CIS start last week at UBC, Clark went 13-24 for 194 yards (fourth best in Canada West) and one interception. With the Bisons, he went 2-7 for 60 passing yards in 2011 and did not dress in 2010.

These two teams played once during the 2011 season – game report:
September 17, 2011: Manitoba 26 Saskatchewan 16 at Manitoba

It is not often a punt is a difference maker in a football game but the host team took full advantage of the howling 35 km/h wind. On the first play at the start of the fourth quarter, Bison punter Brendon Bowman boomed a 64 yard punt, with the wind, that went off Huskies' Jerit Lambert hands and dribbled into the end zone. Manitoba's DB Grayson Wells hustled downfield and jumped on the loose, live ball in the Huskies end zone for a surprising touchdown. This was the first lead of the game, at 19-16, for the Bisons and they never relinquished the rest of the way.

The wind played a factor throughout as Saskatchewan had it to begin the first quarter. But it was the defence with the first points of the contest. Huskies DL David Rybinski rumbled for a 68 yard fumble TD recovery after Bison QB Khaleal Williams fumbled the ball after pressure by DL Jon DeWitt. Manitoba then gave up a safety instead of punting into the strong wind and Denton Kolodzinski ended the first 15 minutes with a 30 yard field goal and the visitors had a 12-0 lead.

The second quarter, the Bisons chipped away with a couple of singles and kicker Nick Boyd ending the half with a 27 yard FG. After 30 minutes, the Huskies led 12-5. In the second half, Manitoba tied the score when they found the end zone after an 11 play, 90 yard drive that took five minutes and ended with a 15 yard TD pass from Williams to SB Tyson Takasaki. This was the first touchdown given up by the Saskatchewan defence in three games this season. The Huskies regained the lead with a 17 yard field goal and long 72 yard punt rouge, aided by the wind, by Kolodzinski.

After Wells' TD recovery in the end zone, the Herd shut down the Huskies offence as they only accumulated 107 yards on their last six possessions along with three turnovers (two interceptions, one on downs). Manitoba salted away the game with Boyd kicking two FGs (24, 42) and a rouge off a 38 yard miss for the 26-16 final score.

In team stats, Manitoba had 23 to Saskatchewan 19 in first downs; rushing yards were Saskatchewan at 119 and Manitoba at 78; Manitoba had 280 passing yards to Huskies 186; total offence was 320-283 for Manitoba; turnovers had Saskatchewan with four to Manitoba's two; Manitoba controlled time of possession with 33:09 to 26:51 and penalties were 14-125 yards for Manitoba and Saskatchewan with 6-65 yards.

Individually, the visitors had starting QB Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren was top team rusher with 60 yards on seven carries while throwing for 113 yards on 9-23 with two interceptions. QB Trent Peterson played some in the third and went 5-9 for 73 yards. Dexter Janke had 51 rushing yards on 13 carries while top Saskatchewan receiver was Rory Kohlert had six catches for 85 yards.

For the Bisons, Williams was top passer with 23-38 and 28-0 passing yards and one TD. On the ground, RB Anthony Coombs ran ten times for a game-high 67 rushing yards while SB Jared Ralko was top receiver with ten receptions for 103 yards while Takasaki grabbed six passes for 75 yards and 1 TD.

On defence, Saskatchewan was led by LB Charlie Power with 8.5 total tackles while LB Peter Thiel had 6.5 tackles and Mitch Friesen at 4.5 tackles plus Rybinski 68 yard fumble recovery. For Manitoba, LB Thomas Hall had 6.5 tackles with two sacks while DL Adam Hindley added 5.5 tackles and LB Lauren Kroeker with five tackles. Pete Adams and Brett MacFarlane each had one interception while DL Evan Gill added a sack and Wells with the crucial fumble recovery.


Points of Interest
After hearing about a young team for the last couple of seasons, the 2012 Manitoba Bisons football team now has a strong nucleus of returning veterans back with the program and added depth at crucial positions. The Bisons are poised for a breakthrough with the aim of advancing to their first post-season action since they captured the 2007 Vanier Cup Championship. Since 2007, the Bisons have not won more than three games on the field in a single season.

In the first Canada West football week of the 2012 campaign, #8 Saskatchewan won 32-0 over Alberta at home on Friday, August 31. The other conference game was #3 Calgary 37 Regina 21 at Calgary on Saturday, September 1.

In week two on Friday, September 7, #3 Calgary won 65-6 vs. Alberta and Regina won 49-20 over UBC at home.

In the first game of the season for Manitoba at UBC, the Bisons had 25 first downs, 258 net rushing yards, 194 net yard passing with 432 total offence yards plus one punt return TD and three rushing TDs. While on defence, the Herd had three sacks, one interception with one fumble recovery. UBC had 497 total offence yards (281 – rush; 232 pass) in the loss.

Manitoba have scored four touchdowns this season with RB Kienan LaFrance with two rushing and RB/KR Nic Demski with two (one on punt return and one on rush).

For the Bison offence, LaFrance had 165 yards on 19 carries on the ground, Demski added 52 rushing yards on nine carries while SB Danny Turek had four grabs for 81 yards and WR Brendon Bowman added three receptions for 50 yards.

In all-purpose yards, LaFrance tallied 227 yards (165 rushing; 62 kick return) while Demski added 225 yards (52 rush; 23 receiving; 115 punt return).

On defence, the Bisons were led by DL Ranji Atwall had two sacks to go with his game-high 7.5 total tackles. S Teague Sherman added 6.0 total tackles with one sack and one interception. DB Brett MacFarlane added 5.5 tackles and one break-up while LB Thomas Hall registered 5.5 total tackles, one break-up and one forced fumble. LB Thomas Miles returned to action after a season off and had 4.0 total tackles.

On special teams, the Bisons had Bowman with a sterling 47.7 punt yard average on six punts while Nick Boyd averaged 56.0 kickoff yard average after 0-1 in kicking.

In CIS 2012 football stats, Clark is 12th in passing yards (194); LaFrance is first in rushing yards (165); Turek is 17th in receiving yards (81); Bowman is first in punting average at 47.7; LaFrance is third in kick return avg.(31.0); LaFrance and Desmki are tied for tenth in total scoring with 12 points and Atwall is tied for 11th in total tackles with 7.5.

In the second CIS Top 10 football poll, defending Vanier Cup champion McMaster is still number one while Canada West teams occupy three spots as Calgary is third, Saskatchewan placed at number eight and Manitoba was out of the top ten but now is tenth. UBC was number seven and moved out of CIS Top 10 after loss to Manitoba in game one.

In 2011, Manitoba finished last season with an official 4-4 regular season record (3-5 on-field record) and did not qualify for the playoffs. Saskatchewan finished last season with an official 5-3 record and played in Canada West semi-final at UBC and lost 27-22 on Nov. 05, 2011 (UBC vacates win due to use of an ineligible player).

The four-time defending Canada West Hardy Cup football champion University of Calgary Dinos were the unanimous choice among conference coaches to repeat in 2012 pre-season poll. The complete voting results, based on a 10-7-5-3-1 system (first-place votes in parentheses):
1. Calgary (5)         50
2. Regina               33
3. UBC                    25
4. Manitoba (1)      24
5. Saskatchewan     19
6. Alberta                 5

Manitoba won their first pre-season game since 2005 (24-15 at Regina on August 26).

In the pre-season at Regina where the Bisons won 29-13, there were Bisons who shone. Bison Anthony Coombs had a 126-yard touchdown return off a deflected field goal for the Bisons in the first half, and the visitors notched a pair of touchdowns in a span of just 73 seconds early in the fourth quarter to finish off the scoring. Teague Sherman was the story for the Manitoba defence, coming up with three first-half interceptions including one in the end zone. Riley Coates led the Bisons on the ground with 44 rushing yards on six carries, while starting quarterback Cam Clark was 5-for-10 and ended up with 48 passing yards. Marc Paquette was also 5-for-10 for Manitoba and threw two touchdown passes, while Theo Deezar came on at the end and completed four of his five pass attempts.
Going into game two, Bison head coach Brian Dobie heads into his 17th season at the helm. Dobie has 67-60-1 (52.7%) regular season record and his overall record (including playoffs) is now 76-66-1 (53.5%).

Individually, there are a couple of Bison inching up the team record book in career numbers. On defence, fifth year LB Thomas Hall now has 134.5 total tackles and moves into sixth place in Bison career record and is just back of fifth place is Pete Adams from 2008-11 with (135.0). Fifth year S Teague Sherman has 123.5 total tackles in his career and behind a tie for eighth place is Jeff Alamolhoda from 2003-07 (132) and Terry Staroba 1995-98 (132).

Second year RB/KR Nic Demski is already first with two touchdown kickoff returns; Sherman is now tied for ninth in Bison record books in interceptions with eight (Scott Coe from 1998-2001) and one back of eighth place is Bob Reist from 2003-07 (9) and tied for sixth place is Howard Fawcett from 1981-82 (10) and Cory Huclack from 2002-06 (10). In defensive break-ups, Sherman is tied for first with Adams with 19 and third year DB David Ferrier is tied for fifth along with Howard with 10. Reist is third (13), David Beakley from 2003-06 is fourth at 11.

In early 2012 conference regular season stats, Saskatchewan is second in scoring offence (32.0 points per game) while Manitoba is third (31.0). On scoring defence, Huskies are first (0.0) and Manitoba was third (24.0). On total offence, Manitoba was third (452.0 yards per game) while the Huskies are fifth (343.0). On total defence, Saskatchewan is first (235.0) and Manitoba is sixth at 523.0,.

In early 2012 conference regular season stats, Manitoba is second in rushing offence (258.0 yards in game) while Saskatchewan is fourth (113.0). In  rushing defence, Sask. is second (57.0) while Manitoba is sixth (291.0). In pass offence, the Huskies are fourth with 230.0 yard per game while Manitoba was fifth (194.0). In pass defence, Saskatchewan is first at 178.0 and Manitoba is fourth at 232.0.

Last season, Manitoba had five Canada West All-Stars. On offence, running back Anthony Coombs (first time) while on special teams was kick returner Nic Demski (first time). On defence, Thomas Hall (first time) was named at linebacker, Teague Sherman (first time) as named at safety and Pete Adams (third consecutive tear) was selected at halfback position. Saskatchewan had two 2011 Canada West All-Stars.

Award-winners returning to the Bisons this season include four standouts. RB/KR Anthony Coombs, who was 2011 CIS First Team All-Canadian, 2011 Canada West All-Star and also featured in Sports illustrated because of winning MVP as the World Team won the 2012 International Bowl. Coombs will miss the first game of this season after playing the 2012 pre-season game. In addition, RB/KR Nic Demski was selected as CIS Second Team All-Canadian and 2011 Canada West All-Star. On defence, S Teague Sherman returns after being named 2011 CIS First Team All-Canadian and 2011 Canada West All-Star while LB Thomas Hall was a 2011 Canada West All-Star after being a two-time Russ Jackson Award winner (2009-10).

Kickoff will occur at 1 p.m. CT at University Stadium. Game can be heard live on CJOB radio (cjob.com) and simulcast at UMFM 101.5 (umfm.com). There is live TV broadcast on SHAW TV Manitoba.