Historic night for Timmis as Dinos beat Huskies

By Ashton Chugh, September 25 2014 —

The Dinos football team continued their road trip with a 38–24 win over the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Sept. 19.

In what was the Dinos’ toughest test of the season, Mercer Timmis — the reigning Canada West MVP — picked up 208 rushing yards on 22 carries, scoring three rushing touchdowns for his best performance this year. This made third-year tailback Timmis the University of Calgary’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns.

“It’s just an honour to be up there with guys like Matt Walter,” Timmis said. “A lot of credit goes to my offensive line and my teammates. I just couldn’t be happier where I am with this program.”

Timmis’ 30th rushing touchdown of his career puts him one above the previous record holder, Matt Walter, whose career total is 29. Timmis recorded the feat in only 17 conference games. And he did it on a night where each score was valuable to his team as the Dinos came back from a 10-point deficit in the second quarter.

The Dinos struggled out of the gate. Saskatchewan scored three touchdowns in the first half, which were the first majors allowed by Calgary’s defence this season. The Huskies put up 323 yards of total offence and held a three-point lead at halftime. However, they sputtered out in the second half, failing to score a single point.

A Johnny Mark field goal for the Dinos accounted for the only points of the third quarter to tie the game 24–24. This set the stage for the Dinos to prove why they’re the second-ranked team in the nation.

With less than four minutes to play, quarterback Andrew Buckley found Brett Blaszko over the middle for an 18-yard major, which turned out to be the game-winning play. After Calgary’s defence held and forced a turnover on downs two drives later, Timmis cruised in from 35 yards to score a final touchdown, putting salt in the Huskies’ wounds.

The Dinos have won 12 consecutive conference games and six in a row against the Huskies.

The win came 50 years to the day from the program’s first-ever game, a 16–7 win over the Royal Military College on Sept. 19, 1964.

The Dinos will return to McMahon Stadium to take on the Manitoba Bisons on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m.  They’ll celebrate Student Appreciation Night which includes a pre-game party at 3:30 p.m. at the Den the same day.