Rams crush Golden Bears
author: nathan mccarville | sports writer
Run, run, run. / nathan mccarville
Rams play second strong game against Alberta
The Rams have put another victory under their belt after the last home game played against the visiting Alberta Golden Bears. The final score saw the Rams up by 14 points, the game ending at 31-17 for the Rams.
Energy and spirits were high throughout the game, the Rams never ceasing to seize every opportunity to run the ball down the field, whether it was their turn with the ball or not, with numerous interceptions by various Rams being commonplace throughout the game.
The Rams dominated the game, Alberta was the first to put points on the scoreboard with a touchdown by Golden Bear Tyler Turner at two minutes and thirty seconds into the game, receiving a 24-yard pass from Golden Bears’ quarterback Brad Baker, with a convert kick by Brent Arthur. Unfortunately for him and his team, this was the highlight of the game. Eight minutes later, Ram Bennett Stusek matched the Golden Bears score with a 32-yard reception from upcoming Rams quarterback, second-year Seb Britton, setting the game at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was the most eventful for the Rams. Figuratively kicking off the second, Briton made a one-yard run for the endzone, and got another seven points for the Rams six seconds into the second, pushing the Rams up to 14 points in the game, doubling the Golden Bears score on the board. Just over five minutes into the quarter, the Rams made the strategic decision to get Aldo Galvan to go for the 17-yard field goal. Galvan successfully kicked the ball between the yellow posts and obtained three points for the Rams. Galvan again mirrored the move five minutes later with a 17-yard field goal that successfully got three points for the Rams. Once more in the quarter, the Rams coaching staff made the same strategic decision with two minutes remaining, Aldo making a 12-yard kick for another three points, pushing the Rams up to 23 points for the quarter. Though the strategy seemed to give the Golden Bears an idea, with 45 seconds left in the quarter, they too, successfully made a 26-yard field goal by Brent Arthur.
Galvan broke the mold of the third quarter with a field goal, getting three more points for the Rams at 18 yards less than two minutes into the quarter. Later on, Daniel Scraper of the home team Rams caught a 23-yard pass from Britton, getting another seven points for the U of R’s franchise team. The third ended with nary a move by the Golden Bears past the goal line.
The fourth was uneventful in the cold, misty October night game, save for an unexpected development on the side of the Golden Bears who, by the hands, or rather the feet, of quarterback Brad Baker, made a one-yard run for the endzone, getting another seven points for his team. And so, the game ended with a final result of 32-17.
The win was expected, as the Rams had already beaten the Golden Bears quite badly in their first regular season game against one another five weeks prior to the most recent game the Rams played, ending the game with an astounding 51-13 points against the Golden Bears on their home field in Edmonton, a surprising disparity between the two Albertan teams from cities not two hours from one another, the Golden Bears and the Calgary Dinos.
Unfortunately the win by such a large margin was recently taken away from the Rams and given to the Golden Bears after some controversy involving an error with signing a player onto the Rams improperly, having the final result of penalizing the Rams by granting a loss for every win the Rams have had over the season where the ineligible player was on the field. The University of Regina reported the mis-assigning to USPORTS, this move reversed every victory the Rams had, into a loss by forfeiture, the unnamed player playing in every game of the season. Though one of my fellow Carillon correspondents will be covering that in either the next or previous pages of the paper, so refer to that for more information on the matter.
Either way, the Rams were pushed down to last place in the league, below less-skilled teams having a record of no wins and five losses where they had previously had three wins and five losses. If the Rams can somehow manage to win their next two upcoming games against the Huskies and Dinos, the two teams the Rams have been unable to beat this season, they may still have a chance at making it into the Canada West finals. Only the results of the upcoming games can decide that. The Rams record now stands at an unfortunate one win and five losses in the official statistics.
The Rams are set to play the Calgary Dinos in Calgary this coming Friday, Oct. 19, with the next home game, and final game of the regular season against the Saskatchewan Huskies, played the following Friday, Oct. 26.
