Dinos suffer another loss

By Britany Bingham

Revenge could be sweet! After the Dinos suffered a heartbreaking loss last year to the Simon Fraser University Clan that resulted in being kicked out of a playoff spot, the Dinos were out for blood. Unfortunately, they are still left hungry for a win. The Clan won bragging rights with a 24-35 win over the Dinos.


While our boys fared better than in last weekend’s complete and utter failure against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, they still fell somewhat short of playing a whole game. Although, the Dinos played three great quarters of football, any good football fan knows there are four quarters in a football game.


It was in that fourth quarter that the team fell apart.


Let’s start at the beginning. The game started out very promising. Starting quarterback Charles Guedo and the rest of the Dinos offense marched 75 yards down the field on their first drive, completing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Joel Ford–giving the Dinos their first touchdown of the season.


Even though their kicking game started slow and the offensive team had a few glitches in the end zone, the first half of the game went fairly well. Jeff Williams, starting running back, achieved 100 yards rushing before half time alone. To aid the offensive efforts, starting defensive player Rich Fowlstone caught a timely interception, while Jeff Montgomery wiped out the SFU quarterback at the end of the first quarter.


The Dinos were able to tie the game 14-14 with a closing touchdown from Williams in the final minutes of the second quarter.


The third quarter came and went with no change in score and both teams struggling to pull ahead of each other.


Then the fourth quarter began–this is when the shit really hit the fan, so to speak. In a quarter that lasted only 15 minutes, four touchdowns and one field goal were scored.


Aneel Brar, the starting Dinos running back, started the fun by plowing through the Clan’s defense to put us ahead 21-14. SFU responded to this by scoring three touchdowns in just over 10 minutes. Although the Dinos were unable to catch up after these devastating blows, they were able to score a last minute field goal, bringing the final score to 24-35.


The only thing that stopped the offense was themselves. Between untimely penalties and turnovers, the Dinos were unable to finish what they’d started in the first three quarters. While they did suffer a loss, the game wasn’t a complete washout. Williams, a Vancouver high school graduate, really sparkled with a total of 186 yards in only 20 carries plus a much needed touchdown!


“The loss was disappointing but our team really pulled it together since last week. We worked hard and definitely improved our overall game,” said Williams. “It was really nice to play in front of my home town crowd but I wouldn’t have been able to make those plays without the work of the offensive line. They are the ones that really deserve the credit. They made the blocks that were needed and played a really excellent game.”


The large helping hand to Williams’ success could be accredited to Mitch Hoschka and his fellow offensive linemen. When asked about the offensive lines’ astounding performance, Hoschka replied, “We focused all week to resolve the problems we encountered during last week’s game. We knew what SFU was going to give us and we were able to plan for it. We now need to focus on playing a solid full game and learn to finish the game strong.”


These intimidating Dinos (or gentle giants to those that know them well) were able to continuously clear the path for the smaller offensive players such as the running backs, slot backs and wide receivers. They were also able to keep Guedo on his feet.


“Well, we got points on the board this time!” joked Guedo. “We really improved from last week but we’re still learning as a team and one of those things we’re learning is to play a full 60 minutes and finish the game the right way–strong to the end. We’re learning that killer instinct makes us Dinos and that makes us better players.”


This leaves the Dinos still thirsty for a win, which they hope to satisfy Sat., Sept. 18 when they face the University of Manitoba Bisons. Game starts at 1 p.m.