Football team so hungry for the win, they’re starving

By Jon Roe

The University of Calgary Dinos football team suffered two losses over the weekend. The first was a 42-17 thwacking at the hands of the University of Regina Rams Sat., Oct. 6 and the second first-year quarterback Jordan Flagel, being knocked out of the game with potentially season-ruining ligament damage to his thumb. The loss was the Dinos’ fourth in a row and drops them to 1-4 on the season. Flagel completed all three of his passes for 23 yards before being taken out of the game in the first quarter.

“We’re getting another assessment done [Wed., Oct. 10], but it feels like he’s got a lot of strength there,” said head coach Blake Nill. “I still have my fingers crossed that he might play this week. The big thing is he has no pain, but he’s got to have enough strength to squeeze the ball.”

First-year Dinos quarterback Clayton Masikewich replaced Flagel and completed eight of 20 passes for 51 yards.

“Clayton did an awesome job,” said coach Nill. “He’s an 18-year-old kid and he shouldn’t even be on, other than throwing in practice, for two more years. He did a great job, took a few hits, sucked it up. He’s gotta grow and develop as a young man, both physically and emotionally.”

A quarterback was also the story on the other side of the field, as Rams QB Teale Orban unleashed six TDs on the Dinos, a career high for the veteran pivot. Orban now sits at 60 career Canadian Interuniversity Sport TDs, three behind ’80s Dinos great Greg Vavra for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport record.

If Flagel isn’t ready to go for the Dinos’ next game against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Sat., Oct. 13, the team will move down the depth chart and dress backup Kyle Carson, a second-year communications student who played high school football at Ravenwood High in Brentwood, Tennessee, which a suburb of Nashville.

“Kyle’s another kid,” said Nill. “But we’ll see how it goes. If that’s the next guy in, then that’s the next guy. We started with six, we’re down to two. It’s almost like we’re losing one a week.”

With only three more games, barring an unlikely three-game-winning streak, the Dinos aren’t going to make the playoffs. Despite the loss, Nill was happy with his team’s play and is looking forward to playing the Huskies, last year’s Vanier Cup finalists.

“This is the game of football and it’s about dealing with injuries,” said Nill. “Yes, we’ve had our share of them. Yes, we’ve had them at critical spots, but we’ve got to put a team on the field for Saturday.”

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