Sleepy Bears

By JASON HILLS, SUN MEDIA


University of Alberta Golden Bears did their best to show that stats don't always tell the tale, but they fell just short against the Regina Rams.

The Bears were torched for 541 yards on a whopping 89 plays by All-Canadian quarterback Teale Orban, but almost squeaked out a victory over the Rams,losing 24-22 yesterday at Foote Field.

Ross Sheppard grad Hugh O'Neill missed a 53-yard field goal in the dying seconds to drop the Bears to 0-2, while the Rams improve to 1-1.

The Bears dug themselves into what could be described as hibernation early in the game.

Down 14-0 before even getting their hands on the football the Bears looked like they were going to get blown out for a second straight week to a Canada West Saskatchewan team.

"We put ourselves in an opportunity to win, but when you are asking a first-year player to make a 53-yard field goal, there has to be better ways to do it," said Bears head coach Jerry Friesen.

"I am going to go back there right now and tell him it's not his responsibility to win us the football game. We need to support him better."

"You can't spot a football team 17 points and although we did a good a good job fighting back, we were climbing uphill all game."

The Bears looked disorganized right from the opening whistle. They were given a time count violation before they were even able to kick the ball off.

Orban, who finished the day 38 of 54, for 298 yards, connected with receiver Chad Goldie for a 23-yard strike in the first quarter and just 1:22 later, Graham Mosiondz hauled in a 25-yard catch from Orban.

The Rams second score was just three plays after the Rams recovered a short kick-off from Perri Scarcelli.

"They got a little lucky on that moon shot and they were able to get to us early," said Bears quarterback Quade Armstrong, who struggled in the first half, but finished 12 of 17 for 250 passing yards.

"Things just weren't going our way early on and our last two starts have been tough."

It took a full quarter for Armstrong to finally complete his first pass, a 13-yard bullet to rookie slotback Duncan Hankinson.

The game was delayed for 28 minutes shortly after the play due to lightning.

The final 3:24 of the second quarter was tacked on to the start of the third quarter.

The lightning seemed to spark the Bears as Armstrong completed his second straight pass, this time to receiver Damon Fraietta for a 48-yard strike.

Scarcelli made it 20-7 on the last play of the second quarter, but the Bears didn't back down scoring on their opening drive of the third quarter when Aaron Holba snagged a 25-yard pass from Armstrong.

Holba was Armstrong's favourite target on the day. He finished with seven catches for 151 yards.

The momentum continued to shift in the Bears favour as they recorded a safety and O'Neill nailed a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to 20-19.

Scarcelli later kicked a single and O'Neill kicked a 33-yard field goal to give the Bears their first lead, but with 6:45 to go Scarcelli hit a 24-yard attempt to take the lead for good.

"We lacked a real get-after-them start and we got to make sure we address that situation," said Friesen.

"We have been taking too many penalties and when you are down 17 points against a good football team you can't play undisciplined football ." 

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