EDMONTON – The fourth-ranked Calgary Dinos battled gale-force winds, special teams trouble, and an archrival playing for pride Saturday afternoon in Edmonton, dropping a 20-9 decision to the Alberta Golden Bears at Foote Field.

BOX SCORE

The loss drops the Dinos to 5-3 on the 2008 season but, following Friday night's wins by Regina and Saskatoon, has no impact on Calgary's final seeding in the Canada West standings. The Dinos finish second overall thanks to tiebreakers and will host the Regina Rams in a conference semifinal next Sunday, Nov. 2 at McMahon Stadium.

Winds gusting up to 90 km/h wreaked havoc for both teams, taking usually sure points off the board for Calgary and significantly impacting the field position battle. Even the broadcast crew was not immune – Shaw TV was forced off the air midway through the first quarter after the wind knocked over cameras and knocked out power to the truck.

Calgary coach Blake Nill, however, was not about to use the wind as an excuse.

“We just didn't have the kind of effort that we needed this afternoon,” Nill told The FAN 960, which did manage to remain on the air for the game's entirety.

“We came out with the intention that we would move the ball a bit, and we started off not bad. We moved the ball well even into the wind in the second quarter. Again our defence played fairly well after being put in a tough bind for most of the game and playing on a short field.”

The Dinos scored all but one of their points at the 7:33 mark of the first quarter. After a Hugh O'Neill punt into the wind travelled just 11 yards, the Dinos took over at the Alberta 35 yard line. Matt Walter scored Calgary's lone major on a seven-yard scamper set up by a 12-yard strike from Deke Junior to #Matt Little,# putting Calgary up 7-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Aaron Ifield sent an 85-yard single soaring through the end zone to add to Calgary's lead.

With the wind in the second quarter, the Bears moved the ball but managed just one point – a 66-yard punt single by O'Neill. Calgary had success on the ground heading into the wind in the second, setting up a 25-yard Ifield field goal attempt in the final five seconds of the half. Normally a chip shot, the attempt was headed through the uprights when the wind caught it and the ball seemingly stopped in midair before falling harmlessly short of the end zone. Calgary settled for an 8-1 lead heading into the half.

The turning point of the game came on the very first play of the second half, where Junior was intercepted by Alberta linebacker Scott Stevenson at the Calgary 25 yard line. Stevenson ran the ball 25 yards for the defensive major, knotting the affair up at 8-8.

After the Dinos offence sputtered through much of the third quarter, a special teams mistake gave Alberta its first lead. James Green took an O'Neill punt at the Calgary six yard line and, attempting to turn the corner to outrun the cover team, ended up in his own end zone. The safety gave the Bears a 10-8 lead, one which they would not relinquish.

Ifield added another single while O'Neill added three more to make it 13-9 Alberta, and Bears quarterback Quade Armstrong put the final nail in the coffin at 14:12 of the fourth with a 20-yard touchdown run on a naked bootleg.

There were positives for the Dinos in the outing, which saw the return of second team All-Canadian Anthony Woodson to the lineup after he suffered broken ribs in Week 2 against Manitoba. Woodson had 13 carries for 44 yards in his return, adding another element to the Calgary offence. Walter racked up 75 yards on 14 carries, giving him 902 on the season and the conference rushing title. He finishes third in the nation in rushing yards.

Receiver Anthony Parker also had a strong outing, hauling in 11 passes for 114 yards.

“Those three guys (Walter, Parker, Woodson) are the keys to our success next week,” said Nill. “Woodson looked like he never missed a beat, and both Walter and Parker played very well.

“I told the guys after the game, 'let's put this one behind us and focus on Regina.' We're into the playoffs, we're hosting a playoff game, now we have to win a playoff game. All our efforts have to go into beating Regina next week.”

Calgary defeated Regina 31-5 in the teams' only meeting of the season Oct. 11 in Calgary.

Kickoff of the Canada West semifinal goes Sunday, Nov. 2, 1 p.m. MT at McMahon Stadium.

-UC-