CALGARY – Behind a strong ground game that churned out nearly 300 rushing yards and helped control the clock late, the UBC Thunderbirds marched to a 39-29 win Friday night over the University of Calgary Dinos football team from McMahon Stadium.

The Dinos (0-5) were able to make it a one-score game twice in the second half, but an 11-play, 100-yard drive that ate up nearly six minutes gave UBC (2-3) a 36-22 edge with just 6:14 left on the clock to all but ice this one away.

"We saw some good progress in different areas of the game tonight," Dinos head coach Wayne Harris said. "There were still some mistakes that really hurt us. Instead of them kicking, they continued drives and things like that. But, our run game significantly improved. The guys were blocking well, we had good protection for the quarterback and had some good catches and distributed the ball well. 

"Getting more consistent is what we need to do. We showed a little bit of consistency tonight, but not quite enough."

After seeing UBC add a 20-yard field goal by Kieran Flannery-Fleck on the opening possession of the second half to make it a 21-9 game, Calgary responded nicely.

The Dinos paired the run game nicely with good distribution by Daniel Sananes, before the second-year QB connected with Dante Carbone on a 14-yard strike to cut the gap to 21-16.

UBC responded in a big way though. After each team traded two-and-outs, the T-Birds connected on a home-run ball from Garrett Rooker, hitting Jason Soriano in stride for an 87-yard bomb completely rip moment back in their direction.

Calgary's defence responded to that adversity in a big way on the next Thunderbirds possession as Matthew Lucyshyn picked off Rooker near midfield and picked up big blocks from Liam Reid and Subomi Oyesoro for the 58-yard pick six to once again cut the lead to five at 27-22 with 2:09 left in the third.

But UBC was able to control the clock from there. Getting the ball with 12:04 left to play and a 29-22 lead, the Thunderbirds ran the ball eight times and needed just three passes before Lucas Mastrodomenico plunged through the line for a 15-yard touchdown with just 6:14 left on the clock.

Flannery-Fleck added another kick from 42 yards, while Sananes connected with Mikel-Ange Desjardins for a four-yard touchdown pass late to close out the scoring.

Rooker finished the game going 15 of 24 for 244 yards and one touchdown, while Sananes completed 17 of his 26 attempts for 197 yards and two scores.

The loss spoils a career performance from first year running back Matthieu Clarke, who exploded for 204 yards on 18 carries.

"Matthieu is gaining more and more confidence each time he's out there," Harris said. "He's still just a red-shirt freshman and this was the first real start for him. We know he's an explosive back and he's got really good speed. If he can find those seems that he saw, we saw some nice cuts out of him today – good jump cuts, running tougher than he was earlier. And then our O-line, we've got three new guys that are all starting to play better. That's a big plus for them to see that production, as well."

Both teams will have the Thanksgiving holiday off from competition, as UBC returns to action Oct. 15 at home when they host Manitoba, while the Dinos will hit the road that same day for a showdown with Alberta inside Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

-UC-