CALGARY – A pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns from Ben Britton and Luke Gutek provided a spark for the McMahon Stadium faithful, but the University of Calgary Dinos football team ran out of time on their comeback effort in a 24-16 loss to the Regina Rams Friday afternoon.

In front of over 5,500 fans taking in the annual KICKOFF event hosted by UCalgary, the fireworks came just a little too late as the Dinos were limited to just two points through the first three quarters before finding their rhythm on offence in the debut performance for new head coach Ryan Sheahan.

"We know that we're better than that, which is a great building block," Sheahan said. "When you have a team that cares and knows that they're not playing to their potential, you don't really have to coach them. They knew. They knew they can play better and then they came out and fought hard (in the second half). Unfortunately, there were a few errors that there was no coming back from. But this is something to learn from and build from."

The Dinos opened the scoring with a single on the first play of the season. After a forced fumble by Osasere Odemwingie that was recovered by Liam Reid on just the second play from scrimmage, it looked like Calgary would jump out to a big early lead only to settle for another single from Vince Triumbari.

From there, the Rams were slowly able to build a lead, scoring one touchdown, two field goals, a safety and a rouge to somehow squeak 16 points out against the Dinos staunch defence to take a 16-2 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Calgary's offence finally started to click. Finishing off a drive that started from their own 31 yard line, Dom Britton connected with brother Ben Britton on an outstanding diving catch in the back corner of the endzone to close things to 16-9 with 14:15 left to play.

The defence responded with a big stop on the ensuing possession, only to see Regina come up with a pivotal turnover deep in Dinos territory. The Rams were able to capitalize, bleeding the clock down to just over seven minutes after a Noah Pelletier one-yard run made it 23-9.

To Sheahan's point, his team didn't quit. Following a Regina rouge with just 2:21 left on the clock, the Dinos responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that took just two plays and 20 seconds. Taking the snap from the 51-yard line, D. Britton bought just enough time in the pocket for a bomb of a throw that connected with Luke Gutek, who fought off a defender and made his way into the endzone for his first collegiate touchdown to cut the gap to 24-16 with 2:01 left on the clock.

But the Dinos simply ran out of time, getting the ball back with just 17 seconds left, coming up just short in the season opener.

"This is going to teach us something about our roster and our team and about how our season is going to unfold," Sheahan said. "In Canada West, everybody is good. You've got to get your act together pretty fast, so we've got to learn from this and move forward." 

D. Britton finished the day completing 18 passes for 256 yards. L. Gutek led the Dinos receiving corps on the day with four catches and an even 100 yards. B. Britton also finished with four grabs on the day for 65 yards.

Pelletier led the Rams with 14 completions for 125 yards in a slow-and-steady approach. Jevon Garwood and Olivier Savard tied for the lead in rushing on the day with 50 yards apiece on the ground.

Defensively, Calgary finished with four takeaways on the day. Isaiah Smith had one interception to go with a forced fumble that was recovered by transfer Ethan Ball. Steen Rasmussen also added a pick in the first half – the first of his university career.

The Dinos hit the road for their next two games, starting next Friday with a 7 p.m. Battle of Alberta showdown from Foote Field.

-UC-