REGINA – Locked in a defensive battle against one the top offensive units in the nation, the University of Calgary Dinos football team fell just short in an 18-12 loss to No. 6 Regina Saturday afternoon from Mosaic Stadium.

With the loss, the Dinos drop to 2-4 on the year and sit in a tie with UBC for the fourth and final playoff spot with two weeks left to play.

Regina improves to 5-1 on the year and clinches a postseason berth with the win.

For the second consecutive week, the Rams were held scoreless in the opening quarter. Calgary's Vince Triumbari hit a pair of field goals to put the Dinos up 6-0 after the first, but the Rams countered with six of their own in the second quarter. Regina's six points came on a 52-yard punt by Isaac Wegner into the end zone, a Ty Gorniak 42-yard field goal, and a conceded Dinos safety as the two teams went into the half deadlocked.

Triumbari added a 46-yard field goal on Calgary's opening drive of the second half, but the Rams replied immediately with what would turn out to be the only touchdown of the game for either team. Most of the work on that 10-play, 75-yard drive was done by Marshall Erichsen, and he finished it off himself with a 7-yard touchdown that gave the third-year running back his ninth touchdown run of the season.

The Rams added to the lead with two more Gorniak field goals in the fourth quarter as they briefly made it a two-score game, but Calgary responded with another Triumbari field goal to make it 18-12 Regina with 2:35 to go.

Regina got two first downs on the drive following the Triumbari field goal, but Calgary got one last chance after Rams quarterback Owen Sieben and Erichsen had trouble with a handoff and the Dinos' Nathan Okoroafor pounced on the fumble. The Dinos took over with 1:15 to go just on the Regina side of midfield, but weren't able to capitalize on a 3rd-and-4 situation when Toryn Swystun-Bernes led an array of Regina tacklers which held Zion Grant to just a one-yard completion and gave the ball back to the Rams.

David Jordan finished the day going 18-30 for the Dinos for 167 yards. On the other side of the ball, the Dinos held Noah Pelletier to just 10-21 for 97 yards before Regina made the switch to Owen Sieben, who was a more effective 8-10 for 68 yards.

Despite playing without their top two running backs, Calgary's ground game still put together a strong performance. Rookie back Jibreel Yahaya finished with 95 yards rushing on 16 carries for an average of 5.9 yards per carry.

After the upcoming bye week, the Dinos are on the road for the final time this regular season, traveling to Winnipeg to take on Manitoba on Saturday, Oct. 18 for a 1 p.m. contest from Princess Auto Stadium.

-UC-