For the second time in three weeks, the Calgary Dinos and the Regina Rams will face off on the gridiron — but this time, there’s much more at stake.
The two teams meet for the third time this season Saturday afternoon at McMahon Stadium in a Canada West Semi-final, with the winner advancing to next weekend’s Hardy Cup game. Kickoff is 1 p.m., live on Shaw TV (Channel 10 Calgary) and QR77.
The other semi-final has the Alberta Golden Bears visiting the Saskatchewan Huskies, also at 1 p.m. Saturday. The two winners will advance to the 74th Hardy Cup game next Saturday, Nov. 13 at the home of the highest remaining seed.
The Dinos won both regular season contests over the Rams — a 24-21 nail-biter on Sept. 10 in Calgary and a 35-27 victory Oct. 22 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. Both games featured early Calgary leads followed by furious Regina comebacks, and the Dinos needed big plays from their defence to fight off the charging Rams late.
In the first game, a Michael Lau interception in the end-zone ended what looked like a promising drive for Regina late in the fourth quarter. In the second game, the Dinos nearly squandered a 21-point halftime lead and survived when a third-down play to the end zone fell incomplete.
The game will feature the two leading rushers in Canada West — Regina’s Adrian Charles and Calgary’s Matt Walter. Charles unseated Walter after a two-year stint atop the rushing leaderboard to become the Canada West rushing champion, racking up 972 yards against 763 for Walter.
As a team, however, Calgary once again led the conference in rushing — by more than 600 yards. The Dinos averaged just under 250 rushing yards over the eight games of the regular season. The Rams, meanwhile, have been a pass-first offence, racking up nearly 315 yards through the air on average while still managing 169 rushing yards.