Bisons trample Golden Bears in blowout victory

The Manitoba Bisons ran the Alberta Golden Bears out of town Saturday.

The U of M’s football team rushed for 315 yards in a 34-7 beatdown over Alberta at Princess Auto Stadium in their annual homecoming game.

The win improved the Herd to 2-2 on the year, while the Bears remain winless at 0-4.

“It’s a special feeling to control the ground game like that,” said Bisons centre Mark Rauhaus. “That was kind of an identity game for our group. The guys around me and our running backs played really well. It was a big confidence building game.”

Fifth-year running back Breydon Stubbs carried the rock 21 times for 129 yards and scored his 24th career touchdown to put him second all-time in Bisons history.

Backup tailbacks Noah Anderson and Shakur Harris combined for 107 yards rushing.

The Bisons averaged 7.9 yards per carry as a group.

“(Stubbs) has had an awesome career so far,” said senior quarterback Jackson Tachinski, who also played high school football with Stubbs and Rauhaus at Vincent Massey Collegiate.

“He got to play right away as a young guy and he’s kind of been our guy ever since. He’s really reliable and he’s not missing many traits that you’re looking for in a running back. I’m just really glad I’ve had the pleasure to play with him all these years.”

The Bisons led 3-1 after the opening 15 minutes before scoring on three consecutive drives in the second quarter to take a 24-1 advantage into half time. Tachinski’s day would end there as a thumb injury put him on the sideline for the rest of the contest. Redshirt freshman Cole Anseeuw was tasked with closing things out and the St. Paul’s High School product did just that by going seven for nine for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Tachinski expects to be ready to play this Saturday when they challenge the Regina Rams at Mosaic Stadium.

“We think (Anseeuw’s) really talented. He became the No. 2 quarterback, it wasn’t anointed to him, he earned that,” said head coach Stan Pierre.

“I really wasn’t that surprised. I was happy for him, but we’ve been watching him in practice all year. We knew what he was capable of. He didn’t seem rattled at all. He seemed confident and prepared… Of course, you never really know until the bullets are flying, but we were pretty confident.”

Alberta trotted out three different quarterbacks and none of them were able to move the ball down the field with much success. The Golden Bears managed 84 rushing yards on 14 attempts.

Linebacker Nic Pereira and defensive back Carter Dallas both had six tackles a piece, and linebacker Dario Macchia came down with an interception.

Pereira, a fourth-year player out of St. Paul’s, tops the Canada West in solo tackles with 24.

“Honestly, I love how fast and physical we were playing,” said Pereira. “We were playing a confident ball game, we had extremely good practices all week to get all those little details sorted out, and come game time, we had all the answers, and we were flying around, making plays.”

The Bisons have won seven homecoming games in a row, and this year’s edition featured thousands of fans in the stands.

“Any time you have a crowd like that, it definitely brings another level of intensity to it, especially at home right in front of your friends and family,” said Pereira. “It makes you want to bring that extra degree of physicality and ball out, for sure.”

The game also marked the first time the Bisons donned their new uniforms since the school announced their rebranding earlier this month. Instead of their traditional black and gold, the U of M was repping a brighter gold uniform with shades of blue — which was added to the school’s colour palette — on the shoulders and down the side of the pants.

“Of course, it takes some time to get used to the change,” said receiver Nathan Udoh.

“I’m sure everyone’s used to the black and gold with the Bison before, but a part of being a leader and being a part of this team is to embrace change and I think the guys did that well. We went with it, and I think the guys looked great. You know, you look good, feel good, play good.”

After starting 0-2 with a pair of road losses, the Bisons have clawed back to .500 which puts them in a tie with both UBC and Calgary in the standings. Regina and Saskatchewan sit at the top at 3-1. Only the top four quality for post-season play.

It’ll be a stiff test for the Bisons this week as Regina is ranked sixth in the nation.

“Kudos to Regina, they’ve earned that spot up in the standings. They’ve got a pretty good run game going right now, too,” said Rauhaus.

“You can expect a battle. Every time Manitoba plays Regina, you know it’s going to be entertaining.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca