The University of Saskatchewan Huskies are back-to-back Hardy Cup champions.
The Huskies beat the UBC Thunderbirds 23-8 at Griffiths Stadium on Saturday. It’s Saskatchewan’s second straight Canada West football title and third since 2018.
The U of S will now hit the road to take on the Atlantic-champion St. Francis Xavier University X-Men in the Uteck Bowl on Nov. 19. The winner of that game advances to the Vanier Cup, Nov. 26 in London, Ont.
On Saturday, Saskatchewan jumped out to a 9-0 lead thanks to three field goals from David Solie.
The Thunderbirds found the end zone first with running back Lucas Mastrodomenico taking the ball in from one yard out.
Owen Brown added the convert and then kicked a single in the third quarter, but that would be the final points UBC would score in the contest.
On the final play of the third quarter, Jordin Rusnack caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Mason Nyhus. Solie added the convert to put the Huskies up 16-8.
The Huskies’ defence came up big in the fourth quarter, with defensive back Finn Marcotte-Cribb intercepting a pass and returning it nine yards for a score. Solie’s convert completed the scoring.
Nyhus — Canada West’s nominee for the Hec Crighton Award as the top player in U Sports football — completed 22 of 28 pass attempts for 232 yards. Ryker Frank rushed 23 times for 63 yards and caught eight passes for 70 yards to lead the Huskies in rushing and receiving.
T-Birds quarterback Derek Engel was 15-for-31 passing for 149 yards with two interceptions. UBC had just 231 yards of total offence.