CALGARY - The drama of the University Regina Rams Cinderella run in last year’s playoffs pale in comparison to their season opener at McMahon Stadium Friday night, in a game heard live on 620 CKRM.
The celebration of four Marshall Erichsen touchdowns and a 43-36 overtime win over the University of Calgary Dinos was briefly put on hold when the Dinos, after pulling to within one from a late touchdown and six seconds left in the game, kicked off and managed to tie the game with a rouge out the back of the end zone, to force overtime.
Erichsen, the running back who also rumbled for 113 yards on 27 carries, seemed destined to be part of all the action on this night, trying to corral the Dinos kickoff in the back of the Ram end zone that tied the match before his fourth touchdown won the game in overtime.
“I thought they might be kicking it deep and try to get that single point to send it to overtime so I just tried to stay in the middle of the field and I knew he would try and kick it away from me no matter what,” Erichsen said.
“So I just tried to get there and came up a little short, but we came away with it in the end anyway so it doesn’t matter.”
Some other Ram heroics came from receiver Renzel Arinaza who made several clutch catches over the middle on second down to keep moving the chains in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Other Regina stars on offence included quarterback Noah Pelletier’s 358-yard passing night and Nic Sirleaf’s 160-yard, one touchdown receiving day.
The Rams did suffer one bad injury in the win over Calgary. Rookie receiver Eythan Crites making his first ever start suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury, though head coach Mark Conkey said it will take some time to confirm just how serious the injury was.
After such a bizarre made-in-Canadian-football-only type of ending, we asked Erichsen if expects to remember this game when he’s an old man, to which he replied:
“I’m looking forward to my next biggest moment so I hope this isn’t my peak. I hope to keep climbing the ladder and to keep going upward.”
The 1-0 Rams will host their season opener Friday, September 5th at Leibel Field in another game you can hear on 620 CKRM, with the pregame show at 6:45 and kickoff at 7:00.
