EDMONTON – The University of Regina Rams rode the leg of kicker Ty Gorniak to a school-record six field goals in a 39-8 waxing of the Alberta Golden Bears to open the Canada West football season Friday night.
The 31-point margin of victory was the biggest of the Mark McConkey era.
Gorniak made all of his field-goal tries including three from 40 yards or longer, challenging his career long of 44 from his rookie year a season ago. Now also handling the punting chores in his second season, Gorniak says his range could've pushed it a lot further.
"I told Bruce (Anderson, the special teams coach) with the wind I had 58 from the right hash and 57 from the left hash," Gorniak said. "But into the wind I had 49 yards from the left hash and 48 once the wind picked up."
Gorniak didn't know he was one shy of the all-time Canada West record of seven field goals and was disappointed he didn't do better punting the football in his first game doing both jobs.
However, the win proved costly for the Rams. They lost quarterback Owen Sieben in the second half with an injury to his non-throwing arm and starting right tackle Davin Berry exited the game with a lower-body injury.
Sieben got X-rays on his left arm and the full extent of the injury isn't yet known, but he and the other injured Ram, Berry, could be out for some time. The offensive line had to make due by pushing guard Nnadozie Marendiukobianwa back out to tackle, his position from last year, and bringing in backup rookie Austin Wiebe to play guard.
It was a bittersweet moment for McConkey, the coach, who lost two of his most important starters on offence in pulling off the U of R's biggest blowout win since 2019.
Playing a team ranked last in Canada West, the Regina passing game never did get on track and had trouble converting in the red zone. Still, McConkey took the positive view on a night his team's defence pitched a shutout through three quarters.
"We were able to move the ball early and then just kind of stalled out at that mid-score range," McConkey said. "We just want to finish those drives off. It was a significant win for us on a tough road trip, but there's lots of room for improvement for us."
Running back Christian Katende was the other big offensive star for the Rams after Gorniak. He rumbled for 130 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown against a team he once gashed for over 200 yards in a single half.
Nic Sirleaf and Renzel Arinaza both caught touchdown passes on a night the Rams spoiled the University of Alberta football homecoming party. An overflow crowd went quiet in watching Regina race to a 26-0 halftime lead and dominating the time of possession by a nearly two-to-one ratio.
Defensive coordinator Sheldon Gray's unit came within a quarter of pitching the second shutout in the school's history, and first in 14 years, and ended up surrendering points on just one single scoring drive all night. The Rams defence chased new Golden Bears quarterback Christian Veilleux around all night who went 20-of-49 passing for 220 yards.
Up next, the Rams host the Manitoba Bisons in their home opener at Leibel Field next Friday. The pregame show will be carried on 620 CKRM at 6:45 with kickoff at 7 p.m.
