The Regina Rams might want to push for more Thursday night games after their record-setting win to regain the 500 mark.
Carter Ashman was the man of the hour, running for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries in the Rams week six 43-17 win over the Alberta Golden Bears at Mosaic Stadium Thursday night.
The performance helped Ashman up his rookie season total to 551 yards, good enough to break the U-of-R's single season rookie rushing record, set by Marshall Erichsen back in 2023.
Ashman was quick to credit his older teammates Erichsen and Christian Katende for what he has learned from them so far.
"I get to go to school and play football. I'm very privileged. It's awesome to be out here," Ashman said. "C.K. was my coach and Marshall was the best running back in high school when I was on his team. Getting to watch him again has been amazing. I just love playing with Marshall and C.K."
Ashman and Kaiden Banfield ran for 317 yards combined, coming up just 10 yards short of a Rams team single game record set back in 2010.
Ashman's head coach, Mark McConkey wasn't surprised to see his third-string running back step up to plate in the absence of his top two running backs on the depth chart, who were both out due to injury.
"Starting last winter when he joined us, he's been everything you want as a young back and he came in knowing he had to compete with Erichsen and Katende and every time he gets the ball, he just continues to make good plays for us," McConkey said.
Erichsen is out of the lineup week-to-week with an MCL injury. Katende left the game early after landing hard in what coach McConkey described as a "charley horse" and is expected back next week.
The win marked the first time in 14 games, including playoffs, dating back to early last season that the Rams have managed to score more than 40 points in a game. The coach was especially proud of his team's second half, where The Rams have struggled this season but outpaced Alberta 19-3 on this night.
"We stalled out a little bit on offence. They had some nice drives," McConkey said. "We were just like, 'let's have a good third quarter. That's been our achilles heel all season and it was just one play at a time. Let's play Rams football' and that's what we did."
Brothers Kaiden and Kyler Banfield both blocked punts for the U-of-R, including one that lad to a second quarter scoop-and-score touchdown by Rams linebacker Brandon Wong.
Those plays were crucial in swinging the momentum after the Rams had trailed 14-7 at the end the first quarter where Regina quarterback Owen Sieben had been intercepted twice.
Aided by Ashman's dominant rushing performance, Sieben settled down in the second half and managed to hit Nic Sirleaf and Kaleb Senz with long touchdown passes of 26 and 21 yards respectively. An outcome badly needed for a passing game that's been struggling to find it's mojo so far this season.
Sieben ended the night 10-of-18 passing for 182 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in a game the Ram passing attack looked a lot better in the second half than it did in the opening 30 minutes.
Linebacker Owen Zimmer suffered an injury late in the game after he intercepted Alberta quarterback Christian Veilleux, and his status is uncertain for next week.
Veilleux started strong with 100 yards through the air in the opening quarter but struggled to generate momentum for his team the rest of the game as he and his teammates fell to 1-5 on the Canada West season and remain in the conference cellar.
The Rams win gives new hope for a team that entered the week on the outside of a playoff spot looking in, a scenario that could change by the end of the weekend.
The Regina Rams next game will come on Friday, October 23rd against the UBC Thunderbirds at Leibel Field in their final home game of the season. That game will be broadcast live on CKRM 2 at www.620ckrm.com with the pregame show at 6:45 and kickoff at 7:00.
