‘Birds host Bears in Hardy Cup rematch to open CW season Friday – University of British Columbia Athletics

Football
8/28/2024 11:14:00 AM

Jeff Sargeant (UBC Communications)

Week one of the 2024 Canada West football season has finally arrived as the defending Hardy Cup champion UBC Thunderbirds host the No. 7 ranked Alberta Golden Bears for a rematch of last year’s conference title battle this Friday, August 30 at Thunderbird Stadium.

Entering the new campaign as the top two ranked Canada West programs, there’s little doubt either side has forgotten how the T-Birds ended the Bears’ 2023 season in remarkable comeback fashion setting up what’s likely to be an emotion-filled battle.

“Coach Morris and his Alberta crew doesn’t get much tougher as a week one opponent,” said UBC Head Coach, Blake Nill, who officially begins his tenth year at the helm of the blue and gold. “Week one is going to be a physical game, there’s going to be motivation on both sides to succeed and set the tone for the start of the 2024 season.

 

“We’ve been hitting each other for over two weeks, competing against one another. I will say the players and the coaches have been outstanding in their day-to-day preparation, making sure they’re motivated to go out on the field and be better. But now it’s time for us to face an opponent.”

That opponent will look very similar to the Alberta team UBC went 3-0 against in 2023. Starting quarterback Eli Heitlinger returns for his third season, as does last year’s Canada West Player of the Year, running back Matthew Peterson along with All-Canadian safety and kicker, Jonathan Giustini.

The Bears do enter week one of the regular season with a distinct advantage over UBC having played a preseason contest last week against the Saskatchewan Huskies.

 

UBC Football ’24: QB Garrett Rooker made Thunderbird Stadium his ‘Home, Sweet Home’ this summer. Now Birds set for for Hardy Cup rematch Friday vs. Alberta! https://t.co/JFj8USLeiM @ubctbirds @BCHighschoolFB @CanadaWest @SteveEwen @CoachNill @ShoWill33 @StuWalters_ @jeffthesarge pic.twitter.com/uV7f3hzkZl

— Howard Tsumura (@htsumura) August 28, 2024

“It’s definitely an advantage to test the waters before the games count,” added Nill. “Unfortunately that wasn’t something we were able to do this year. But either way, when it comes to kickoff on Friday, we just got to be ready to go. We know what kind of team we are. We have to play to our strengths, try to be sound in the first game and not have an overabundance of penalties or silly mistakes. That’s what we’ve been focussing on this week specifically.”

After last season’s Hardy Cup and Mitchell Bowl championship wins, the expectations for a UBC group that has returned the vast majority of its starters on both offence and defence are higher than ever.

Veteran quarterback Garrett Rooker is back for his fourth campaign and is fully intent on improving upon last year’s results which saw him lead the conference in passing yards (2266), touchdowns (16) and completion percentage (70.2).

Peterson led the conference in rushing yards last season, but fourth-year T-Bird Isaiah Knight finished second with 787 along with five touchdowns.

 

2023’s top receiver, Sam Davenport, is back in the blue and gold, leading an impressively deep core including the likes of Shemar McBean and running back turned wide out Dane Kapler.

Defensively, the ‘Birds will have their hands full with the Bears. But like the case on the offensive side of the ball, UBC returns a bulk of last year’s starters including linebacker Jaxon Ciarolo-Brown and defensive backs Mitchell Townsend and Max Kennedy.

“In Canada West, it doesn’t matter who you start with. If you don’t play your best, you lose,” said Nill when asked about facing such a high quality opponent to start the season. “Alberta over the last decade has raised their program level, Regina’s raised their program level, Manitoba’s always a threat, Saskatchewan of course needs no explanation. And the Calgary Dinos are always a threat to win and beat us last year. So, there are no easy games. I’m preparing like we have eight very difficult contests.”

The first of those contests gets underway at 6:00 p.m. Friday at Thunderbird Stadium. Presented by Nicola Mining, tickets are available online now and the game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.