The Saskatchewan Huskies handed the Regina Rams their first loss of the season with a 22-20 win at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon on Friday night.
The Huskies opened the scoring on their first offensive drive when Ryker Frank, the reigning Russ Jackson Award winner, scored on a three-yard touchdown run. Regina responded two possessions later when Noah Pelletier hit Renzel Arinaza for a seven-yard touchdown pass to even the score at 7-7.
The Rams took an early-second quarter lead on a 19-yard field goal from Ty Gorniak, though Saskatchewan tied the game with a safety and a rouge from Lukas Scott. The game remained 10-10 until six seconds before halftime when Pelletier threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Sirleaf to give Regina a seven-point lead at the break.
Regina increased their lead to 20-10 on a 28-yard field goal from Ty Gorniak early in the third quarter. Saskatchewan cut the deficit in half over the next quarter, however, with a safety and 28-yard field goal from Scott.
The play of the game came just before the three-minute warning when Anton Amundrud threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Wiebe to give the Huskies a 21-20 lead. Wiebe, a late-round pick of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2025 CFL Draft, now has 31 catches for 509 yards and three touchdowns through four games to start the season.
The Rams turned the ball over on downs twice in the last three minutes of the game as Scott added another rouge for Saskatchewan to make the final score 22-20.
Amundrud completed 24-of-33 pass attempts for 330 yards and one touchdown in the win, while Pelletier completed 21-of-38 pass attempts for 196, two touchdowns, and one interception in the loss.
Regina upset Saskatchewan in last year’s Hardy Cup, winning 19-14 in front of a crowd of 6,355 fans at Griffiths Stadium. It was the Rams first appearance in the Canada West championship game since 2016 and first win since 2000. The victory came in surprise fashion as the team snuck into the playoffs with a 3-5 regular-season record.
This was the only regular-season meeting between the provincial rivals this year, who now have matching 3-1 records.
The Rams will finish their schedule with home games against Manitoba, Calgary, and UBC, and an away game against Alberta. Meanwhile, the Huskies will play away games against Calgary and UBC, and home games against Alberta and Manitoba.
