By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
Maybe one of the only things that didn’t unfold as smoothly as planned for the UBC Thunderbirds Saturday night in Winnipeg against the No. 10-ranked Manitoba Bisons was the bobbled snap that wiped out a 32-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter.
In that instance, kicker Alexander Hillyard simply improvised, calmly scooping up the ball up and firing a 16-yard strike fora first down to tight end Santiago Llarena.
“He can throw the ball by the way,” chuckled UBC head coach Blake Nill over the phone as darkness descended over Princess Auto Stadium. “But yeah, there’s no question that not a lot of things went wrong today. What we talked about at halftime was learning to play from in front, learning how to close when you have the lead.”
Consider it a lesson learned.
Playing like the nation’s best kept secret, unranked UBC (3-1) won for the third straight week while looking comprehensive and studied at every turn en route to a statement-making 31-6 victory over the Bisons (2-2).
Since the disarray of its season-opening 32-7 thumping at the hands of the host Calgary Dinos at the start of the month, the Thunderbirds have managed a complete collective about-face, over its past three games , the last two of which have been victories against nationally-ranked competition in a Canada West that in 2026 is unquestionably the most balanced conference in the nation.
And Saturday, despite the complications which can be brought on by extended road travel, was one of those days when momentum just kept on building in every phase of play.
Most specifically, an offence needing balance to reveal its true colours seemed to finally find it.
And, a defence which had pitched shutouts in the second halves of all three of its prior games might have somehow managed to outdo themselves with what would best be described at the midway mark of the season as a signature performance.
Rare is the night when something like our opening tale of field goal misadventure can actually be considered comical.
But maybe that’s because it was indeed a rare night.
WHY BALANCE IS BOFFO
News flash: After rushing for 285 yards and four touchdowns against Alberta, then last week 205 yards and two touchdowns against Regina, UBC’s 18-year-old freshman running back Marvyn Larozar only rushed for 81 yards and one touchdown on Saturday.
The real news flash, however, is that from the outset UBC’s game plan was to mix the pass and run with not only purpose and commitment, but with a trust they had not yet shown this season.
And in the end, just having Larozar on the field proved enough of a magnetic push-and-pull around which a game plan could be built.
“Drew distributed the ball more, and to some of our other talent,” said Nill of his starting pivot Drew Viotto, who finished 19-of-31 for 290 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and spread the wealth among seven receivers, five of whom had three or more catches.
“If we can get some momentum with our pass game it’s only going to help our run game and vice-versa and we utilized all of our talent today,” continued Nill. “Today, what we saw was Manitoba basically saying ‘You are not going to beat us running the ball.’”
The flip side of one of the game’s oldest axioms are both the extra seconds and the space, each such a valuable commodity, which suddenly become available under those circumstances.
Offensive coordinator Khari Jones’ schemes not only kept backs Larozar and Josh Martin available for their reliable service, but gave Viotto the ability to better see what was unfolding in space around him.
Yet what’s a game without a little adversity in the early going?
In the first quarter, Larozar on a first-and-10 at the Manitoba 24-yard line took it up the middle and looked headed for a touchdown but had the ball punched away near the goal line by linebacker Matthew Gillespie of the Bisons. Manitoba later recovered the ball at their six-yard line.
Then two possessions later, Viotto rolled to his right and looked down field, having his pass attempt picked off by Manitoba linebacker Dario Macchia.
Quite suddenly, on the road at a place where they hadn’t won at since 2018, UBC was suddenly on the ropes.
But a game that was tied 2-2 after each conceded a safety in the name of field position quite suddenly became UBC’s for the taking when over the course of five minutes late in the second quarter, the Thunderbirds scored three touchdowns and added two more points off another conceded safety by Manitoba to lead 25-2 at the half.
Larozar helped make it 9-2 for UBC with a seven-yard off-tackle scamper into the end zone, a score set up by rookie tight end Santiago Llarena’s 26-yard catch from his quarterback.
Viotto later connected down the sidelines on a 35-yard catch-and-run touchdown strike to receiver Owen Herle for an eventual 16-2 advantage.
Then, while clearly in the best rhythm of his season, Viotto engineered a third TD drive just before halftime. He rolled to his left and lofted a perfect 17-yard pass to the opposite corner of the end zone where Trey Montour made a great scoring catch between defensive backs Carter Dallas and Marcus Wahl of the Bisons.
UBC DEFENCE ALL ABOUT THE ‘NO TOUCHDOWN’ ZONE
In the second half, UBC didn’t manage to score a touchdown yet they did add a pair of Hillyard field goals.
One came from 32-yards to make it 28-2 in the third quarter, and the other just happened to come on the aforementioned series in which the bobbled snap had forced Hillyard to pass for a first down.
UBC’s offensive line committed back-to-back holding penalties to quash a touchdown attempt, yet Hillyard was still able to add a field goal, this one from 26 yards to wrap up his team’s scoring.
Yet own a night when the offence was finding balance, the defence was playing even better, strengthening the collective backbone of what has inarguably become one of the most stout units in the nation.
On the night, all of Manitoba’s six points came from conceded UBC safeties, and on the heels of shutting out then-No. 4 Regina over the entirety of the second half last week, this Point Grey-produced version of the Iron Curtain has now not allowed a touchdown or field goal over its past six quarters of play.
Success Saturday could be counted at all three levels of the blue-and-gold defence, units that Nill said showed the adaptability and the togetherness to match a talented Bisons’ offence at every turn.
“Our coaches are doing a great job at identifying how we can best place our guys,” Nill said of an overall unit coordinated by four-time Grey Cup winner Noah Cantor and coached up at the group level by the likes of former West Vancouver Highlanders senior varsity head coach Pooya Dourandish, ex-UBC and Vancouver College standout Jason Soriano, and ex-CFL player Shomari Williams, the latter the linebackers coach and recruiting guru.
“You’re seeing growth in our entire staff and the results are obvious,” said Nill.
There were examples aplenty Saturday, among them back-to-back snaps late in the third quarter with UBC leading 28-4.
The first play saw Manitoba’s running back Aidan Wiberg go up the middle to secure a tough first down, but the play was limited by the crushing hit delivered by UBC free safety Cesare Rednour-Bruckman who continued to deliver a next-level brand of tackling toughness.
On very the next snap came a textbook example of the penetration emanating from the ‘Birds’ defensive front. First Taj Jhooty, from his right end spot, bulled his way into the Bisons’ offensive backfield and narrowly missed taking down Wiberg. Teammate Aaron Parker, however, was following in hot pursuit and finished the swarming rally by sticking Wiberg for a two-yard loss.
There was even a great transition from special teams to defence orchestrated by two UBC freshmen — both with the initials D.D. — just before halftime.
First, rookie running back Darrian Dumas out of the South Delta Sun Devils program in Tsawwassen, playing on special teams, made a great open field tackle on Manitoba’s Tavin Parani, limiting the Bisons player to just a four-yard gain in a dangerous part of the field.
Then, on the ensuing first snap from scrimmage, Derek Durand — an Ottawa native and prep school teammate of running back Larozar — intercepted Manitoba quarterback Cole Anseeuw, giving the road team the ball with 2:06 left in the half and a chance to twist the figurative knife just before the half.
The result?
On a drive in which tight end Zach Patfield once again came in to stand under centre and successfully convert a third-down snap, all Viotto proceeded to do was throw his best back-to-back passes of the game.
After Patfield gave his team the first down to keep the drive alive, Viotto went 33 yards to Kai Rednour-Bruckman, then threaded the needle from 17 yards out to Montour in the end zone for the major score.
As the week ramps up and the pressure mounts for UBC’s road trip to Saskatoon this coming Friday in an epic battle for sole possession of first place in the Canada West against the host Saskatchewan Huskies, it’s those kinds anonymous yet connective moments from special teams to offence to special teams and back to defence in which every team’s DNA strands are first created and then made fortified.
UBC didn’t have an identity heading into Winnipeg this weekend, but they have returned to Vancouver with a much clearer idea of who they are and what they can accomplish when they stare through the wide angle prism which represents the entirety of this 2026 season.
Take a moment and think about that, because for players, for coaches and for fans of this beautiful game, seeing growth happen in front of our eyes is the very best part of it all.
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