VANCOUVER — If they ever decide to take names for a Mt. Rushmore of UBC Thunderbirds running backs, Isaiah Knight seems a lock to have his face chiseled in rock.
The fourth-year Ottawa native put on the performance of his career Saturday at McMahon Stadium, rushing for a career-high 235 yards in helping the ‘Birds (3-2) make their 0-2 start a distant memory with a third-straight win, this time 32-30 over the host Calgary Dinos (1-4).
And don’t let the host’s last-place record fool you into thinking that Knight and Co. got anything the easy way.
The hard-luck Dinos have now lost each of their last three games by five or fewer points, including last week’s 22-17 heartbreaker to first-place Manitoba after a controversial game-ending, game-winning touchdown pass was instead ruled out of bounds.
It was that level of desperation the Thunderbirds faced on Saturday afternoon, and if not for the threat that Knight brought on every UBC snap, the ‘Birds may not have had the wherewithal to weather two lost fumbles, a pick, and a blocked field goal attempt.
“I think Isaiah Knight basically put the team on his back again and made the plays necessary to win,” said Nill. “We just made too many mistakes. I haven’t seen the film but from what I saw on the sidelines, I think defensively we need to be more consistent, and then we had a very solid special teams year up to this game.”
The low ebb on Saturday for the Thunderbirds?
UBC gave up two touchdowns over a span of 2:50 over the early stages of the fourth quarter, watching a 25-16 lead after three quarter quickly metamorphose into a 30-25 deficit.
Dinos’ pivot Dom Britton hit receiver Matt Sibley on the first play of the fourth quarter with a 30-yard touchdown strike, capping a six-play drive which had begun late in the third quarter.
UBC’s Shemar McBean then had the ball stripped away during the ensuing kick-off return, and the Dinos promptly turned their new line of scrimmage at the ‘Birds’ 25-yard line into a tidy four-play drive capped by Britton calling his own number on a one-yard keeper.
Calgary, however would not score the rest of the way, despite the fact UBC would once again turn the ball over, this time on an interception of quarterback Garrett Rooker by Dinos’ star free safety Nate Beauchemin, the former Kelowna Owls high school standout, with 4:32 remaining and UBC within 30-28 following a 36-yard Kieran Flannery-Fleck field goal.
The pick gave Calgary the ball at the UBC 40-yard line, but behind what became the ‘Birds biggest defensive stand of the game, UBC linebacker Maka Bangura first tackled Calgary running back Matthieu Clarke for a one-yard loss on first down, then sacked Britton for a four-yard loss, thus forcing the most timely two-and-out of the game for the visitors.
That sequence forced a Dinos punt, and on the ensuing drive, Knight peeled off a 41-yard run as part of an eight-play, 68-yard drive which was capped by Flannery-Fleck’s game-winning 22-yard field goal with 59 seconds remaining.
Flannery-Fleck added a rouge on the ensuing kick-off to round out the scoring 32-30 in the ‘Birds favour.
Nill had noted afterwards that Bangura, who got the start Saturday, was kept on the sidelines to start the second half.
“We pulled him to start the second half because we felt he was not giving enough in terms of urgency, and I think what you saw at the end there was him playing to his potential… with a little more urgency than he showed in the first part of the game. We believe in him.”
And while Nill wasn’t happy with everything that took place Saturday, the veteran skipper could not doubt the efforts of his offensive staff, including running backs coach Josh Martin, offensive line coach Peter Buckley and quarterbacks coach Mason Nyus, to run out the kind of balanced offence it was clear the team needed to aspire to during its 0-2 start.
So how much balance are we talking about?
How about 31 passing attempts vs. 30 rushing attempts?
And how about 8.6 yards-per-play via the pass vs. 8.5 yard-per-play via the run?
But mostly, how about Knight?
The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder from Ottawa is rightfully beginning to draw the attention of NFL scouts who have already begun to make forays north to the Point Grey campus this season after massive left tackle Giovanni Manu was picked in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. The San Diego Chargers paid a recent stop to catch Knight and a host of others in person, and Nill confirmed after Saturday’s game that more teams are on the way soon.
“The first thing you have to do when you’re playing Knight is you have to have the courage… you are going to have to sacrifice yourself because he is big back,” said Nill of 6-foot-2, 215 pound Knight who is running with a level of confidence these days that sits a full notch above his 1,105-yard campaign of a season ago.
“And if you don’t bring him down, and he gets to the next level, then you are going to need some athletes if you’re going to track him down.
Over the course of UBC’s current three-game win streak, Knight, nicknamed the Knight Rider after the 1982 TV series about a crime fighter driving a futuristic Trans Am, has carried 62 times for 525 yards, three scores and an 8.5 yards-per-carry average.
Knight’s voluminous total Saturday gave him 2,835 for his Canada West regular season career, a number high enough to vault him past both ex-Vancouver College star Gord Penn (2,764) and former South Kamloops Red Devils standout Brad Yamaoka (2,827) into sixth place in the UBC record books.
Knight has averaged 175 yards per game over the team’s three-game win streak, and if he maintains that pace over the final three games at Alberta, at home to Calgary and at Manitoba, he would finish his fourth season at UBC with 3,360 yards career yards, moving him into second place and past the likes of Glenn Steele (2,872), Brandon Deschamps (3,069), Chris Ciezki (3,069) and Mark Nohra (3,285).
Akbal Singh (3,438) is UBC’s all-time regular-season rushing leader.
Knight does have one more season of eligibility remaining if he decided to return to the team in 2025.
UBC took a 7-1 lead five minutes in when quarterback Garrett Rooker (20-of-31, 268 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) found receiver Sam Davenport with a 10 yard touchdown pass.
Rooker later found tight end Brad Hladik with a with a five-yard scoring strike to give UBC a 17-13 halftime lead.
The UBC defensive secondary enjoyed some solid moments throughout against Calgary quarterback Britton (15-of-22, two touchdowns, two interceptions).
They not only made two huge defensive plays to rub out potential Calgary touchdowns just before the break, they also picked off Britton on the first series of the third quarter.
First it was cornerback Jerrell Cummings who was letter perfect against the Dinos leading receiver Matt Sibley (six catches for 93 yards, one touchdown) on what would have been about a 45-yard completion down to the UBC five-yard line with 58 seconds left in half.
Secondly, newcomer Darrien Brown undercut Calgary receiver Ben Britton (six catches, 84 yards, one touchdown) at the UBC one-yard line for an interception.
Those two plays ultimately gave UBC the ball back in the shadow of its goal line, yet Knight got them breathing room and more when he took a hand-off and turned into a highlight reel 76-yard gain.
Calgary received to open the second half, and Cummings made it a moot point when he picked off a Britton pass at the UBC 44-yard line, squeezing a pass deflected by teammate Damien Akweter.
“I am proud of Jerrell,” said Nill of the former Notre Dame Jugglers’ star. “All week I was on him a bit about being more of an impact player and this is the kind of effort I need out of Jerrell every day.”
Cummings was excellent, and there’s also the matter of the size-speed factor of the UBC defensive front that is hard to ignore.
Lately, tackles Aaron Parker and Deacon Sterna have brought another level of athleticism and power to an already-talented rotation.
And the return of linebacker Jaxon Ciraolo-Brown from a week in sick bay was welcomed by the unit as the stalwart led the team with nine tackles, including a sack for a 10-yard loss.
On the offensive side, a couple of others stood out.
Fullback/slotback Dane Kapler had 81 all-purpose yards, including five catches for a team-high 71 yards. His transition from fulltime duty in the offensive backfield to that of a route-runner who also blocks and still gets carries has put his value at an even greater premium.
And tight end Brad Hladik, who threw a key block on Knight’s lone touchdown on Saturday, is finding his way to more offensive snaps and in the process upping the team’s overall grit factor.
Tight end Skyler Griffith, who had three catches for 62 yards, left the game with an apparent injury. The way he has played over the course of the win streak — bringing a little Kapler, a little Hladik and his own hard-to-tackle presence — will be missed if he is forced to sit for any length of time.
And kicker Flannery-Fleck was once again prolific, his 14 points coming via three fields goals (47-, 36- and 22-yards), three PATs and a pair of singles.
UBC is now all alone in second place in the Canada West standings, two games behind the conference-leading Manitoba Bisons (5-0) who beat visiting Regina (2-3) on Saturday by a 22-13 count.
The Thunderbirds will play their final game before the bye week this coming Friday (6 p.m., Canada West TV) in Edmonton against Alberta, looking to avenge its 42-28 season-opening shellacking at the hands of the Golden Bears and its dominant offensive line.
Alberta (2-3) fell to Saskatchewan (2-3) on Friday by a 33-30 count in Saskatoon.
The ‘Birds don’t play at home until October. 18 when they face Calgary in a 6 p.m. kick-off at Thunderbird Stadium.
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