Picton reaches 10K yards, Rams look for win against Alberta

As Noah Picton writes his final chapters at the University of Regina, he also continues to write his name in the history books.

In the Rams first game of the season, the quarterback reached the 10,000 yard mark for his career and in the process became the first ever Canada-West quarterback to do so.

Picton said he wasn’t aware he was close to reaching the milestone during the game.

“It wasn’t really on our minds, we were just trying to string together some first downs and score,” Picton said.

While after the game he became aware of the accomplishment, there was no celebrating in the locker room because the Rams ultimately fell to the Calgary Dinos 49-35.

“It was tough to cherish and celebrate.”

It’s been quite a journey for the Regina-product to reach these heights in U Sports history. He said there’s always been chatter about him, whether it was trying to live up to the career his dad Dean had leading the Rams or if his size would be too much of a hindrance to overcome.

“I wasn’t even sure if I was going to get an opportunity to play, coming in I realized it’s a man’s league … When I first got here, I realized it’s some fast-paced football and I’m a small guy.”

He said he looked up to former Rams pivots Marc Mueller, Teale Orban and Cayman Shutter.

Picton eventually got a chance to earn the starting job when Shutter went down with an injury in 2014.

“The door opened, Bernie Schmidt and Frank McCrystal kind of, they gave me the reigns of the offence and whatnot and I’ve tried my best to keep that position and for the past few years I’ve just been trying to do the same thing.”

Since taking over, Picton has earned his place among the all-time greats in Canadian university football. He is ranked fifth all-time in yards passing, fourth all-time in passing completions and ninth all-time in touchdown passes.

His teammate, running back Atlee Simon, also broke the 3,000-yard mark in the game against Calgary and is 107 yards from breaking into the Canada-West top 10 in that category.

Both will be looking too continue to add to their career numbers against the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday in Edmonton.

Following a loss in the opener, Picton said it’s important to get in the win column early in the season.

“It’s a short season, you have eight games and everyone in Can-West is good, you don’t want to be playing catchup in the last half of the season.”

The Rams won both meetings in 2017. Kick-off for Friday’s game in Alberta is at 7 p.m.