Thunder score late to earn 24-21 win over Huskies

The Regina Thunder never led until the game’s final moments, but walked out of Mosaic Stadium with a win on Sunday.

The Thunder scored 12 unanswered points to defeat the Edmonton Huskies 24-21 in a battle that could have major playoff implications in the PFC. Both teams now sit at 3-2 and are vying for a home playoff game.

“It was a gritty win for our guys,” Regina head coach Scott MacAulay said. “We started off slow maybe coming off of the bye week and we weren’t very crisp. In the second half, our guys finally woke up and decided to quit getting punched in the mouth and deliver the blow themselves.

“I’m proud of our guys. They never gave up and it’s a huge win for the organization.”

It was a tough start for the Thunder, which managed to score only seven point in the opening half after quarterback Blake Scherle connected with receiver Ethan Douglas for the touchdown. The team also committed nine penalties for 100 yards in the opening half.

“It was terrible,” MacAulay said about the Thunder’s start. “There are a lot of things that we’ve got to clean up and continue to pull out some wins here the rest of the year.”

The Thunder defence was solid throughout most of the game, not allowing it to get out of hand early. The Huskies earned their points from three conceded safeties by the Thunder, a single point from a field goal that went wide and two touchdown passes by quarterback Declan O’Flaherty. Edmonton kicker Luca Cupelli was good on both of his extra-point attempts.

“For our defence this was a statement game,” defensive back Brandyn Martin said. “Kudos to the Huskies, they are a great team but this shows how good our defence can play.”

The Thunder intercepted O’Flaherty three times and backup quarterback Jordan Lane once, with Martin grabbing two of those interceptions. Regina defensive back Justin McKerracher had the other two.

Scherle finished the day with two touchdown passes and two interceptions while throwing for 315 yards. The Huskies conceded two safeties and Thunder kicker Eric Maximuik was 2-for-4 on his field-goal attempts, with one of his misses going for a single point. He was also 1-for-1 on extra-point attempts.

Despite his two misses early in the game, Maximuik was perfect when it counted, hitting two field goals in the final 1:25 of the game, including the 43-yard game winner.

“I was confident,” Maximuik said. “It was a shaky game with those first two misses but I know what I can do so I just went out and did it.”

Earlier in the week, MacAulay said this was the most important game of the season for the team. Martin said it felt like a playoff game for the two teams.

“Last year, (the Huskies) kicked us out of the playoffs out in Edmonton. We had to get this win to potentially have a home playoff game against the Huskies right here in front of our home fans and that’s exactly what we wanted,” Martin said.

MacAulay said his team can take away some valuable lessons from the close game against the Huskies.

“You need to be prepared right off the get-go, you can’t just saunter in and think you’re going to do good things,” MacAulay said. “You have to play within the systems, you can’t be freelancing. When you do that, things break down and not-so-good things happen.”

The Thunder is to travel to Calgary to meet the Colts on Sept. 29.