Anton Amundrud and Daniel Wiebe have dialed up some memorable house calls over the years for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team, but few have been dramatic as the play fans were witness to last Friday.
Trailing 20-15 with just under three and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, Amundrud heaved up a perfectly-placed throw to Wiebe in behind the University of Regina Rams secondary to haul in a 60-yard touchdown reception.
Popping the lid off an anxious crowd at Griffiths Stadium, Huskies kicker Lukas Scott got a perfect view of the throw and catch.
Wiebe’s late-game touchdown proved to be the difference for the Huskies as they’d win their only meeting of the season against the Rams by a 22-20 final, marking one of the biggest plays of the season so far for the nation’s fifth-ranked team.
It’s a moment which doesn’t come too often when facing their provincial rivals, according to the Huskies’ quarterback.
“The thing about Regina is they’re not going to try to give up big plays,” said Amundrud. “When you do get an opportunity, you got to take advantage of that. Dan Wiebe did just that and it helped us out.”
It was a play which almost never arrived for the Huskies, as they fumbled the ball minutes earlier allowing the Rams to take over with a five-point lead and an opportunity to wind down a chunk of the play clock.
What resulted was a two-and-out for the Rams, giving the Huskies a chance at creating some magic on their home turf.
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“We had that queued up there for a while,” said Huskies head coach Scott Flory. “I had my thumb on that one for a little bit. Sometimes it’s a little bit of luck, the right timing and the right defence. I’ll be honest with you, right when I saw about five yards into the route I’m like, ‘OK, I know exactly where this is going.'”
The strike from Amundrud to Wiebe not only improved the Huskies’ record on the Canada West football season to 3-1, but also handed the Rams their first loss of 2025 after beginning the season with three consecutive wins.
With the win, Saskatchewan now sits tied with the Rams at the top of the conference standings and more importantly hold the tiebreaker for playoffs winning their lone meeting this year.
“They’re a really good team,” said Amundrud. “They gave us a tough challenge and the biggest thing of that game was it being a grind-out game. Obviously the ball wasn’t always rolling our way, but we stuck to our guns and we came out on top.”
“That’s all that matters.”
Defensively, the Huskies have been able to string together one of the top units across all of U Sports as their 18.8 points allowed per game ranks second best in the conference while their five interceptions is the most in Canada West so far.
That commitment to game-changing plays and quick series for their opposition has allowed the Huskies to succeed on the offensive side of the ball through four games, according to Flory.
“Our defence has been playing really well,” said Flory. “They get progressively better throughout the season as we’ve seen, and also even within the game. You saw the adjustments that were made at the line of scrimmage and how our defensive line responded throughout the game.
“The fourth quarter was awesome, you could feel the defence where they were at. They were in such a good spot there in the fourth quarter to keep giving us opportunities on offence to score more points.”
Reaching the midway point of the Canada West regular season, the Huskies will hit the road for Alberta with a Saturday afternoon contest against the University of Calgary Dinos who are coming off a devastating last-minute loss to the UBC Thunderbirds last week.
Despite that loss, dropping their record to 2-2 on the season, the Dinos sit just one game back of the Huskies for top spot in the conference and are much approved in the eyes of Amundrud.
“They’re a fast, physical defence,” said Amundrud. “They got a couple veterans on that team who are in their later years of their college careers and they’re going to give us a good challenge. They’re coached well, they play well and they’re very sound.
“Our biggest thing is just executing our plays, be really strict with details and first down production like always.”
While the Huskies won both of their games against Calgary last season, they were each one-score victories and highlight the razor-thin margins teams in Canada West are matching up against.
For Flory, it’s an opponent they can’t underestimate as the Huskies aim to keep top spot in the conference under their control.
“The last two years, Calgary I just know they’ve got good athletes over there and they’re well coached,” said Flory. “They’re going to be in every football game and I think they have been for the last two years. It’s going to be tight, our games last year I think we had an overtime and a last-minute kind of deal.
“We know it’s going to be a good football game, we know they’re going to be ready to go.”
It’s a 1 p.m. kickoff at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Saturday between the Huskies (3-1) and Dinos (2-2).
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