Calgary Dinos roll to season-opening football win over UBC Thunderbirds

David Jordan threw three touchdown passes as the University of Calgary Dinos football team opened the season with a 32-7 win over the UBC Thunderbirds in front of 5,234 fans at McMahon Stadium on Friday night. The Dinos needed just two possessions to get on the board. After UBC went three-and-out to open the game, the Dinos rode four carries from Matthieu Clarke, capped by a one-yard touchdown run, to go up 7-0. On the ensuing drive, Jordan connected with Matt Sibley for a 34-yard gain before finding him again from 15 yards out for a touchdown, making it 14-0 before the first quarter was over. Calgary kept the pressure on in the second quarter. A 15-yard penalty on UBC moved the Dinos to the UBC 13, and two plays later Jordan found Evan Smith for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 21-0. UBC finally got on the board when Drew Viotto hit Marvyn Larozar for a 10-yard score, and Boaz Comeau drove home the first field goal of his career from 32 yards to send Calgary into halftime up 24-7. The Dinos’ defence delivered the key moment of the third quarter, stopping UBC on downs at the Calgary six-yard line. The offence answered right away, going the length of the field on a drive Dinos head coach Ryan Sheahan called his favourite of the night, “something superb,” that “chewed up the entire third quarter,” finished off by a seven-yard touchdown pass from Jordan to Tim Duerr. That made it 31-7, and a single point off a punt in the fourth quarter rounded out the scoring. Running backs ‘just phenomenal’ Jordan finished 18-of-24 passing for 221 yards and three touchdowns without an interception and credited the group in front of him and behind him for the clean night. “Everybody from the boys up front to my guys catching routes, the running backs were just phenomenal today. I’m just glad they let me do my job even better,” Jordan said. Sibley led all receivers with seven catches for 106 yards and a score, Clarke ran for 72 yards on 18 carries to go with his rushing touchdown, and Duerr and Smith each added a touchdown catch. Viotto threw for 332 yards on 30-of-47 passing, with Larozar and Trey Montour combining for 19 catches, but the Thunderbirds could only turn just one of two red-zone trips into points. “When the defence can hold them to seven points and be disruptive,” Sheahan said. “I thought they were resilient. They bent a little but didn’t break.” Calgary converted all four of its own red-zone chances into touchdowns and forced two turnovers,…