Mark McConkey had just experienced one of the biggest moments of his football career, but he still took time out to put his head coaches hat aside and put his father’s hat on.
As the University of Regina Rams celebrated their first win of the season—a 34-21 win over number-one ranked Calgary, McConkey could be seen on the field running with his young daughter who likely had no idea what a major accomplishment her father had been a part of.
McConkey, who was soaked after the game with a celebratory Gatorade shower, was emotional when it was over as the magnitude of what he had done and who it was against hit him.
“It’s pretty special, yeah.” McConkey said. “The first win is nice, but it’s about these guys who worked their tail off not only this week, but last week and all summer and to have that disappointing loss last week and rebound is what it’s all about. We responded and that’s what it all about.”
McConkey also made sure to give a very young offensive line credit for allowing the offence to do what they wanted to do against a good Calgary defence.
Those guys were the players of the game for us,” McConkey said. “To have an inexperienced line like that against the best team in the country and still be able to establish a run game was simply outstanding. They worked hard all week, seized the opportunity, and I couldn’t be prouder of those guys right now.”
To start, it looked like it might not be Regina’s day. After getting an interception from Jaxon Ford on the game’s second play, the Rams moved the ball all the way to the Calgary one yard line, but failed quarterback sneaks from Sawyer Buettner gave Calgary the ball back. On the next play, Dinos quarterback Josiah Joseph completed a 107 yard pass to Jalen Philpot putting the ball at the Regina two. They went into the endzone on that drive, but it did not deter Regina one bit as they stayed on the Dinos on both sides of the ball taking a 24-10 lead at the half.
Quarterback Josh Donnelly had a modest afternoon completing 10 of 19 passes for 183 yards, but three of those passes went for touchdowns including two to D’Sean Mimbs.
When you win your first game as a head coach, @CoachMcConkey gets the Gatorade shower! pic.twitter.com/sWdRRz2bKq
— Mitchell Blair (@mblairYQR) October 2, 2021
After two weeks of Canada West Football, Manitoba leads the conference at 2-0 followed by the Rams, Calgary, Alberta and Saskatchewan at 1-1 with UBC at 0-2. Teams will take a break for the Thanksgiving long weekend before getting back on the field on the October 16 weekend with Regina hosting UBC October 16 in a 2 o’clock start at Mosaic Stadium,
