The Simon Fraser University football team clinched its first win of the season on the road 29-19 against the Dixie State Red Storm on Saturday, Oct. 4.
It was the Clan's Tyler Nickel’s first start as quarterback with the Clan, and he didn’t disappoint. He went 15-for-21 with a touchdown and an interception for 108 yards.
“He did a really nice job,” head coach Jacques Chapdelaine said of Nickel in a press release. “He threw a nice touchdown down the middle. In his first game he did quite well, and he’ll continue to learn from that.”
Ryan Stanford also went six-for-13, for 61 yards.
The Clan’s defence stood out, forcing three turnovers.
Defensively, SFU wracked up 12 tackles for a loss, including four sacks. (Dixie State had just 15 yards rushing on the game.) SFU’s defence was lead by Mitchell Barnett, who had 11 tackles and Jordan Herdman, who recorded 10. Clan safety Matt Isherwood helped out with five tackles and an interception.
“I thought defensively the guys were relentless,” Chapdelaine said. “They played really hard and gave us a tremendous lift throughout the game. They made the stops and got their offence off the field.”
In the third, Herdman showed the Red Storm how it is done when he wrestled the ball from the Storm receiver. Jordan’s brother, Justin Herdman, took over and returned 27-yards for the touchdown to make it 17-6 for SFU.
Still in the third quarter, Earl Anderson’s 60-yard touchdown increased SFU’s lead to 26-6.
Dixie State answered with a touchdown to make it 26-13.
Clan cornerback Bibake Uppal got his first career interception leading to a season’s best 43-yard field goal by Tiernan Docherty. SFU was up 29-13 with minutes remaining.
Dixie State wasn’t going to go out without a fight, and it was quickly 29-19 for the Clan.
The clock read 3:26 minutes remaining when Dixie put on more offensive pressure, but the Clan defence got in the way with two sacks leading to a turnover on downs. SFU improves to 1-4 in the season.
The Clan will continue on the road next weekend when they face Division I opponent, Idaho State. Kickoff is at 1:35 p.m.
