By: Mike Still (@mikestill94)
Feature photo: Jamie Ybarra Jr. tosses the pigskin. Photo by Trevor Hagan.
NOTE: This article originally appeared on gobisons.ca by the same author. You can view it here.
Quarterback Jamie Ybarra Jr. has been on a rollercoaster ride ever since late August. Roughly a week before the regular season started, he was working full-time and didn’t have much thought of returning to play football.
But after an injury to backup Scott Borden Jr., the former member of the Vancouver Island Raiders and Winnipeg Rifles of the CJFL got an offer he couldn’t refuse, joining the team in time for their pre-season contest against Regina, which he played well in.
Despite his strong showing, Ybarra Jr. was the clear backup to incumbent Des Catellier, who has thrown for 2,012 yards and 16 touchdowns this year. But when Catellier couldn’t go this week, Ybarra Jr. was the next man up. He more than exceeded expectations, scoring on four straight drives to open the game as Manitoba went into halftime up a commanding 31-13 against the no. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds.
“Here’s a guy that was playing flag football, and here’s a guy that graciously enough, decided to enroll in university and join our football team when I begged him to, never expecting to use him, because our number two was Scott Borden, who was an all-star in the BC Junior Football League,” said Dobie.
“And I’m just going to say it like this. Nobody expected that. Nobody expected your quarterback, who you literally brought in to run scout for you, to put up 31 points against one of the top teams in the country in a half.”
But the magic wore off in the second half, as the Thunderbirds scored 18 unanswered points to take the contest to OT, forced Manitoba into a field goal and won the game with a Michael O’Connor touchdown pass to Ben Cummings.
The Bisons were deep in UBC territory on two separate occasions in the second half, however the Thunderbirds were able to force two Ybarra Jr. interceptions to end each respective drive, thanks to increased pressure against an offensive line that was missing starters Myles Rose-Standish and Ryan Wengelinski.
“They were more aggressive,” Dobie said of UBC’s defensive play in the second half.
“Jamie [Ybarra Jr.] got happy feet a lot, and he got sacked a couple of times or had to throw the ball away. They came with a bit more pressure more often, and that was smart of their part. You’ve got a backup quarterback and you’ve got young offensive linemen. It was the right thing to do.”
With the loss, the Bisons fell to 3-5 and remained locked into the fourth seed for the conference semi-finals this Saturday. They’ll head to Calgary to take on the no. 3 ranked Calgary Dinos, who went undefeated in the regular season, including a 34-16 win two weeks ago against Manitoba.
Dobie’s message entering the playoff game is simple but powerful for a team that has taken every opponent to the limit this season.
“Let’s go. Let’s pull off the biggest upset in the nation. We can do it. Because, yeah, we have been that close and yeah, it’s tough… well, we’re that close, let’s just take the final step and that would be the game of your life to go in and upset [Calgary] right now.”
“We have such tremendous respect for Calgary as the top team in our conference, maybe in the country.”