University of Saskatchewan Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud takes off running during Friday's win over Alberta.
University of Saskatchewan Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud takes off running during Friday's win over Alberta.
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The changing of the seasons — or, more precisely, climactic chaos — hit Griffiths Stadium Friday.
Summer-like warmth in the afternoon, driving rain and high winds in the evening, and then — with 57 seconds to play in a football game dominated by weather — down came the snow, in sheets.
Somewhere in that maelstrom, University of Saskatchewan Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud broke the team's three-decade-old record for most passing yards in a career.
And at the end of the game — clock down to zero, gale swirling, snow flying, windchill at minus-9, football sodden — placekicker James Keane booted a 41-yard field goal to give the Huskies a 21-19 win over the Alberta Golden Bears.
So where to start?
How about with Brent Schneider, whose record 8,294 passing yards, compiled between 1992 and 1996, finally toppled. Schneider, who later spent several years as the Huskies' quarterback coach and offensive co-ordinator, chatted with Amundrud before the game. They posed for photos, and then Schneider watched his mark fall.
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Anton Amundrud meets with Brent Schneider before Friday's game. Amundrud later broke Schneider's 30-year-old career passing yards team record.
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"That record stood for 30 years, which is a pretty big miracle when you think of some of the great guys I coached here, and then some of the guys that followed," Schneider said. "You know, records are made to be broken."
He noted that Amundrud's run to the top of the record book includes a bout with cancer — T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma — that forced him to miss the last three regular-season games last year, as well as the team's run to the Vanier Cup game. Amundrud lost 30 pounds to chemotherapy, but after going into remission this spring, he again dedicated himself to throwing footballs.
"What a great story," said Schneider, a two-time Vanier Cup MVP and winner of the 1996 championship. "I saw him back in January, and what I saw there, to what he's able to do now ... physically, what a transformation. What a difference. Unreal."
And if somebody is going to break his record, he figures, why not Amundrud?
"I realize my success had a lot to do with the people I was around and the coaches I had," Schneider says. "But certainly, as you get older, you don't have a lot of things left to hang your hat on. Those are neat things. They're kind of cool, but it's time to move on. Good for him, and hopefully he can carry that for a long time, too."
Amundrud fought off the elements to complete 18 of 33 passes for 239 yards. He's battled wicked tailwinds off the field for much of the last year, and it's perhaps fitting that the record-breaking pass was thrown into the teeth of Friday's wind, a short pass to Kayden Miller that he turned into 20 yards.
"It was a special moment for both of us; especially him," said Miller, who didn't know his catch was the record-breaker until the announcer told the crowd and the game paused briefly for a round of applause. "It's awesome being part of his journey.
"(Watching Amundrud battle cancer) was hard for everyone involved. It's nothing short of amazing to say that he's back doing this, breaking records. And I'm so happy to be out here with him."
Amundrud, meanwhile, was typically soft-spoken when talk turned to the broken record.
"It's a good feeling. I'm super grateful," he said. "I wouldn't have got here without my teammates and my coaches and everyone who got me to this point. It's a credit to them, honestly.
"It's really for everyone, and that's a good feeling."
Huskies tackle.
Huskies' defensive back Sam Pratt attempts a takedown of Alberta Golden Bears quarterback Christian Veilleux during Friday's win at Griffiths Stadium.
The wind was the type that corkscrewed airborne footballs, and played havoc with punts. The Huskies trailed 19-12 going into the fourth quarter, but that's when they got the wind at their backs.
Keane booted field goals of 32 and 25 yards in that final frame, and then in the last minute — as snow made a dramatic appearance — the Huskies drove 30 yards in five plays, and Keane teed up the football with one second on the clock.
It was his first-ever game-winner, dating back to when he first started kicking in Grade 11.
"The pressure and the impact it can have is why I enjoy kicking, and why I wanted to get into it in the first place," Keane said. "You can change the game with it. Those kinds of moments are exactly what I was dreaming about."
The Huskies are now 6-1 (Alberta is 1-6), and Saskatchewan has one game left before heading into playoffs. They travel to Vancouver for a Friday-night game against the British Columbia Thunderbirds, the only team that still has a chance to catch the Huskies for first.
UBC is 5-2, and lost 34-24 to Saskatchewan earlier in the season, so they'll need to win by more than that margin to clinch top spot in Canada West.
"It started out sunny and beautiful, and it ended with snow," said Huskies' head coach Scott Flory. "It's unfortunate, because it didn't really look like a football game out there for much of it — the elements, the wind, all that stuff.
"I'm upset we didn't come out as clean as we should have; penalties and bad decisions extending drives. We've got to clean that up. We've got to be smarter. We've got a lot to work on."
But he added that he was proud of Amundrud for the record, and of Keane for the clutch kick.
There's a playoff feel already — and a new passing-yards king, with a splash of rain and snow thrown in to add late-season flavour.
kemitchell@postmedia.com
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