VICTORIA – Down 20-3 at half against a solid opponent, it would have been easy for the University of Victoria Vikes to fold the tent.

Instead, they battled. Led by their defence, the Vikes had the ball in their hand down the stretch in a one-score game against the visiting University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

"That was a hard-hitting, physical game. Those guys came out pretty aggressively today and tackled us well. I like the way we hung in there and wore them down in the end. Who knows? If we get a score just before half, maybe this is an entirely different ball game," said Vikes Head Coach Doug Tate.

The T-birds rode an early outburst and sputtered across the finish line with a 28-22 decision over the Vikes on Friday afternoon at Wallace Field.

The visiting unit jumped out to an early 10-0 10 minutes in off a Jack Scher penalty goal and one of John Jubenvill's two tries on the day.

Jenner Teufel got in on the penalty goal frenzy in the 12^th minute, but the Thunderbirds added another of their own to keep the Vikes at an arm's distance apart, 13-3.

Jubenvill cleanly intercepted a pass in his own zone and ran in untouched for the try in the 19^th minute, which gave the T-birds their 20-3 lead at the break. It marked the second week in a row the Vikes coughed up an interception which immediately led to points.

"We had good scrums this afternoon and we were right in this game. I liked how our guys came out in the second half and I thought our fitness outlasted theirs and I thought we wore them down," said Tate.

Following Callum Botchar's try for the Thunderbirds, the Vikes made their run.

On the ensuing kick, the Vikes won a scrum and worked the ball up the left wing for the speedy Liam Mahon for his first of two tries on the day.

Again with th ball in the 54^th minute, Jarvis Dash used a great juke step to create a massive gap. Once his momentum halted, he shoveled it off to Liam Morrision, who continued to drive down the field. The ball eventually worked its way over to the other sideline where Gavin Kratz recorded the try for the second week in a row.

Scher's third penalty goal of the match gave the Thunderbirds a little more breathing room in with 20 minutes to play, but despite a couple great rushes, the Vikes couldn't get any closer.

"I can't be mad at this result. We fought hard against a really good team and held them in check," said Tate.

With the loss, the Vikes drop to 2-0-3 on the season while the Thunderbirds improve to 3-0-1 and earned valuable points in the Legends Cup and The Boot Battle.

Named after Brian Wightman, The Boot is an annual competition between UBC and UVic – which once included Simon Fraser University and Stanford University – where the highest point total between the two clubs is awarded The Boot. The Vikes have won The Boot each of the past 10 seasons. The Vikes have 39 wins to the Thunderbirds' 25 in the lifetime of this battle. There was also one draw.

The Vikes are back in action Oct. 19 when they host the Nanaimo Hornets at Wallace Field.