December 2, 2005
FIFTH-YEAR QBS LEAD THE WAY FOR HAWKS AND HUSKIES
HAMILTON – They run two of the most dynamic offences in the country and on Saturday, they’ll compete in the final game of their respective university careers. Ryan Pyear and Steve Bilan are fifth-year starting quarterbacks for the Laurier Golden Hawks and Saskatchewan Huskies and will face off in the 41st Vanier Cup tomorrow at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton.
Bilan, a 2004 first team all-Canadian, has had another strong season in 2005, leading Saskatchewan to 11 straight victories. He’s completed 169 of 292 passes for 2,700 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Pyear was the 2005 first team all-Canadian quarterback, completing 161 of 241 passes for 2,365 yards, 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
The two smallish pivots (Bilan stands only six feet tall, while Pyear is listed at 5’11”) boast the top two touchdown-to-interception ratios in the country, while Pyear ranks first, and Bilan fifth in passing efficiency rating.
Coaches of both players gave similar responses in describing their quarterbacks.
“He’s been our unquestioned leader,” Saskatchewan head coach Brian Towriss said of Bilan. “He carried the program on his shoulders last year when David (Stevens) went down with an injury.”
“Ryan is our leader,” Laurier head coach Gary Jeffries said. “His combination of skill and leadership is very special.”
The coaches said both players exude confidence in the huddle and said that their intelligence might be their best attribute. “Ryan reads the play as well as any quarterback we’ve ever had,” Jeffries said.
Another trait that Pyear and Bilan share is their toughness. Pyear might be the smallest starting quarterback in the country, weighing only 175 pounds, yet he doesn’t shy away from opposing defensive lines. In Laurier’s era-changing victory over McMaster during the 2004 regular season – a win that snapped McMaster’s 39-game OUA unbeaten streak – Pyear was sacked six times and had blood stains all over his uniform. It was then that he revealed he had played the game with a hairline fracture in his wrist, keeping the injury a secret so that the Mac defenders didn’t have a specific target to go after.
Meanwhile, Bilan’s toughness took centre stage later that year at the Desjardins Vanier Cup. After suffering through a torn Achilles and a broken thumb in 2002 and 2003, Bilan was befallen by an abdominal tear late in the 2004 season, and couldn’t practice at all in the month of November. However, he willed his team to the championship game where the injury contributed to his five interceptions in a 7-1 loss to the Laval Rouge et Or.
Running back David Stevens, this year’s Canada West player of the year, said last year’s Vanier reinforced what the Huskies already thought of their leader.
“The media was on him for that game but we as a team knew what he was going through,” Stevens said. “He couldn’t even throw properly; he was just using his arm. He couldn’t rotate his body at all. But he’s a quiet guy and he’s humble. We all knew he had a 12-inch tear in his oblique, but he’s not the type of guy to use it as an excuse.”
However, for all of their similarities, Bilan and Pyear do differ in some respects. Bilan is 27 years old, recently married, and treats his role as quarterback and leader of the Huskies like a 9-to-5 job.
“He’s always so focused,” Stevens said. “When we’re out on the field, he’s only thinking about the next play.”
Meanwhile the 23-year old Pyear is just “one of the guys,” as teammate Joel Wright said. “We’ve all kind of grown up together, so we’ll go out, joke around, eat together, we’re a tight knit group and Ryan is a big part of that.”
For their part, both quarterbacks said they can’t afford to think about their counterpart on Saturday. “I have enough to worry about with that Saskatchewan front four without thinking about Steve,” Pyear said.
But Jeffries and Towriss will be worrying about the quarterback position, both on Saturday and beyond as the stars prepare for their last ever CIS game.
“Trying to replace players like Steve and Ryan is almost impossible,” Jeffries said. “Guys like these only come along so often.”
(Source: Chris Black, Special to the DVC)
Bilan, a 2004 first team all-Canadian, has had another strong season in 2005, leading Saskatchewan to 11 straight victories. He’s completed 169 of 292 passes for 2,700 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Pyear was the 2005 first team all-Canadian quarterback, completing 161 of 241 passes for 2,365 yards, 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
The two smallish pivots (Bilan stands only six feet tall, while Pyear is listed at 5’11”) boast the top two touchdown-to-interception ratios in the country, while Pyear ranks first, and Bilan fifth in passing efficiency rating.
Coaches of both players gave similar responses in describing their quarterbacks.
“He’s been our unquestioned leader,” Saskatchewan head coach Brian Towriss said of Bilan. “He carried the program on his shoulders last year when David (Stevens) went down with an injury.”
“Ryan is our leader,” Laurier head coach Gary Jeffries said. “His combination of skill and leadership is very special.”
The coaches said both players exude confidence in the huddle and said that their intelligence might be their best attribute. “Ryan reads the play as well as any quarterback we’ve ever had,” Jeffries said.
Another trait that Pyear and Bilan share is their toughness. Pyear might be the smallest starting quarterback in the country, weighing only 175 pounds, yet he doesn’t shy away from opposing defensive lines. In Laurier’s era-changing victory over McMaster during the 2004 regular season – a win that snapped McMaster’s 39-game OUA unbeaten streak – Pyear was sacked six times and had blood stains all over his uniform. It was then that he revealed he had played the game with a hairline fracture in his wrist, keeping the injury a secret so that the Mac defenders didn’t have a specific target to go after.
Meanwhile, Bilan’s toughness took centre stage later that year at the Desjardins Vanier Cup. After suffering through a torn Achilles and a broken thumb in 2002 and 2003, Bilan was befallen by an abdominal tear late in the 2004 season, and couldn’t practice at all in the month of November. However, he willed his team to the championship game where the injury contributed to his five interceptions in a 7-1 loss to the Laval Rouge et Or.
Running back David Stevens, this year’s Canada West player of the year, said last year’s Vanier reinforced what the Huskies already thought of their leader.
“The media was on him for that game but we as a team knew what he was going through,” Stevens said. “He couldn’t even throw properly; he was just using his arm. He couldn’t rotate his body at all. But he’s a quiet guy and he’s humble. We all knew he had a 12-inch tear in his oblique, but he’s not the type of guy to use it as an excuse.”
However, for all of their similarities, Bilan and Pyear do differ in some respects. Bilan is 27 years old, recently married, and treats his role as quarterback and leader of the Huskies like a 9-to-5 job.
“He’s always so focused,” Stevens said. “When we’re out on the field, he’s only thinking about the next play.”
Meanwhile the 23-year old Pyear is just “one of the guys,” as teammate Joel Wright said. “We’ve all kind of grown up together, so we’ll go out, joke around, eat together, we’re a tight knit group and Ryan is a big part of that.”
For their part, both quarterbacks said they can’t afford to think about their counterpart on Saturday. “I have enough to worry about with that Saskatchewan front four without thinking about Steve,” Pyear said.
But Jeffries and Towriss will be worrying about the quarterback position, both on Saturday and beyond as the stars prepare for their last ever CIS game.
“Trying to replace players like Steve and Ryan is almost impossible,” Jeffries said. “Guys like these only come along so often.”
(Source: Chris Black, Special to the DVC)
