With a dramatic 14-10 victory over the University of Montreal Carabins, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies qualified Saturday for the Vanier Cup final, emblematic of Canadian university football supremacy.
It was a touchdown from Adam Machart five seconds from the end of the game that sealed the fate of the Carabins. So far, the hosts had controlled the pace of the game and, although they couldn’t close the gap, they seemed in a good position to win.
“This defeat is hard to swallow,” admitted head coach Marco Iadeluca. When you’re so close to the ultimate goal, it’s hard to lose that way. But they did a good job in the end to go after that, they managed to capitalize, whereas we didn’t do it earlier in the game.
“Having said that, I’m extremely proud of the guys. They will learn from this defeat and and I know we will come back strong. I told them after the game that they had to keep their heads up. We have fought all year in the face of a lot of adversity and it is not today that we are going to lower our heads. “
For the Huskies, head coach Scott Flory also praised his players. “They held on all day, always believed in it, with a lot of resilience like they’ve done all season.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The Carabins players at the end of the game.
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The Huskies will be making their tenth appearance in the Vanier Cup final, the first since 2006. They will be aiming for a fourth title, next Saturday in Quebec City, against the Western Mustangs.
For the Carabins the defeat is all the more cruel as they dominated in terms of statistics, with 457 yards of gains in attack, against only 299 for their rivals.
Despite the loss, quarterback Jonathan Sénécal completed 31 of his 41 passes for gains of 398 yards. His favorite target was again Hassan Dosse, who caught 10 passes for 182 yards.
Much like they had done all season, the Carabins were unfortunately not able to realize their advantages in the pay zone and the Huskies took the opportunity to stay in the game before exploiting their last chance to save themselves. with victory.
Difficult conditions
The Cepsum team had worked a good part of the night clearing the snow and thawing the field before the game so conditions were relatively good. However, it was necessary to reckon with the cold, the mercury remaining below zero for the duration of the semi-final.
No wonder then that the players were slow to enter the match and it was especially the two defenses who controlled the first minutes. The Huskies had the first chance to enter the scoring, but settled for a point after David Solie missed a 20-yard field goal attempt.
The Carabins responded minutes later when Michael Arpin put in a 23-yard field goal and they had several more opportunities to increase their second-quarter advantage, but a few dropped passes and a lack of opportunism allowed the Huskies to limit. single point damage and a 4-1 deficit.
The excitement of Montreal fans increased a notch at the end of the first half when Sénécal was tackled hard behind the line of scrimmage. For a long time on the ground, he returned to the locker room with the team’s therapist.
The quarterback however returned to the game in the second half and he quickly showed that he had not lost his means. A 58-yard push in nine games first led to another field goal for Arpin, this time from 15 yards. Another excellent defensive streak from the Carabins then forced the Huskies to concede a safety touchdown.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
At 9-1, then 10-1 after another Arpin single, the spectators could breathe a little, but the visitors had not said their last word.
Limited to less than 50 yards so far, running back Adam Machart took matters into his own hands late in the third quarter and wrapped up a 72-yard push by catching a nine-yard touchdown pass from Mason Nyhus.
It was again Machart who came to play the heroes at the end of the game, which he finished with 158 yards in 20 carries. “It’s an incredible feeling,” admitted the player of the match. They (the Carabins) have incredible defense, they hit hard and held us back for a good part of the game. But we stuck to our game plan and I think we managed to regain the advantage as the fatigue increased. “
Machant will have to surpass himself again next week at the PEPS of Laval University. “We left with the goal of staying two weeks in Quebec and no one wanted to go home today,” he explained. Playing in the Vanier Cup final was our goal. The work is not finished, we will rest a little this week and try to get a last victory! “
Western wins easily
In the other semi-final (Mitchell Cup), the Ontario champions Western Mustangs made short work of the Atlantic champions St FX X-Men to win 61 -6. The Mustangs were already leading 51-3 at halftime …
Year after year, the representatives of the Atlantic have shown themselves unable to compete with their rivals at other conferences. Their last victory dates back to 2008, when Saint Marys surprised Laval, 24-2. Since that date, most matches have been played one way.
Either way, Mustangs are of a different caliber. Familiar with the big games – this will be their 15th appearance at the Vanier Cup, the team have suffered just one loss this season and impressed last week by easily overtaking the Queen’s Gaels in the Ontario final. With already seven national titles, the last in 2017, Western is second only to Laval (10).