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.
This will be the Huskies’ tenth appearance in the final and they will be aiming for a fourth title after that of 2014. They will face the Western Mustangs next Saturday in Quebec.
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. Much like they had done all season, the Carabins were unable to realize their advantages in the pay zone and the Huskies took the opportunity to stay in the game before exploiting a last chance to escape with victory.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The Carabins players at the end of the game.
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.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The excitement of Montreal fans increased a notch at the end of the first half when quarterback Jonathan 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.
Sénécal 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.
At 9-1, the spectators could breathe a little, but the visitors had not yet had their last word. Limited to less than 50 yards so far, running back Adam Machart took matters into his own 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 match.
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 big games – this will be their 15th Vanier Cup appearance, the team have suffered just one loss this season and impressed last week by easily taking the Queen’s Gaels in the Ontario final . With already seven national titles, the last in 2017, Western is second only to Laval (10).