HALIFAX (CIS) – The No. 2 Calgary Dinos are headed to their first national championship game since 1995 after dominating the Saint Mary’s Huskies with a 38-14 victory Saturday in the Uteck Bowl.
Calgary (10-1) will play No. 4 Queen’s (10-1), who upset top-ranked Laval 33-30 in the Mitchell Bowl, in the Desjardins Vanier Cup Saturday, Nov. 28 at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City, live on TSN and Radio-Canada (12 p.m. local, 10 a.m. MT). It will be the first meeting between the Dinos and Gaels since the 1983 Vanier Cup, which Calgary won 31-21 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

Calgary-Saint Mary's Uteck Bowl summary

In front of 5,735 partisan fans at Huskies Stadium in Halifax, the Dinos took a 19-0 lead with a dominant first quarter led by running back Matt Walter, the 2008 Canada West player of the year. Walter had eight carries for 125 yards in the first quarter alone, highlighted by a 69-yard touchdown scamper. After being lost in the shadow of the media frenzy surrounding the return of Dinos head coach Blake Nill and quarterback Erik Glavic to Halifax, Walter was named the Uteck Bowl MVP for his performance, finishing the game with 20 carries for 235 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was nice to have the spotlight off me this week, but it was almost like their defence forgot we had a run game,” said Walter, a third-year science student from Calgary. “It just shows we’re a dynamic team, we have so many weapons on offence, and we can beat teams in so many different ways. Today it was with the run.”
Nill, who led the Saint Mary’s Huskies to four Vanier Cup games and two championships in his eight years with the program, returns to the national final for the first time since 2003 and has taken the Dinos program from a 2-6 record in 2006 to consecutive Canada West championships and a Bowl game championship in just four seasons.
“The whole focus seemed to be on Glavic, and nothing was mentioned about our running game,” said Nill, the 2009 Canada West coach of the year. “We thought from day one that we would be able to run the ball against them and that we needed to exploit that because they have such a great secondary.
“We still need to learn to play ahead and play in front, but we’ve come a long way. We still have one more step to take though, and there’s a lot of work to do this week to prepare for Queen’s.”
Glavic, the 2007 Hec Crighton Trophy winner who is up for the award again this season, had just 77 yards on 7-of-18 passing in the game, his first full game at Huskies Stadium since leading Saint Mary’s to a 24-2 over Laval in the 2007 Uteck Bowl. But the Dinos racked up 426 total yards rushing, with rookie Steven Lumbala adding 156 yards on the ground as well.
The Huskies’ offence was on the sidelines for more than 10 minutes in the first quarter and did not record a first down until the final play of the opening frame when they were already trailing 19-0. Jack Creighton and the Huskies extended that drive to last more than seven minutes, taking the ball 83 yards and scoring on a one-yard plunge by Devon Jones to pull within a dozen points.
Any momentum Saint Mary’s may have gained from that touchdown was quickly taken back by the Dinos when Walter capped off a six-play, 56-yard drive with a four-yard major, his second of the day. Calgary got a fortuitous bounce on the ensuing kickoff, which Tye Noble and Steve Truzak combined to recover for the Dinos, setting up a 17-yard Aaron Ifield field goal to give the Canada West champions a 29-7 lead.
Saint Mary’s would answer back after a Calgary fake punt attempt that came up just short of the first down marker, giving the Huskies good field position with 54 seconds left in the half. Creighton connected with Carl Hardwick for a 34-yard completion, setting up an eight-yard TD catch by Jahmeek Murray to make the score 29-14 Calgary at the half.
The running backs led Calgary on a 77-yard touchdown drive to open the second half with a five-yard major from Lumbala. A conceded safety midway through the fourth quarter rounded out the scoring as the Dinos were content to just run out the clock.
Creighton finished the day 19-for-34 for 199 yards and one touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions – two of which landed in the arms of Calgary safety Wyatt Getty. Hardwick was Creighton’s favoured target on the day, finishing with eight catches for 102 yards. Craig Leger led the Huskies in rushing with 13 carries for 63 yards.
It was a quiet day for Calgary’s receivers, with Anthony Parker recording three catches for 33 yards while Richard Snyder had 29 yards on just one catch, which was the Dinos’ first touchdown of the game.
Calgary will remain in Eastern Canada for the week, departing Halifax for Quebec City on Sunday and spending the week in preparation for the Queen’s Gaels and the Desjardins Vanier Cup.
“I feel confident in our offence, and our defence has shown that they can hang with anybody,” said Walter. “I can’t wait for next week.”