OTTAWA (CIS) – The CIS football national semifinals are set following wins by the top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or, No. 2 Calgary Dinos, No. 4 McMaster Marauders and No. 9 Acadia Axemen in the conference finals.
Acadia (8-1) will now host McMaster (9-1) in the Uteck Bowl at Moncton Stadium in Moncton, while Calgary (9-1) will host Laval (10-1) in the Mitchell Bowl at McMahon Stadium
Both games will air live on TSN and RDS on Friday, Nov. 18, with the Uteck kicking off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (7:30 p.m. Atlantic) and the Mitchell following at 9:30 p.m. Eastern (7:30 p.m. Mountain).
The Rouge et Or advanced thanks to a 30-7 home win over No. 7 Montreal (7-4) in the RSEQ’s Dunsmore Cup final in Quebec City; the Dinos crushed No. 6 UBC (7-3) 62-13 in the Canada West final, the Hardy Cup, in Calgary; the Marauders travelled to London, Ont., to defeat No. 3 Western Ontario (8-2) 41-19 in the 104th OUA Yates Cup title match; and the Axemen dominated unranked Saint Mary’s (8-2) 39-20 in the AUS championship game, the Loney Bowl, in Wolfville, N.S.
Interestingly, all four conference champions triumphed against the only team to beat them in the regular season.
Laval lost to Montreal 17-12 on Oct. 8. Calgary dropped a 36-23 decision to UBC on Oct. 29. McMaster was outscored 48-21 by Western on Sept. 10. Acadia was edged 8-3 by Saint Mary’s on Oct. 1.
The CIS Bowl winners will face off in the 47th Vanier Cup final on Friday, Nov. 25, at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver. Kickoff for the CIS championship game is set for 6 p.m. Pacific (9 p.m. Eastern), live on TSN and RDS.
CANADA WEST FINAL (75th HARDY CUP): Calgary 62, UBC 13
CGY 10-10-7-35: 62
UBC 10-3-0-0: 13
At McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Friday night, sophomore quarterback Eric Dzwilewski ran for 101 yards and four touchdowns and the second-ranked Dinos used 42 unanswered points in the second half – including a 35-0 fourth quarter - to crush the No. 6 Thunderbirds 62-13 and claim a record-tying fourth straight Canada West title.
Saskatchewan was the only previous school to capture four consecutive Canada West banners outright, way back in the 1930s (1934-1937).
Calgary held a 20-13 lead at halftime but the game turned into a record-setting, lopsided affair after the break. Dzwilewski became the first Canada West player and the first pivot in CIS history to rush for four majors in a playoff contest as the Dinos racked up a mind-boggling 409 yards along the ground. Their 62 points scored are the highest single-game total since the inception of the Hardy Cup final in 1976.
Steven Lumbala carried the ball 22 times for 194 yards, Chris Dobko and Adam Osterling each had a receiving major, while Wyatt Getty and John Kadiebwe both returned an interception all the way to the end zone for the winners. Dzwilewski, the 2010 CIS rookie of the year from Boise, Idaho, only attempted 13 passes and completed nine of them for 112 yards.
For UBC, it was a night to forget for quarterback Billy Greene, the Canada West MVP and Hec Crighton trophy nominee. The native of Surrey, B.C., who entered the contest with the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in the country (23-4), completed only 10 of 29 passes for a season-low 175 yards and three picks. He did however tally a team-high 99 yards on 12 carries and connected with Jordan Grieve for an 87-yard scoring play that tied the game at 10-10 after one quarter.
RSEQ FINAL (DUNSMORE CUP): Laval 30, Montreal 7
LAV 15-0-10-5: 30
MTL 0-0-7-0: 7
At TELUS-Université Laval Stadium in Quebec City, Sébastien Lévesque rushed for 197 yards and a pair of long touchdowns on 17 carries and the Rouge et Or defence was true to its reputation as top-ranked Laval defeated archrival Montreal 30-7 to repeat as Dunsmore cup champion.
With the victory, the reigning Vanier cup champions extended a pair of CIS-record streaks. Laval has now claimed nine straight conference titles and is undefeated in 51 consecutive games on home turf, dating back to 2004.
Lévesque, who led the RSEQ this season with a team-record 1,059 rushing yards, gave Laval a 14-0 lead with one minute left in the opening quarter thanks to a 40-yard scamper to the end zone, and then put the game away with a minute remaining in the third when he exploded for an 85-yard major that made it 25-7.
Senior quarterback Bruno Prud’homme played a conservative, mistake-free contest finishing with 145 yards and a touchdown on 9-of-18 passing, with no interceptions. His 26-yard TD strike to Junior Seydou Haidara opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game.
The Laval defence was especially effective against RSEQ all-star running back Rotrand Sené, who was held to 60 yards on 15 attempts. Quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze completed 16 of 32 passes for 187 yards but was intercepted twice. He scored the Carabins’ lone touchdown on a one-yard run to cut the deficit to 18-7 with five minutes left in the third period.
Montreal was hurt by penalties as the visitors were flagged 16 times for losses of 210 yards.
AUS FINAL (LONEY BOWL): Acadia 39, Saint Mary’s 20
ACA 15-7-7-10: 39
SMU 10-0-7-3: 20
At Raymond Field in Wolfville, N.S., quarterback Kyle Graves rushed for three touchdowns as ninth-ranked Acadia ended Saint Mary’s four-year domination in the Atlantic conference with a 39-20 win over the visiting Huskies in the Loney Bowl final.
The Axemen, who avenged a 37-8 loss to Saint Mary’s in last year’s AUS championship match, led 22-10 at the half and never looked back en route to capturing their first title since back-to-back banners in 2005 and 2006.
Graves, the AUS player of the year from Barrie, Ont., finished with 78 rushing yards on 10 carries and completed 12 of 16 passes for 170 yards, with no interceptions, to claim the Don Loney memorial trophy as the game MVP. Running back Zack Skibin also starred in the victory with 147 yards and one major on 27 runs as Acadia dominated 315 yards to 71 in the ground game.
The Huskies led 10-7 midway through the first quarter thanks to a 51-yard touchdown pass from Jack Creighton to Jahmeek Taylor and a Brett Lauther field goal but saw their rivals respond with 22 unanswered points over the next 30 minutes to put the game away.
Creighton racked up 251 yards on 17-of-30 passing but was intercepted twice. Taylor was his favourite target and finished with 108 yards on six catches.
Acadia had 25 first downs to Saint Mary’s 15. The Huskies were also hurt by 15 penalties for losses of 106 yards.
OUA FINAL (YATES CUP): McMaster 41, Western Ontario 19
MAC 0-10-10-21: 41
UWO 3-0-0-16: 19
At TD Waterhouse Stadium in London, Ont., Kyle Quinlan threw for four touchdowns, including a record-setting strike to OUA player of the year Michael DiCroce, to lead the fourth-ranked Marauders to a convincing 41-19 road win over No. 3 and defending champion Western in the 104th Yates Cup final.
It marked the first OUA title for McMaster since a streak of four consecutive championships from 2000 to 2003, while Western was looking for a fourth crown in five years.
Trailing 3-0 after the opening quarter, the explosive Marauders, who led the country this season with 530 yards of total offence per game, scored 34 straight points before the Mustangs answered back midway through the final frame, when the affair was already out of reach.
Quinlan earned game-MVP honours after he completed 16 of 24 passes for 275 yards with no interceptions, while rushing for another 103 yards on only 10 carries. With McMaster holding on to a 10-3 advantage midway through the third quarter, he connected with DiCroce for a 102-yard scoring play to set an OUA playoff record, which ranks second in CIS post-season history.
DiCroce also had a four-yard TD catch late in the contest and finished with four receptions for 128 yards. Brad Fochesato and Robert Babic had one receiving major apiece, while Chris Pezzetta scored on a seven-yard run.
The Marauders’ defence was dominant against a team that scored a CIS-best 38.9 points per game in conference play.
In his return from an injury, Western quarterback Donnie Marshall was 14-of-27 for 187 yards, one touchdown and one interception. One of the lone bright spots for the Mustangs was running back Tyler Varga, the OUA rookie of the year, who rushed 30 times for 154 yards and a score.
SCHEDULE: 2011 BOWLS & VANIER CUP (all time LOCAL)
November 18
19:30 (AST) Uteck Bowl: No. 4 McMaster (9-1) at No. 9 Acadia (8-1) (TSN & RDS)
19:30 (MST) Mitchell Bowl: No. 1 Laval (10-1) at No. 2 Calgary (9-1) (TSN & RDS)
November 25
18:00 (PST) Vanier Cup: at B.C. Place Stadium, Vancouver (TSN & RDS)
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Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.