by Ben Matchett, U of Calgary Sports Information
(with files from CIS Communications)
VANCOUVER – The Canada West champion University of Calgary Dinos lead the way with a school record eight selections to the 2011 football All-Canadian teams, CIS announced Thursday ahead of the 47th Vanier Cup in Vancouver.
The Dinos’ eight selections beats out the previous school record of six, which happened in both 1988 and 2009. Laval and McMaster, who will battle for the national title Friday night at B.C. Place Stadium, are next with five All-Canadians each.
Of the 10 Dinos selected to the Canada West all-star team in 2011, eight of them made the cut nationally, including three on the first team: running back Steven Lumbala, offensive tackle Kirby Fabien, and linebacker Sam Hurl.
Lumbala averaged 8.1 yards per carry and racked up 898 rushing yards on the season, despite sharing the backfield with two other former All-Canadian running backs in Matt Walter and Anthony Woodson. Fabien is ranked No. 5 by the Canadian Football League’s central scouting office for the upcoming CFL Canadian Draft, and was a 2009 second team All-Canadian.
Hurl was named the Canada West defensive player of the year for the second straight season. He lost out on the Presidents’ Trophy as the national defensive MVP to Concordia’s Max Caron, but still had an impressive season, leading all playoff-bound tacklers in Canada West with 52 tackles, including 37 solos, to average better than 6.5 per game.
Five more Dinos players landed on the second All-Canadian team, including two more offensive linemen. Centre Quinn McCaughan and guard Reed Alexander both secured spots, along with linebacker Jordan Verdone, defensive tackle Linden Gaydosh, and first-year placekicker Johnny Mark.
In total, seven of the eight Dinos players honoured Thursday were making their first appearance on the All-Canadian team.
UBC quarterback Billy Greene was named winner of the Hec Crighton Trophy as the CIS player of the year. Other major awards announced Thursday night included Caron as the defensive MVP; Laval defensive end Arnaud Gascon-Nadon as the winner of the J.P. Metras Trophy (top down lineman), and Western Ontario running back Tyler Varga as the rookie of the year, capturing the Peter Gorman Trophy.
2011 CIS FOOTBALL ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS
FIRST TEAM
Offence
QB Billy Greene, UBC
RB Steven Lumbala, Calgary
RB Anthony Coombs, Manitoba
WR Simon Charbonneau-Campeau, Sherbrooke
WR Michael DiCroce, McMaster
IR Jordan Brescacin, Windsor
IR Michael Squires, Acadia
C Pierre Lavertu, Laval
T Kirby Fabien, Calgary
T Brendan Dunn, Western
G Matthew Norman, Western
G Brett Jones, Regina
Defence
DT Stefan Charles, Regina
DT Seamus Postuma, Windsor
DE Akiem Hicks, Regina
DE Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, Laval
LB Max Caron, Concordia
LB Sam Hurl, Calgary
LB Kevin Régimbald Gagné, Sherbrooke
S Teague Sherman, Manitoba
HB Cameron Wade, Acadia
HB Beau Landry, Western
CB Dominic Noël, Laval
CB Kayin Marchand-Wright, Saint Mary’s
Special Teams
P Chris Bodnar, Regina
K Tyler Crapigna, McMaster
KR Kris Robertson, Concordia
SECOND TEAM
Offence
QB Kyle Quinlan, McMaster
RB Ryan Granberg, Queen’s
RB Sébastien Lévesque, Laval
WR Dustin Zender, Waterloo
WR Jordan Grieve, UBC
IR Dillon Heap, Laurier
IR Alexander Fox, Bishop’s
C Quinn McCaughan, Calgary
T Matthew Sewell, McMaster
T Ben Heenan, Saskatchewan
G Jason Medeiros, McMaster
G Reed Alexander, Calgary
Defence
DT Linden Gaydosh, Calgary
DT Jake Thomas, Acadia
DE Jonathan Pierre-Étienne, Montreal
DE Rob Jubenville, Saint Mary’s
LB Jordan Verdone, Calgary
LB Jonathan Beaulieu-Richard, Montreal
LB Sam Sabourin, Queen’s
S Jonathan Laliberté, Laval
HB Matt McGarva, Windsor
HB Patrick Chénard, Sherbrooke
CB Sam Carino, UBC
CB Andrew Lue, Queen’s
Special Teams
P Darryl Wheeler, Western
K Johnny Mark, Calgary
KR Nic Demski, Manitoba
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
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.