Photo credit Laval Athletics
LONDON, Ont. - The Laval Rouge et Or hope the Western Mustangs do not spoit their Vanier Cup party Saturday when they host them in the Uteck Bowl, CIS semifinal on Saturday at 12 p.m. at PEPS Stadium in Ste. Foy, Que., just north of Quebec City.
The Rouge et Or, host of the Vanier Cup for the second straight year, lost to the Queen's Gaels in last year's national semifinal Mitchell Bowl game 33-30, and then Queen's went into PEPS Stadium and defeated the Calgary Dinos to win the Vanier Cup.
Receiver Nick Trevail, who was terrific for Western in their 26-25 Yates Cup win over Ottawa, said he is excited for the opportunity to play spoiler.
"Laval is a great football team, it's more difficult than most
other university to play there. But it does metter, we need to go
in there and not be afraid. We have to go in there knowing we can
win."
Trevail said the experience of playing in three exhibition contests
over the past four seasons at PEPS Stadium helps with knowing the
atmosphere. He has played in two of those three exhibitions.
"Those exhibitions are so important. Greg Marshall does things like that, he's smart. He's the coach of the year for a reason. He tries to put us in situations where it will help us down the road and he tries to make sure we are prepared."
The top-ranked and QUFL champion Rouge et Or (11-0) will have their hands full with Western which has great depth in 2010.
Meanwhile at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, the No. 5 and Canada West champion Dinos (8-2) welcome the No. 9 and AUS champion Saint Mary's Huskies (6-3) in the Mitchell Bowl at 3:30 p.m. EST.
The winners advance to the Desjardins Vanier Cup on Saturday, Nov. 27, in Quebec City (11:45 a.m., TSN and Radio-Canada).
Laval, the only remaining undefeated team in the nation,
captured a CIS-record eighth straight conference title last
Saturday thanks to a hard-fought 22-17 Dunsmore Cup win over
Sherbrooke.
Western claimed its third Yates Cup in four years (2010, 2008,
2007) under head coach Greg Marshall and a record 29th OUA
championship when Lirim Hajrullahu kicked a 34-yard field goal with
2.1 seconds remaining on the clock to lift the Mustangs to a 26-25
road victory over Ottawa.
The No. 1 Rouge et Or go into the CIS Final Four with an all-time Bowl record of 5-4. The Mustangs are 12-6.
"This Laval team is a very well coached team," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall. "It's going to be a hostile environment and fortunately I will not be able to understand most of what is going to be yelled at me, which is probably a good thing. We will have to play our best."
The Mustangs will have to put an end a pair of impressive Laval sequences on Saturday if they hope to add to their CIS mark with a 13th Vanier Cup appearance two weeks from now.
The Rouge et Or are 4-0 at home in CIS semifinals and are currently riding a CIS-record streak of 42 consecutive overall wins in front of their PEPS Stadium fans, dating back to a 14-13 regular-season loss to Montreal on Sept. 19, 2004.
"Our team will be up to the challenge, we're a very scrappy team," Marshall said.
The two storied programs have met only once in the past in
official competition, in the 2008 Vanier Cup at Ivor Wynne Stadium
in Hamilton, with Laval prevailing 44-21 to complete the only
perfect campaign in team history (12-0). The rivals have also
squared off in pre-season action in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with the
Rouge et Or winning all three contests in Quebec City.
Statistically, Laval outscored its opponents 411 to 58 over nine
regular season contests this fall to become the first team since
the 2003 Rouge et Or to lead the country in both points scored
(45.7 ppg) and allowed (6.4 ppg). The Rouge et Or have now led the
nation for fewest points against three years running and five of
the past seven seasons.
Western, second only to Laval with 12.0 points allowed per match in conference play, has dominated the ground game on both sides of the ball. The Mustangs racked up a CIS-best 254.2 rushing yards per contest this season, while holding their rivals to an average of 107.3 yards on the ground, tops in the OUA and fourth in the nation.
"We wanted to create a balanced offence at the start of the season. With Michael Faulds we were pass heavy and now with Donnie, able to be a little bit more mobile, we've developed more of a running style offence," Marshall added.
Follow the action on a live blog at www.westernmustangs.ca
UTECK BOWL
TICKETS: 418-656-FOOT
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 20, 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
WHERE: PEPS Stadium, Quebec City
WHO: No. 2 Western Ontario Mustangs (9-1) at No. 1 Laval Rouge et
Or (11-0)
TV: Live on TSN & Radio-Canada
RADIO: CJBK, AM 1290 in London (www.cjbk.com ) and CHRW Radio, 94.9 FM in
London (www.chrwradio.com/listen
)
STREAM: www.radio-canada.ca/sports
or www.tsn.ca (tape
delay)