The Western Mustangs and Saskatchewan Huskies have reached the Vanier Cup in different ways.
The Mustangs solved their ticket to the Canadian College Football Finals with a 61-6 victory over St.Francis Xavier at the Mitchell Bowl on Saturday.
Western led 23-0 after the first quarter and 51-3 in the half in front of the home crowd in London, ont.
The Huskies, meanwhile, outscored the Carabins 13-1 in the fourth quarter to claim a low-scoring 14-10 victory at the Montreal Eke of The Uteck Bowl. Adam Machart scored the winning touchdown on a 13-yard run with five seconds left in the game.
In the Mitchell Bowl, the Mustangs did most of their ground damage. The X-Men had no answer to Western Rusher Edouard Wanadi, who scored for 238 yards and three touchdowns.
Trey Humes also had three Touchdowns for 91 yards and Keon Edwards had 104 Yards and a TD.
“We definitely dominated, they had a hard time stopping our run,” Mustangs coach Greg Marshall said. “I thought maybe that was the matter when I was getting into the game, but I really thought their offense would be a little more productive. Our defense was playing completely unreal and getting the ball back to us over and over again.”
Quarterback Evan Hillock attempted just 10 passes and completed eight for 114 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown run against Griffin Campbell in the first quarter.
West kicker Brian Garrity turned all eight of West’s touchdowns and added a 32-yard field goal.
Max Capriotti had field goals of 42 and 47 yards for StFX.
In The Uteck Bowl, the Huskies’ only field goal was a Red in the first quarter, until their offense came alive and their defense held up in the fourth quarter.
The score was 4-1 at halftime, and then Montreal, which could not record a touchdown in the game, went up 9-1 in the final frame thanks to a 15-yard field goal by Michael Arpin and a safety.
Saskatchewan scored the game’s first touchdown early in the fourth quarter, when Machart kicked a nine-yard touchdown pass from Mason Nyhus. The Huskies pulled to 9-7 after a failed two-point conversion.
“Obviously Machart is a very good player and we just have to find the ball for him,” Nyhus said.
A Red Arpin gave the Carabins a feeble 10-7 lead with 9:36 to play. But with time running out, the Huskies marched 83 yards in one Minute 50 seconds, capping the drive with Machart’s second touchdown of the game.
“I knew we needed it. We didn’t want a draw, we wanted a win,” Machart said, “(the Vanier Cup) is two years of hard work. We fought so hard for this and now we have the chance to make it happen.”
The Vanier Cup takes place in December. 4 at TELUS-Université Laval Stadium in Quebec City. Western is aiming for its eighth title and first. Saskatchewan won its third and final title. The Huskies made four of five finals appearances between and lost each time.
The Vanier Cup was cancelled due to the recent times. The Calgary Dinos won.
