Montreal Carabins: 2023 Vanier Cup Champions

Jonathan Senecal and a stout Montreal Carabins defence proved too much for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon in Kingston, Ont.

Senecal's second-half touchdown led Montreal to a hard-fought 16-9 Vanier Cup win over a game Thunderbirds squad. The Carabins' defence didn't surrender a touchdown and finished the season allowing just seven field goals in their four playoff victories.

"We were confident coming in with the way our defence was playing," said Montreal head coach Marco Iadeluca. "When your defence plays that kind of football, going into any game you have to feel comfortable.

"And then we have number 12 [Senecal] at quarterback, which is just spectacular."

Seneca was awarded the Hec Crighton Trophy on Thursday as Canadian university football's most outstanding player. He added Vanier Cup MVP honours after completing 11-of-26 passes for 171 yards and an interception, as well as a team-high 50 yards rushing on 10 carries with the TD.

Senecal's seven-yard touchdown run at 8:47 of the third put Montreal ahead 16-6. The drive followed Kieran Flannery-Fleck's 14-yard punt that gave the Carabins possession at their 38-yard line.

"This is what we wanted," Senecal said. "We worked hard for 16 weeks and were able to come out on top, it's just a great feeling.

"Our defence is the best in the country and they just prove that week after week. They just make everything easier."

Montreal linebacker Nicky Farinaccio earned top defensive player honours.

UBC makes it interesting

UBC made it very interesting, pulling to within 16-9 on Kieran Flannery-Fleck's 24-yard field goal at 9:48 of the fourth. The Thunderbirds marched from their 51-yard line to the Montreal 16-yard line before settling for three points.

Later, UBC drove to the Montreal 33-yard line before Garrett Rooker's pass on third-and-four fell incomplete with just over two minutes to play. After their defence held, the Thunderbirds took over at their own 35 with 1:30 remaining, but Rooker's pass on third-and-four gave the Carabins possession at the UBC 41 with 1:02 to play.

That led to a Philippe Boyer punt, which gave UBC a final possession at its 18-yard line with 3.8 seconds to play. Rooker completed his pass to Jason Soriano, but he was tackled short of centre field.

Montreal to face UBC in Vanier Cup after downing Western in Uteck Bowl

"We knew going in we had to be able to move the ball and score some points and we just weren't able to," said UBC head coach Blake Nill. "We moved the ball at times but I thought we had a couple of situations where you'd like to have back but that's the way the game is played.

"Montreal is a very good football team. We're a good team too, we just didn't make enough plays."

'Toughest team we played all year'

Coach Iadeluca had nothing but praise for the Thunderbirds.

"That was the toughest team we played all year," he said. "They were resilient on offence, very athletic on defence.

"But I am so proud of this football team. They work hard, they're disciplined, they wanted this from day one and kept their eye on the prize the whole time."

Rooker finished 26-of-40 passing for 278 yards before an energetic Richardson Stadium gathering of 7,100 on a cool, breezy, overcast afternoon. Isaiah Knight ran for a game-high 73 yards on 15 carries.

Montreal's defence also came up big early in the fourth, stopping Knight cold on third-and-two at the Carabins' 53-yard line to protect their 10-point lead.

These two teams met in the 2015 Vanier Cup, which UBC won 26-23 in Quebec City. The Thunderbirds made their seventh appearance overall, having won four times, while Montreal was in the title game for a fourth occasion, also winning in 2014.

UBC held the edge in total offence with 345 yards to 323 for Montreal, but the Carabins dominated the rushing game with 163 yards to 84 for the Thunderbirds.

City of champions

With the Carabins' win, Montreal becomes the first city since 1980 to boast Vanier Cup and Grey Cup champions in the same year. Last week, the Alouettes upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-24 in Hamilton to secure the franchise's first CFL title since 2010.

Edmonton last claimed the Vanier Cup-Grey Cup double title 43 years ago.

Iraghi Muganda had Montreal's other touchdown. Boyer booted the converts while the other points came on a safety.

Flannery-Fleck finished with three field goals for UBC.

Flannery-Fleck's 41-yard field goal at 14:09 of the second quarter cut Montreal's half-time lead to 9-6. The Carabins threatened to extend their advantage with Carl Chabot taking Senecal's third-and-four completion to the UBC six-yard line on the quarter's final play.

It appeared Chabot had room to maybe get out of bounds, stop the clock and give Montreal a final opportunity to at least try a short field goal. Then again, UBC made an interesting decision to decline a holding penalty against the Carabins that gave them their third-and-four situation instead of second and long.

UBC mounted a promising drive from its 23-yard line but it ended with Knight's fumble that the Carabins recovered at their own 39 with 6:02 left in the quarter.

Flannery-Fleck put UBC on the scoreboard with a 32-yard field goal at 4:01.

Muganda's 18-yard TD run at 12:17 of the first put Montreal ahead 9-0. The Carabins went ahead 2-0 at 7:10 when Flannery Fleck conceded the safety.

Vanier Cup headed to Saskatchewan for 1st time

The Vanier Cup will head to Saskatchewan for the first time.

U Sports announced Saturday the '25 Vanier Cup will be played in Regina. The 60th edition of Canadian university football's championship game will go at Mosaic Stadium and coincide with the University of Regina's 50th anniversary.

It will be just the third time ever the Vanier Cup is held in Western Canada.

U Sports also announced Quebec City will host the '26 Vanier Cup. It has staged the game seven times.

Laval: 2022 Vanier Cup Champions

LONDON, Ont. – Kevin Mital turned into a dual threat on Saturday, as he made eight catches and threw for the decisive touchdown as the Laval Rouge et Or downed the Saskatchewan Huskies 30-24 in the 2022 Canada Life Vanier Cup before a sellout crowd of 8,420- at Western Alumni Stadium.

The second-year receiver, who won the Hec Crighton Trophy as the U SPORTS player of the year on Thursday night, captured the Ted Morris Trophy as the Vanier Cup MVP. He is only the second player ever to complete the Hec-Ted double in the same year, following Calgary’s Don Blair in 1995.

“There's no way to take this away from us. We are the Vanier Cup champions of 2022,” said Mital. “We've worked hard for this, and now we go down in the history books as being the best team in Canada this year. Everything that I said this year and set up in terms of goals, we did. It's a sweep. I said we are going to win the Dunsmore, the Mitchell and the Vanier Cup, and that's what we’ve done.” 

Mital’s 142 receiving yards led all players, but it will be his turn as a passer that may be most remembered. With Laval holding a 20-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, Mital took a direct snap and connected with Daniel Dallaire on a jump pass to break the game open.

“He's very proud,” said Glen Constantin, the Laval head coach. “He'll back up what he says and forces everyone on the team to do it too. He's just a really good football player and competitor. When he came back from Syracuse, he told me two things – ‘I want #8 and to win the championship.’ He breathes confidence, and it transcribes onto our team. He’s a generational talent for us, probably the best receiver we’ve ever had.” 

The win is the 11th for Laval, extending their national record but their first since 2018.

“It doesn't get old for the simple reason that it's a different group, different story, different challenge and a different road,” said Constantin after the win, his 10th as head coach. “Every cup has its own stories.”

Laval kicker Vincent Blanchard played a large role in getting the Rouge et Or to that point, as he kicked for five field goals – tying the Vanier Cup record – and connected on a 49-yarder on the stroke of halftime that tied the game at 17. His 49-yard boot was the second-longest in Vanier Cup history, behind only a 50-yarder kicked in 1995. Blanchard added two conversions and an 85-yard kickoff single to finish with 18 points, the second-highest by a kicker in a Vanier Cup.

Laval quarterback Arnaud Desjardins completed 27 of his 36 pass attempts for 397 yards – the fourth-highest total in Vanier Cup history. Desjardins’ favourite targets were Mital and Antoine Dansereau-Leclerc, who had eight catches for 119 yards.

“He's a cool customer,” said Constantin of his quarterback. “He's a young quarterback, only in his second year. His future is bright. He's got this calmness, and he is a cool customer under pressure.” 

For Saskatchewan, Mason Nyhus had an outstanding performance in his final U SPORTS game, completing 34 of 43 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns. Caleb Morin led the Huskies receivers with seven carries for 97 yards.

While the Huskies offence appeared to be rolling after a first half that saw them put up 281 total yards, they stalled in the third quarter.

“The third quarter, we didn't do enough,” said Huskies head coach Scott Flory. “We started to get traction late, and this will be a point of emphasis for sure in our post-season analysis. The third quarter wasn’t one of our best.”

The Huskies offence responded in the fourth quarter, driving 86 yards in seven plays following Mital’s touchdown pass. However, on first and goal from the Laval 6, Nyhus’ pass into the end-zone was intercepted by Félix Petit, elating the Rouge et Or bench as he handed possession back over to the Quebec side.

“[That was] huge,” said Constantin on the play. “It's better to be lucky than good. We had our fair share of luck. We had a couple of tipped balls and made great plays, so that stop in the end zone was huge. [It was] one of the critical stops we needed to make. It was huge for us.”

The Huskies were able to put a scoring drive together later in the fourth, but they could not complete the comeback.

“We marched the field, had a turnover, and then marched it again,” said Flory on his team's determination. “We competed, and it was a tough game. There's a finality [to sports], there is someone who wins and loses. Unfortunately, we are on the other end of it, and it’s not easy.” 

The Huskies, who led Canada West from wire to wire and won their second straight bowl game, finish the season with an 11-2 overall record (7-1 CW).

“These games always come down to a handful of plays,” said Flory on the loss. “Credit to Laval, they made those plays. Their quarterback played a great game. They did some really good things. But you look at our side, and I think that Mason was phenomenal out there. He’s an elite-calibre player and leader, and he showed that here today. It's tough and will take time to digest. I'm really proud of our guys and the season and everything we had to overcome.”

Charles-Alexandre Jacques took home the Bruce Coulter Award as the game’s top defensive player. The second-year linebacker finished with 5.5 total tackles (one solo, nine assists.)

Everett Iverson and Daniel Wiebe had the Saskatchewan touchdowns, while Kalenga Muganda had the other Laval major.

Laval Rouge-Et-Or: 2016 Vanier Cup Champions

HAMILTON (U Sports) – The No. 1 Laval Rouge et Or won their ninth national championship and third in the last five years Saturday, with a 31-26 victory over the No. 6 Calgary Dinos in the 52nd ArcelorMittal Dofasco Vanier Cup at Tim Hortons Field.

Laval’s quarterback Hugo Richard (Longueuil, Que.) won the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy as the game’s MVP, tossing two touchdowns and rushing for another on the ground. He completed 25 of 32 attempts, recording 339 yards in the air and another 62 yards on the ground.

“The kid is kind of guilty of having a great freshman season,” Laval head coach Glen Constantin. “The expectations are very high on him and people are hard on him. And you know what, he’s started more games after three years than most quarterbacks do in five years. I’m very very proud of him. He’s resilient, a better leader and the future is great.”

Richard, Vincent Alarie-Tardi (Chibougamau, Que.), Antony Auclair (Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que.) and Marc-Antoine Pivin (Sherbrooke, Que.) all scored in Laval’s first Vanier Cup win since 2013.

For Calgary, Adam Sinagra (Pointe-Claire, Que.) tossed 276 yards and one touchdown in relief of injured starter Jimmy Underdahl. Prior to his first quarter injury, Underdahl was three of four, throwing one touchdown and 123 yards.

Dinos running back Jeshrun Antwi (Calgary) rushed for 177 yards, while Anthony Anderson (Medicine Hat, Alta.) scored one touchdown on the ground in the loss for the Calgary.

Cédric Lussier-Roy of Sherbrooke, Que. won the Bruce Coulter Award as defensive MVP. Lussier-Roy forced a critical turnover in the third quarter which resulted in a Rouge et Or touchdown and shifted the game’s momentum to Laval. Lussier-Roy finished with seven total tackles, a forced fumble and one sack.

Calgary came out rolling in their 10th appearance at the Vanier Cup, securing a 14-point lead in the opening five minutes of the game by scoring on their first two possessions.

Underdahl, the fifth-year senior who started the game, connected with Michael Klukas (Calgary, Alta.,) for an 86-yard touchdown strike on Calgary’s first play from scrimmage. Following a Rouge et Or punt, Dinos receiver Anderson capped a six-play, 85-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run followed by a Niko DiFonte (Winnipeg, Man.) rouge seconds later on the ensuing kick to set the score at 14-0.

Underdahl was injured on a Rouge et Or sack by Vincent Desjardins of Quebec, which saw his understudy Sinagra relieve him for the remainder of the game.

The Rouge et Or got on the board on a quick-strike play with 5:34 remaining in the opening quarter, with Richard hitting Pivin on a 37-yard toss to bring the score to 14-7.

In the second quarter, the two teams traded field goals, with Calgary’s DiFonte knocking a 43-yard field goal and Laval’s Dominic Levesque (Saint-Georges, Que.) notching a 38-yard kick to set the score at 17-10 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Calgary added to their lead with DiFonte hitting his second of four field goals to extend the score to 20-10.

At that point, with Calgary looking poised to take control of the game, Lussier-Roy came up with the game-changing sack on Sinagra, who dropped the ball. Lussier-Roy recovered the fumble, and that turnover resulted in a Rouge et Or touchdown, with Richard finding Auclair on a five-yard pass two plays later to bring the Rouge et Or within three points at 20-17.

“I don’t know if we win the game without it – it’s that important,” said Laval first-team All-Canadian Mathieu Betts of the critical play. “He deserves it…It could have happened to anybody. I think we all worked really hard but it came down to Cédric. He was there to make the football play and I’m just so proud of him.”

From there, the game see-sawed back and forth, with Laval taking their first lead of the game when Alaire-Tardif punched in a three-yard rush with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

In the fourth, DiFonte notched back-to-back field goals, giving Calgary the slender 26-24 edge, and setting up a dramatic final few minutes.

Laval went up 31-26 with just 2:33 remaining in the game on a one-yard Richard run.

“That was a designed play,” said Richard. “It’s a play we run a lot on our goal-line offence. It’s a standar QB-power (player) and we love it. A lot of teams have trouble stopping it and it’s our go-to play – we need to score (on it).”

Calgary had two shots to get in the endzone in the remaining minutes, with one of the final drives coming when Laval turned the ball over on downs with 1:27 remaining on a third-and-inches play. Calgary would drive down the field to Laval’s 23-yard line, but failed to convert on third and 10, handing the Laval Rouge et Or their ninth Vanier Cup title.

The game featured 10 quarterback sacks, with Calgary tallying seven and Laval three. Michah Teitz and Boston Rowe, both of Calgary, were the Dinos top defensive players, recording 12 total tackles. Nic Statz of Calgary had two of the Dinos seven sacks.

“We know Laval’s a good team, we didn’t expect anything but a tough game today.” said Calgary head coach Wayne Harris Jr. “I don’t know if people expected a tough game out of us but we tried to provide one.”

NOTES: This was Laval’s 10th Vanier Cup appearance since 1999 … Laval is 3-0 against Calgary in Vanier Cup games and 5-0 all time on the national stage ...  Laval also has perfect 3-0 record in Vanier Cups played in Hamilton; Laval earned wins in 2008 vs. Western and 2004 vs. Saskatchewan; both were played at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

SCORING SUMMARY

Online Stats: STATS

LAV 7-3-14-7: 31

CGY 14-3-3-6: 26



First Quarter

CGY - Michael Klukas 86 yard pass from Jimmy Underdahl (Niko Difonte convert failed), 00:30 (6-0 CGY)

CGY - Anthony Anderson 3 yard run (Niko Difonte convert), 04:18 (13-0 CGY)

CGY - Niko Difonte 0 rouge 4:21 (14-0 CGY)

LAV -  Marc-Antonie Pivin 37 yard pass from Hugo Richard (Dominic Levesque convert) 9:26 (14-7 CGY)



Second Quarter

CGY - Niko Difonte 43 yard field goal, 2:56 (17-7 CGY)

LAV - Dominic Levesque 38 yard field goal, 5:18 (17-10 CGY)



Third Quarter

CGY - Niko Difonte 31 yard field goal 4:40 (20-10 CGY)

LAV - Anthony Auclair 5 yard pass from Hugo Richard (Dominic Levesque convert) 6:46 (20-17, CGY)

LAV - Vincent Alarie-Tardif 3 yard run (Dominic Levesque convert) 0:21 (24-20, LAV)



Fourth Quarter

CGY - Niko Difonte 31 yard field goal 11:55 (24-23, LAV)

CGY - Niko Difonte 29 yard field goal 8:12 (26-24, CGY)

LAV - Hugo Richard 1 yard run (Dominic Levesque convert) 2:33 (31-26, LAV)



About U Sports

U Sports is the national brand for University Sports in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 500 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U Sports also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit usports.ca or follow us on:

Twitter: @usportsca
Facebook: @usportscanada
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/usportsca
Instagram: @usportsca

-U Sports -

UBC Thunderbirds: 2015 Vanier Cup Champions

The cup drought is officially over. After a challenging season, the UBC football team finished with a hard-fought 26-23 win over the University of Montréal Carabins to win their first Vanier Cup since 1997.

The T-Birds were first to get onto the scoreboard with two field goals by star kicker Quinn van Gylswyk on UBC’s first two possessions.

With Montréal in possession during the final minute of the first quarter, UBC linebacker Dylan Chapdelaine caught an interception at the Montréal 39-yard line before tailback Marcus Davis caught a six-yard reception from Michael O’Connor early in the second for a touchdown.

Midway in the second, van Gylswyk added another field goal to increase the T-Birds’ lead to 16-0.
On Montréal’s next possession, they were forced to punt after gaining only five yards on three downs, but the Carabins quickly regained the possession on a fumble by O’Connor. Montréal then scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to narrow the T-Birds’ lead to 16-7.

UBC made another error on its next possession when the team failed to fake a field goal after a third and goal situation. Montréal responded with a successful drive before adding a field goal in the final few seconds, making the score 16-10 by halftime.

Despite two misplays in the second quarter, the T-Birds did see an impressive performance from O’Connor, who racked up 290 passing yards in the first half. Receiver Will Watson caught 120 of those passing yards.

Early in the third, T-Birds star running back Brandon Deschamps rushed the ball 44 yards to score a touchdown for UBC. The Carabins then responded with a field goal on their next possession.

In the final minute of the third quarter, the Carabins made a successful drive near the T-Birds’ end zone before UBC forced a third and goal. Linebackers Terrell Davis and Mitch Barnett both nearly caught interceptions. Montréal then sc

The first seven minutes of the final quarter saw no scoring as strong defence by UBC and Montréal kept each other in check. T-Birds defensive back Stavros Katsantonis forced and recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter.

With the seven-point deficit, Montréal got a touchdown midway in the fourth quarter to equalize the score. Intensity then peaked as both teams anxiously fought to gain possession and come out on top. The T-Birds did have a field goal attempt, but Montéeal’s defence prevented the team from scoring.
The game changer came with less than 1:32 remaining on the clock, when UBC’s A. J. Blackwell caught an interception. On the ensuing possession, the T-Birds managed to drive to the Carabins’ 13-yard line.

After UBC’s failed a fake field goal attempt earlier, van Gylswyk became the hero for the Thunderbirds as he scored in the final second of the game to give UBC the 26-23 win.