By Robert Laflamme,
The Canadian Press
QUEBEC — The Laval Rouge et Or combined stingy defence with explosive offence to rout the Acadia Axemen 57-10 in the Uteck Bowl, earning themselves a berth in the national championship for the third time in four years.
Acadia, ranked 10th in the country, fell behind early in the game after Olivier Turcotte-Letourneau picked off a Chris Judd pass in the first quarter and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown.
Laval never looked back, dominating the game on both sides of the ball.
But it was the Rouge et Or’s defence that set the tone early by forcing several turnovers and providing their offensive counter-parts with good field position.
Laval benefited from five Axemen turnovers in the first half alone, scoring 24 points off four of them and taking a 33-10 lead by half-time.
“We made them pay dearly on three turnovers by scoring first-half touchdowns,” said Laval coach Glen Constantin. “That broke their momentum.”
The Rouge et Or offence took control in the second half, scoring two touchdowns and finishing the game with more than 450 yards of total offence.
Laval quarterback Benoit Groulx and receiver Lavigne Masse hooked up for three touchdowns.
With the game safely in hand, Constantin pulled Groulx in the third quarter after having completed 18 of 22 passes for 254 yards.
Constantin avoided running up the score by punting on several occasions late in the game, despite being in field goal position.
“We’re very good friends and he came over to explain why he was punting instead of going for the field goal,” said Acadia coach Jeff Cummins. “I told him not to do it, to go for the points, to continue playing hard. It was up to us to stop them, not for them to stop themselves.”
Receiver Ivan Birungi was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal day for Acadia. The big Montreal Alouettes draft choice picked up 135 yards to go with scoring his team’s lone touchdown.
“It was my last game at the university level,” Birungi said. “The plan now is to show up ready at the Alouettes training camp next May.”
No. 2-ranked Laval will make their third Vanier Cup appearance since 2003 in Saskatchewan next week.
The Quebec City university won the national championship in 1999, 2003 and 2004.
Laval will now face the Saskatchewan Huskies for the Vanier Cup. The Huskies won the Mitchell Bowl by defeating the Ottawa Gee-Gees 35-28 at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa on Saturday.
