By Steve Macleod,
Canadian Press
HALIFAX — The Saint Mary’s Huskies were supposed to go only as far as quarterback Erik Glavic’s spindly legs could carry them.
The legs gave out, but the Huskies are going to the Vanier Cup in Toronto anyway.
Led by a stifling defence, the fourth-ranked Huskies knocked off the No. 1 Laval Rouge et Or 24-2 in Saturday’s Uteck Bowl to advance to the Canadian University Football Championship against either the Manitoba Bisons or Western Ontario Mustangs.
The Huskies defence completely shut down the heavily favoured Rouge et Or, who were unbeaten all year and looking to win their fourth national title in five years.
“It’s a great day for Saint Mary’s and the program,” said an elated Steve Sumarah, in his second year as head coach at the Halifax university.
“We are ecstatic, as you can imagine, to be able to win the Uteck Bowl at home over the No. 1 team.”
The Atlantic champions turned in a near-flawless performance to beat Laval, which has been the flagship football program in the country for the past few years.
The Huskies defence gave the Rouge et Or fits all game, causing five Laval turnovers and allowing the Quebec champions only fleeting looks at the Saint Mary’s end of the field.
“We blitzed all game, we brought it to them,” said Huskies linebacker Tim St. Pierre, who was named player of the game.
“Everyone on defence played awesome, man.”
None better than St. Pierre, who sacked Laval quarterback Cesar Sanchez-Hernandez on the Quebec school’s first play from scrimmage, setting the tone for everything that followed.
St. Pierre finished the game with two sacks, a fumble recovery that led to a Saint Mary’s touchdown, and scored himself on a wild play late in the third quarter that sealed the game.
“The guys were very focused,” said Sumarah, who was an assistant to Blake Nill when the Huskies won back-to-back Vanier Cups in 2001 and 2002.
“We had a great week of practice. The guys were determined from Day 1 that this is where they wanted to be and that they wanted a crack at Laval in this game. Hopefully they’ve got enough left in the tank for the next one.”
Saint Mary’s led the nation in offence at 529 yards a game behind the gangly Glavic, a six-foot-six quarterback who runs as much as he throws.
After a scoreless first quarter, Glavic showed off his quickness by scooting into the end zone from six yards out to put the home side in front 7-0 at 6:54 of the second. The touchdown came four plays after St. Pierre recovered a fumbled punt return deep in the Laval zone.
The Huskies went up 14-0 less than six minutes later when receiver Carl Hardwick made a spectacular diving catch in the end zone on a 34-yard throw by Glavic.
The Huskies seemed comfortably in control until Glavic hurt his right knee with two minutes to play in the half. He returned to the start the third with a noticeable limp but left for good a few minutes later after scrambling up the middle and taking a hard hit.
When asked after the game if he’ll be ready for Friday night’s Vanier Cup, Glavic replied: “Have to be, yeah. I got to put it all on the line now. I’ll be playing for sure – 100 per cent.”
Laval’s offence consisted of two singles from punter Christopher Milo.
With the Huskies leading 17-2 in the third, St. Pierre put the game out of reach with a touchdown that began when lineman Andrew Paopao picked off a Benoit Groulx pass deep in the Huskies zone.
Paopao, the son of former CFL quarterback Joe Paopao, ran it back 67 yards to the Laval third, where he then lateraled the ball to nobody as he was about to be tackled. St Pierre scooped up the loose ball and punched it into the end zone.
Justin Palardy completed the scoring for Saint Mary’s with a 12-yard field goal that followed a 67-yard run by back Allistair Blair.
Laval head coach Glen Constantin denied a suggestion later that his players took the underdog Huskies lightly.
“We told these kids that they’re a very good football team,” said Constantin, whose team beat the Huskies 29-22 in an interlocking game in Laval earlier in the season.
“They brought their A game today. They played flawless defence and offensively they did just enough.”
