THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Quarterback Deke Junior picked a great time to have his best game as a member of the Calgary Dinos.
Junior went 22-for-28 for 325 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Calgary Dinos to a 44-21 win over the Simon Fraser University Clan in the Hardy Cup on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” said Junior after celebrating the Canada West final victory with his teammates on the field in front of 2,162 fans at McMahon Stadium. “We came together as a team today, brothers. I came to a bunch of brothers. They stick behind me, I stick behind them.”
Anthony Woodson had one rushing and one receiving touchdown, while Anthony Parker caught a pair of TD passes in the fourth quarter for the Dinos, who now advance to the Uteck Bowl next Saturday. The game will be hosted by the winner of Sunday’s Dunsmore Cup between the Concordia Stingers and Laval Rouge et Or.
Parker predicted that the Dinos will be travelling to Quebec City to face the top-ranked Rouge et Or.
“Of course I’d have to assume that’s what’s going to happen,” said Parker, who had nine receptions for 127 yards. “We’re going to be looking at 20,000 fans that are definitely not in our favour. If we can come out and click like we did today I think we’ll give them a good game and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
The winner of the Uteck Bowl will then go on to the Vanier Cup on Nov. 22 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton.
Paul Swiston also caught a TD pass for the Dinos, while Aaron Ifield added three field goals.
‘These are a group of kids who have little experience and you’re going to get highs and lows and today was just a high,” commented Calgary coach Blake Nill. “Our defence did another super job and the offence just exploded.”
Brandon Halverson ran for a pair of touchdowns for the Clan, who turned the ball over five times on three fumbles and two interceptions.
“I think it was nerves,” said SFU coach Dave Johnson. “I think our guys were a little amped up and the game was going fast for them instead of slowing it down and keeping things it simple. At the end of the day a lot of that is just attributed to Calgary and what a quality team they are.”
Tyson Buchannon also caught a TD pass from SFU quarterback Bernd Dittrich, who completed 16 of 29 passes for 167 yards.
“We were young, a lot of new guys again especially on offence,” Dittrich said. “We just have to keep on working and try to get better because I don’t want to lose the Hardy Cup ever again.”
The Dinos opened the scoring when Ifield kicked a 30-yard field goal at 6:49 of the first quarter. The play was set up after Deji Oduwole sacked Clan quarterback Bernd Dittrich and forced a fumble in SFU territory that Matt Grohn recovered.
The Clan responded less than four minutes later when Dittrich tossed a 27-yard touchdown strike to Buchannon.
Early in the second quarter, Woodson capped off a six-play, 38-yard drive with a 13-yard TD run. The score was set up late in the first quarter when Chase Moore recovered a fumble by SFU tailback Marek Seta.
The Calgary defence helped set up another score when Grohn and Geoff Paiement combined to sack Dittrich for a loss. On the next play, Grohn pressured back-up Clan quarterback Kenton Boldt and forced a fumble which the Calgary defensive back recovered on the SFU 39-yard line.
Two plays later, Woodson hauled in a 36-yard TD pass under triple coverage in the SFU end zone to put the Dinos up by 10 points.
The Dinos went up 24-7 at 11:11 of the second quarter when Junior faked a handoff before tossing a nine-yard pass to a wide-open Swiston as the six-foot-nine, 311-pound offensive lineman snuck into the end zone behind the SFU defence.
After Ifield kicked a pair of field goals for the Dinos in the third quarter, Halverson capped off a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a one-yard TD run for the Clan.
The Dinos then salted away the victory in the fourth quarter when Parker first caught a 38-yard pass in the end zone before adding a six-yard receiving TD.
Halverson rounded out the scoring for the Clan when he rumbled for a 52-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Clan is the first team to rebound from an 0-8 season to reach the Hardy Cup since Regina accomplished the feat in 2000.
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YATES CUP: No. 3 Mustangs 31, Gee-Gees 17
At London, Ont., Nathan Riva scored a pair of one-yard touchdowns in the first quarter and the Mustangs beat Ottawa to earn their second straight Yates Cup title.
Riva finished with 21 carries for 91 yards to pace Western Ontario, which built a 22-7 halftime lead and wasn’t seriously challenged the rest of the way. The Mustangs finished with 169 yards on the ground compared to just 29 for the Gee-Gees.
Michael Faulds sparked Western’s other touchdown, completing a 32-yard pass to Zach Bull midway through the third quarter.
Faulds finished 15-of-29 for 201 yards. Ottawa counterpart Joshua Sacobie was 30-of-55 for 344 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The OUA-champion Mustangs will host the No. 5 Saint Mary’s Huskies in the Mitchell Bowl next Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Vanier Cup.
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LONEY BOWL: No. 5 Huskies 29, X-Men 27
At Halifax, quarterback Jack Creighton threw a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes as the Huskies built a sizable first-half lead, then held on to beat St. FX and earn a berth in the Mitchell Bowl.
Creighton completed TD strikes to Ryean Warburton and Carl Hardwick, and Tyler Schussler added a one-yard touchdown run in between as Saint Mary’s enjoyed a 26-5 lead at the half.
Steve Snyder led the X-Men on a second-half surge, throwing three touchdown passes to move St. FX to within three points. X-Men kicker Kyle Chisolm had a chance to tie the game with three seconds left, but he missed a 42-yard field goal wide left and Saint Mary’s conceded the single point.
Creighton finished 12-of-17 for 198 yards and a pair of TDs.
Snyder was 22-of-35 for 379 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.
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DUNSMORE CUP: No. 1 Rouge et Or 28, No. 9 Stingers 17
At Quebec City, Sebastien Levesque had three lengthy touchdown runs and finished with 268 yards on the ground as the top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or beat the No. 9 Concordia Stingers 28-17 to win the Dunsmore Cup on Sunday.
The Rouge et Or (9-0) overcame a sluggish opening half, then fended off a spirited Stingers comeback to earn a spot in Saturday’s Uteck Bowl. The game against the Calgary Dinos will mark the sixth straight bowl appearance for the Rouge et Or, who have won three Vanier Cup titles in the past five years.
The Calgary-Laval winner will advance to the CIS championship Nov. 22 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, where they’ll face the winner of next weekend’s Mitchell Bowl showdown between the Saint Mary’s Huskies and the Western Ontario Mustangs.
Levesque, a five-foot-nine rookie, ripped off touchdown runs of 51 and 47 yards to turn a slim 6-3 halftime advantage into a 20-3 rout early in the fourth quarter – to the delight of the 10,664 fans at PEPS Stadium. Concordia (5-4) cut into the lead midway through the quarter on a 26-yard fumble return touchdown by defensive end Thomas Kuchiran.
Liam Mahoney’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Dan Rodrigues moved the Stingers to within three points, but Levesque put the game away with a season-long 90-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left.
Levesque’s performance overshadowed a subpar performance from Laval quarterback Benoit Groulx. The Quebec conference player of the year and Hec Crighton nominee went just 17-for-28 for 170 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Mahoney finished 21-of-42 for 254 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions for the Stingers, who haven’t played in a national semifinal since 1998.
