Arden Zwelling
CFL.ca
It’s not often that you’ll win a football game without scoring a touchdown.
Of course, it’s not often that you’ll throw four interceptions and win a football game either.
That was the story as the Laval Rouge et Or edged past the Western Mustangs 13-11 in the Uteck Bowl Saturday afternoon before a raucous crowd of 11,547 at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City.
The Rouge et Or received all of their points from the right boot of kicker Christopher Milo who struck four field goals and a rouge. Western’s defence, second in the nation only to the same Rouge et Or they played on Saturday, allowed 325 offensive yards but shut Laval out of the end zone.
“Our defence did a great job,” Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall said. “They kept fighting throughout the game. We didn’t give [Laval] much breathing room. I was really proud of them.”
The Mustangs were unable to get anything started on offence, however, as quarterback Donnie Marshall, playing in his first CIS playoffs as a starter, threw four interceptions as part of an underwhelming day that saw him complete just nine passes for 61 yards.
“You have to be mentally and physically perfect. There were too many mistakes on my part that cost us that game,” Marshall said. “I threw too many interceptions to give our team a shot.”
Western’s only points on the day were care of a field goal and rouge by Lirim Hajrullahu, and a one-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Ian Noble. The Rouge et Or defence proved too stout for Western’s offence.
“Our defence played awesome. They showed a lot of character and everything went well for them today,” Milo said.
The Mustangs started quickly, scoring the rouge off of the opening kickoff. But Laval would answer with two Milo chip shot field goals from 25 yards in the first quarter and 11 yards in the second.
Laval looked to be going into halftime with the lead until Mustangs punter Darryl Wheeler chased down his own punt and recovered the football with 1:25 remaining in the half.
That gave the Mustangs possession and, more importantly, momentum — two things they parlayed into a 34-yard scoring drive, culminating with Noble diving over the pile for a touchdown.
That sent the Mustangs to the locker room with the lead — just the second time all year the undefeated Rouge et Or trailed a game at halftime.
“Everybody knew we could come back. We knew we could play better,” Laval quarterback Bruno Prud’homme said of the atmosphere in the Rouge et Or locker room at halftime.
“Everybody was focused on the prize. We just wanted to keep the work level up.”
The Rouge et Or did just that, as they came out in the second half and limited the Mustangs to two-and-outs on all five of their drives in the third quarter.
Luckily for the Mustangs, a 23-yard Brian Marshall return had put them at midfield on their fourth drive of the third quarter which, with the wind, was within Hajrullahu’s range. He hit a monster 47-yard field goal to put the Mustangs ahead 11-6.
It would be the last points Western would score in the game.
The Mustangs defence managed to maintain the five-point lead for the majority of the fourth quarter. But Laval controlled much of the field position, allowing them to get Milo in range for two field goals — from 34 and 29 yards — which put Laval ahead by one.
Milo would tack on a single with a rouge with just over a minute left, forcing Western to drive downfield to get in position for a game-winning field goal.
The Mustangs did just that, picking up their only three first downs of the second half on their way to Laval’s 38-yard line. It was from there that Hajrullahu had a chance to hit his second field goal of over 45 yards on the day and the second game-winning field goal in as many weeks for the Mustangs kicker.
But this time he was kicking into the gusting Quebec City wind and his 46-yard attempt fell just short of the uprights, ending the Mustangs’ season.
“The hold was perfect as usual — same as the snap. I hit it to the best of my ability,” Hajrullahu said. “It was a long shot but you can never doubt yourself. I thought I definitely had a chance. Unfortunately, the wind took over at the end.”
Laval now gets to stay in the friendly confines of PEPS Stadium where they will host the Mitchell Bowl champion Calgary Dinos next Saturday in the Vanier Cup. It will be a rematch of the 2008 Uteck Bowl which Laval won 59-10.
“We’re going to play another outstanding football team. It will be a hard fought game. It’s a war of attrition in every game at this point of the season,” Rouge et Or coach Glen Constantin said.
The Rouge et Or may be without their star quarterback Prud’homme who was helped off the field late in the fourth quarter after taking a jarring hit from Mustangs linebacker Adrian Kaiser. The collision knocked Prud’homme’s helmet off and he appeared dazed as he left the game and did not return.
However, after the game he said his head felt fine and it was his neck that was bothering him.
“I was looking for my receiver and I just saw a hole in the middle and started running. I didn’t even see him coming — I just felt his helmet on my head,” Prud’homme said.
Despite the injury to Prud’homme, it has been Laval’s defence and special teams that have gotten them this far. Milo — the Uteck Bowl player of the game — has hit 11 of his 12 field goal attempts during the post season, while the defence has held opponents to just 9.7 points and 219 yards per game in the playoffs.
“We just have to execute our bread and butter plays,” Prud’homme said. “Everything we’ve done well this season — we just need to execute that and I think we’ll bring back the [Vanier] Cup.”
