Justin Dunk
CFL.ca
Conference Championship weekend kicks off on Friday night when the upstart UBC Thunderbirds visit the Calgary Dinos at McMahon Stadium. Start time is set for 8pm Eastern and the game can be seen live on TSN.
The other three conference winners will be decided on Saturday. First, the Atlantic championship will see the St. Mary’s Huskies travel to Acadia to tangle with the Axemen. Kickoff is set for 1pm Atlantic Standard Time and EastLink will have the live broadcast.
In Ontario, McMaster heads down the 401 to London for the 104th edition of the Yates Cup. The Western Mustangs will provide the opposition for the Marauders and the Score will have all the action beginning at 1pm Eastern.
And finally, the Montreal Carabins will travel to Laval looking to dethrone the eight-time defending Quebec conference champion, Rouge et Or. The game will be carried by Radio-Canada with kickoff set for 1pm Eastern.
HARDY CUP (Canada West Championship)
It should be a typically chilly western Friday night in Calgary, but the weather won’t bother the visiting UBC Thunderbirds or the hometown Dinos. Calgary will be looking to capture their fourth consecutive Canada West title.
The Dinos literally ran roughshod over the competition out west, on their way to a 7-1 regular season mark. The only blemish on Calgary’s schedule came courtesy of the Thunderbirds. UBC thwarted the Dinos bid for a perfect season with a 36-23 home win on October 29 with Hec Crighton hopeful, and Thunderbird quarterback, Billy Greene leading the way.
“I think we match up well versus Calgary, they’re a tough team, very physical up front on both sides of the football,” Thunderbirds head coach Shawn Olson said.
Greene is the unquestioned best quarterback in the conference and he will look to trade blows with a Calgary offence that is built around the running game. Running backs like Steven Lumbala, Matt Walter and Anthony Woodson have sliced through opposing defences to the tune of 264 yards per game, the second best team rushing total in the country.
“Those three backs are all very good at what they do, but they’re better than most of the other backs you see across Canada, in that they don’t go down easily on first contact,” Olson said. “We need to tackle well, that will be important for us.”
Greene, the nation’s leading passer, will look to counter when the Thunderbirds have the football. Number 11 in blue threw for 776 yards ands seven touchdowns in two meetings versus Calgary during the regular season. Not to mention the damage Greene can cause with his legs, he rushed for 162 yards on 16 carries. Needless to say, he certainly won’t mind seeing the Dinos defence again.
“He’s a dual threat, he can throw and run, that makes him tough to defend,” Olson said.
It should be a classic battle at McMahon on Friday night, explosive air attack versus a power running game.
YATES CUP (Ontario Championship)
Western will make their fifth straight appearance in the OUA title game on Saturday. Meanwhile, the McMaster Marauders have found their way back to the conference championship match for the first time since 2004.
These teams met back in week two of the OUA schedule, with Western claiming a 48-21 rout. But since that meeting on September 9, the Marauders have not dropped a game. McMaster has ripped off seven straight games, making them the hottest team in the country entering their rematch with the Mustangs.
“Certainly we want to make the most of the year we’re having and fulfilling our potential and finally getting that Yates Cup back to McMaster is enough motivation to be focused,” Marauder head coach Stefan Ptaszek said.
One individual battle to keep any eye is how two rookie running backs handle the pressure of a championship game. McMaster has found a stud in freshman Chris Pezzetta – he rushed for 101 yards and a score on just 15 carries last Saturday in the Marauders 40-6 semi-final victory over Queen’s. Western, as many know already, boasts their own freakishly athletic first year runner, Tyler Varga.
Varga, who led the CIS with 15 touchdowns during the regular season, carried the Mustangs offensively in Western’s 33-27 OUA semi-final win over Windsor last week, scoring two touchdowns while racking up 209 yards rushing on 33 attempts.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see number two in purple tote the rock 30-plus times again this week in his first Yates Cup appearance, especially with the uncertain status of number one quarterback Donnie Marshall and his injured right ankle.
“We’re a little more balanced and we’re not going to lean on our first year guy as heavily as Western’s going to lean on Mr. Varga,” Ptaszek said.
McMaster is hoping an improved run defence, led by fifth year senior Ryan Chmielewski and the development of rookie middle linebacker Aram Eisho can slow down the nation’s number one rushing attack enough to leave London with the Yates Cup in their possession.
DUNSMORE CUP (Quebec Championship)
Montreal is looking to wrestle away the Quebec conference title from the firm grasp of the Laval Rouge et Or, who have given the Dunsmore Cup a permanent home since 2003. Not to mention the Carabins will walk into a stadium as the visitors, where the home side has won 50 games in a row on their home turf.
“You have to go in there and get through the first quarter and not be trailing by more than a handful of points,”said Carabins head coach Danny Maciocia.
However, Montreal has proven they can play with and beat Laval. During the 2011 regular season the teams split the regular season series with each team winning a game on their home turf.
“It tells us that we have an opportunity to play with them,” Maciocia said of the Carabins 17-12 victory over Laval on October 8. “Now having said that they’re tough to beat twice, so it’s going to take a special effort.”
Both teams boast top five defences in terms of yards per game, and each squad likes to run the football when in their possession. Montreal’s featured runner, Rotrand Sene, broke the century mark the last time he faced Laval, in a winning effort for his side, and the Carabins defence limited the second leading rusher in the CIS, Sebastien Levesque, to just 62 yards on 19 carries.
“Laval’s offence is all predicated on the running game – they have one of the best backs in the country,” Maciocia said. “We’re going to have to be quite active up front and try to get multiple hands on the ball carrier.”
Maciocia has warned his team and is very aware of Laval’s penchant for forcing turnovers, especially in front of their raucous home crowd. The Rouge et Or had three takeaways, one fumble and two interceptions, in their September 10 win over the Carabins, making it anyone’s game.
JEWETT TROPHY (Atlantic Championship)
St. Mary’s and Acadia have ruled the AUS for more than decade. Since 1998 the Atlantic champion has been either the Huskies, 10 conference titles which includes winning the last four in a row, or the Axemen, who have managed three AUS championships over that span.
Needless to say both teams are very familiar with each other and 2011 is no exception as the two have played each other three times already, one exhibition match and two regular season tilts. Saturday will mark the fourth and most meaningful encounter between the conference rivals.
The teams split the season series with St. Mary’s winning in an 8-3 defensive struggle on th
eir home turf on October 1. Acadia bounced back from the early season defeat to earn a 41-28 at home on October 22 – the late season win gave the Axemen the AUS regular season title based on a plus eight point differential in head-to-head meetings with the Huskies.
Acadia will host St. Mary’s at Raymond Field in Wolfville, NS fresh off a bye week, while the Huskies made short work of St. Francis Xavier, 25-2, in the AUS semi-final last Saturday.
“We feel good that we’ve had a bye and were able to rest some guys and get some guys back,” Axemen head coach Jeff Cummins said.
Acadia will be focused on containing St. Mary’s most dangerous weapon in rusher/receiver/returner Jahmeek Taylor. Number 10 for the Huskies amassed 1,058 total yards this season, in just seven games and recorded a team-high five touchdowns – three receiving, one rushing and one returning.
“He was the MVP of the league last year – he’s outstanding we have to make sure that we can contain him,” Cummins said.
For Acadia offensively, they will look to their leader, quarterback Kyle Graves to continue taking care of the football. He threw just five interceptions compared to 17 touchdowns, the third best total among all CIS passers, during the regular season.
On the other side of the ball, the Axemen try and continue to get pressure with a four man pass rush led by Jake Thomas. He registered nine sacks on the year, two coming in Acadia’s home win over St. Mary’s in late October.
If we can get to the quarterback with four, it allows us to do a lot of things in the back end with the other eight,” Cummins said. “We’ve been able to do that so far this year and it’s going to be a challenge for us to keep that up in the championship game.”
It should be a close contest for the Jewett Trophy between East Coast rivals.
