Justin Dunk
CFL.ca
VANCOUVER — The Laval Rouge et Or return to the Vanier Cup looking to defend their 2010 title against the McMaster Marauders, a team making its first appearance in the national championship since 1967.
Both teams reached the title game by trouncing the opposition in their respective Bowl wins.
The Marauders fell behind by 14 points early on against Acadia, but stormed back to score 38-straight points on their way to a resounding 45-21 victory over the Axemen in the Uteck Bowl.
Fourth year quarterback Kyle Quinlan led the McMaster offence by throwing for 370 yards, while rushing for 65 more to go long with four total touchdowns.
In Calgary last Friday, the Rouge et Or also had to muster up a comeback of their own. After trailing 10-3 after one quarter, however, the defence decided to turn it up a notch, as they limited the Dinos to zero points, forcing four turnovers in the process.
Laval went on to win 41-10.
The 47th edition of the Vanier Cup will see one team make history. Laval is a perfect 6-0 in National Title games and the six wins have them tied with the Western Mustangs for the most Canadian University Football championships since the inception of the CIAU, now known as the CIS.
A win on Friday evening would put Laval in a class of their own with an unprecedented seven Vanier Cup titles.
“This is the premier program in the nation and one of the most dominating programs in the history of CIS sport of any kind, let alone football,” McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek said.
“I will talk about it the day of the game, I don’t want to stress them out about it, but we don’t really look at records that much,” Laval head coach Glen Constantin said.
“The most important game is the next one. The history books, we’ll read them when we’re old. “
The MAC Men are looking to make some history of their own and bring the school’s first ever Vanier Cup title back to Hamilton.
McMaster’s lone national championship appearance came 44 years ago when they suffered a 10-9 defeat to the University of Alberta in Toronto at the old Varsity Stadium.
Friday’s game will mark the second meeting between the two clubs this season. On Aug. 28, Laval and McMaster played a pre-season game at PEPS Stadium in Quebec.
The Rouge et Or fought to a 24-10 victory, but both teams played their backups after the half. McMaster was leading 10-5 until then.
“The huge benefit was getting over the aura of Laval that definitely intimidates teams and rightfully so with their reputation over the years,” Quinlan said.
“Seeing them for the first time in the Vanier would be very overwhelming, but now we know what we’re up against, we realized that they’re university students just like us and we can compete with them.”
Back on that rain-soaked August summer day, Quinlan completed seven passes for 105 yards and one touchdown – a 25-yard strike to the eventual 2011 CIS receiving yardage leader Mike DiCroce.
Quinlan has steadily improved since facing Laval in the pre-season – leading the nation with over 341 passing yards per game during the regular season.
He has also been nearly unstoppable, racking up 11 total touchdowns (nine passing, two rushing) and 374 total yards per contest, during McMaster’s post season run to the Vanier Cup.
“I think the quarterback is the key to their offence, as he goes the Marauders go,” Constantin said.
“He was very poised when we played him back home. He’s a good passer, he runs on designed rushing plays and scrambles very well. He buys times and when things are covered down he can take off. He is as good a quarterback as I’ve seen this year there is no doubt about it. If we are able to put a bit of pressure on him, I think we can have some success against him.”
On the Marauders side, there is no doubt they will line up against the best and most talented defence in the country.
Led by top CFL prospect Frederic Plesius, Laval’s defence allowed a paltry 12 points per game during the regular season and has tightened up even more during the playoffs.
The Rouge et Or have given up just 24 points in three post-season games – seven of which came on an interception return touchdown against Calgary.
“The thing about them is they have freaks at every level, all across the board,” Quinlan said.
“Some teams in the OUA and even up in Moncton against Acadia, we could look at their weaknesses and attack specific guys. There really are no weaknesses on this Laval defence — it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
Undoubtedly, the most interesting chess match to watch on Friday will be the lethal Marauder offence against the impenetrable Rouge et Or defence.
But what could ultimately decide the game is how well the McMaster defence can hold up versus a relentless Laval ground game, led by 1,000-yard rusher, Sebastien Levesque.
The 5-foot-10 205-pound ball of hurt has run roughshod over defences in November, amassing 455 rushing yards and four touchdowns during his team’s run to the national title.
Levesque, to say the least, has carried the load for the Rouge et Or and he must continue to find running lanes to give Laval a chance at winning their second consecutive Vanier Cup.
“He needs to get his 20-plus carries — it opens up all of our play-action game,” Constantin said.
Defensviely, McMaster would like to make Levesque earn tough yards and not allow the 2010 Vanier Cup MVP to rip off any big runs.
“How many highlights have you seen where they crease a team right up the middle of the field and he just jets through the defence for an 80-yard run?” Ptaszek asked.
“We have to have a few plays where we blow them up at the line of scrimmage and force some bad downs and distances for that Laval offence.”
Laval is a team used to playing with a lead, running the football and grinding down opposing defences, while pinning their ears back on defence and getting after pivots who are forced to throw when trying to come from behind against the front-running Rouge et Or team.
Ptaszek believes jumping out to an early lead and forcing the Laval offence into second-and-long situations could really put the defending champs into a position where they haven’t been very often.
“Because they’ve been so dominant in this playoff run, because they’ve got this run game going, they haven’t had a lot of experience playing from behind as the average team would have,” he said.
Each team will be unaffected by Mother Nature with the game being held indoors at beautiful new BC Place Stadium. Both Laval and McMaster practiced twice under the dome, on Tuesday and Thursday, in preparation for Friday’s championship game.
Quinlan and his plethora of receivers have been salivating at the thought of playing in the new facility, where conditions will be more than ideal for their potent passing game to operate.
“For sure they’re the best offence we’re going to face this year,” said Plesius.
If nothing else, lining up and playing each other in the pre-season has given Laval and McMaster a better feel for their opposition come kick off time Friday night.
But this time around, unlike their encounter back in August, the two best teams in Canadian university football meet with a place in history, the Vanier Cup and national supremacy on the line.
