The Rouge et Or beat Mac 37-14 in lopsided CIS championship rematch

Laval extracted Vanier Cup revenge over the McMaster Marauders at the Rogers Centre on Friday. The Rouge et Or controlled the game and simply outdueled the Marauders en route to a 37–14 victory in a replay of last year’s final.

The 2011 Vanier Cup has since been dubbed ‘The Game’ — the greatest match in Canadian university football history. Laval saw themselves lose 41–38 to McMaster in a heartbreaking double overtime match and losing is not an option for Laval. “If you don’t win the Vanier Cup at Laval then it feels like the season has been a failure,” admitted Rouge et Or middle linebacker Frederic Plesius.

So when the game clock rested at zero, the stage was set for a hotly-contested rematch.

No one wants to put too strong an emphasis on revenge, but it was the sentiment driving the teams all season and in each snap of the game.

Going into the year, says McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek, he knew that, “If we are to repeat and get two in a row and get to 22 straight (wins), the only way we want to do it is by beating the best. Laval is the best.”

On Friday Laval did not falter to re-assert themselves as precisely that, much to the chagrin of the Marauder faithful, who turned up in large numbers to support their players.

The game began strongly with the Rouge et Or storming through the smoke that clouded the players tunnel to a tune of cheers behind their team bench and resonating boos from the McMaster maroon filling most of the stadium’s seats. McMaster followed suit shortly after, darting through a firework archway of gold stars. Even as the teams found themselves standing shoulder-to-shoulder at centerfield waiting for the coin toss, tensions were running high, with the teams trading insults and small fights breaking out.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re two teams that don’t like one another,” Laval quarterback Tristan Grenon explained after the game. “It’s a good thing that we only meet once a year if we see each other in the Vanier Cup.”

Fans expecting an immediately entertaining and offense-powered rematch were forced to wait until the waning minutes of the first half, after the first quarter ended scoreless for the first time in the Vanier Cup since Laval defeated Saskatchewan in 2000.

However, with three minutes left in the half, the wild characteristics that have come to define Canadian university football were on full display.

With just over three minutes remaining the Marauders were down by 12 points, after an earlier second-quarter Laval touchdown to wide receiver Matthew Norzil for 28 yards, a Marauder conceded safety, and a 22-yard field goal off the foot of Boris Bebe.

The final minutes of the half gave fans hope that this year’s game would follow in the footsteps of the 2011 championship match.

Kyle Quinlan started the action for the Marauders with both his arm and feet.

McMaster head coach Ptaszek has long praised Quinlan’s quarterback ability. “Arm strength, ability to be a pocket passer and carve defenses as a traditional quarterback, but then he can also pull it down and cut a Michael Vick-run on his own. There have been very few who can do both.”

Quinlan displayed precisely those attributes on McMaster’s go-head drive. He hit receivers Michael Dicroce for 12 yards and Robert Babic for 24 yards, while also gaining 22 yards and the one-yard score on his own legs.

After forcing a Laval three-and-out, the Marauders regained possession deep in their own territory. Quinlan, after being sacked on first down, found receiver Ben O’Connor for a 42-yard completion with under a minute in the half. A 59-yard pass to Dahlin Brooks in tight coverage saw McMaster rip the lead from the Rouge et Or to seemingly take control of the game.

However, the pivotal play of the game was still to unfold as the clock continued to tick towards the half.

Tristan Grenon and the Laval offense took to the field and threaded a perfect ball to J.S. Haidara for 75 yards that brought the team to the McMaster two-yard line. With 13 seconds remaining, there was plenty of time for the game’s pivotal moment to unfold. Laval head coach Glen Constantin opted to take a crack at the end zone, so Grenon floated a pass just over the head of receiver Norzil as the half expired. The Rouge et Or offense was left stranded on the two-yard line as McMaster players quickly ran off the field into the locker room, relieved to have escaped with their lead still intact.

Laval’s incomplete pass and misjudgment of time proved to be the turning point in the game, and all the motivation that Laval needed to come out roaring after the break.

Laval received the ball after the half and, following a fake punt on third down to keep the drive alive and move the team inside the McMaster 20, Maxime Boutin punched the ball in from 11 yards out to begin the Rouge et Or’s rout.

Entering the game, Laval knew they would have to run the ball to chew up clock time, wear down the strong Marauders’ defense, and keep the ball out of the deadly hands of Quinlan.

Laval certainly ran the ball, amassing 373 rushing yards to McMaster’s 75, but the yards did not come from a player whom they anticipated to lead the team in the championship.

Only two weeks ago Maxime Boutin was third on the Laval depth chart. On Friday, he was named the Vanier Cup MVP. Boutin found himself first choice only because of injuries to the other running backs. Yet those other injuries may have been the team’s biggest blessing in disguise.

“I never thought this would happen,” said Boutin. “It feels very good.”

Boutin carried the ball 24 times for 258 yards, only two yards short of the Vanier Cup rushing record. He ran the ball over the goal line twice, including once off an 84-yard run, the third-longest run from scrimmage in Vanier Cup history.

“The (offensive) line was very good,” said a humble Boutin. “I did not know how many yards I ran for. I just keep running. I don’t care. The most important thing is we win.”

Boutin’s success came as no surprise to Laval quarterback Grenon. “We’re packed with great players, it’s just a question of time before everybody get his opportunity to play and Maxime took advantage of it. When he’s been getting the ball, he’s been tearing it up. I think people underestimate him.

“I don’t think they’ll make that mistake again,” Grenon chuckled.

McMaster, whose defense allowed an average of only 15 points a game in the playoffs, was unable to hold Boutin, and with the Marauders’ offensive line also unable to protect Quinlan who was sacked seven times, Laval easily took control of the game.

The Marauders were held scoreless in the second half, while Laval added on 25 points through a combination of a safety, three field goals, and two touchdown carries by Boutin.

Last season, Grenon, who was then the back-up Laval quarterback, found himself anxiously pacing the sideline as he watched his team battle and ultimately fall in a nail-biting, incredibly tight championship final.

That was not the case this time.

“[Sitting on the sideline] was extremely tough, so I worked really hard so that if I got this opportunity, I wouldn’t miss it. I know we were supposed to give you a game as exciting and close as last year’s, and we tried,” laughed Grenon.

The  Laval team did not miss their opportunity. They entered the season with only one goal, and left the Rogers Centre with the Vanier Cup, and their revenge.

Standing with the trophy in hand under the bright lights of the dome, there was no question who the best team in the country is. McMaster saw their 21-game win streak snapped while the Rouge et Or captured its record-setting seventh championship.

Laval offensive lineman Danny Groulx summed the game up perfectly. “We were just ready. We’ve been ready for a year.”

One last stand

A university team will inevitably lose players to graduation and the draft at the end of each season, but Laval avoided that combination of events following their heartbreaking double overtime loss to the Marauders in B.C. in the 2011 Vanier Cup.

Laval defensive end Arnaud Gascon-Nadon and linebacker Frederic Plesius both ended last season’s championship game with a bright professional future awaiting them, both having been selected in the CFL draft. But within minutes of the game ending and the pain of the loss fully setting in, both wanted revenge more than anything; that would mean returning to Laval for another season, hoping to meet McMaster again on the biggest stage in Canadian university football.

Gascon-Nadon embodies the lure of Laval. The Rouge et Or are  as Quebec City’s professional football team — minus the paycheques. With such a strong backing and dedicated group of players the team becomes your family — and family is hard to leave.

“I came back because I just didn’t have enough,” Gascon-Nadon told the Toronto Sun. “Two years was just too short for me, especially losing that last game was too bittersweet for me.”

Standing at centre field with his teammates passing around the Vanier Cup, Plesius knew coming back for another crack at the trophy was the right decision. “I won as a leader, as a fifth-year guy. It feels really, really amazing. Us against 30,000 people screaming against us. It feels good to leave as a winner and I can’t wait to go back home and celebrate with the guys.”

Plesius ensured that his presence on the team was felt — he was a continual thorn in the side of the McMaster offensive line and constantly pressured McMaster quarterback Kyle Quinlan through the evening with two solo tackles, two assisted tackles, as well as two of the seven sacks Laval recorded.

Record-setting crowd

The sight of 37098 fans out in full force for the Vanier Cup on Friday night was nothing short of spectacular. It set a record as the largest crowd for the Canadian university championship final and added fuel to the argument that the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup should always be paired at the same venue on the same weekend. While McMaster, being only a short drive away, certainly boosted the attendance, Grey Cup fans already in town definitely helped to boost crowd numbers. Friday night’s attendance broke the record set in 1989 in the then-SkyDome — the first year the Vanier Cup was held in Toronto. The top five attendances recorded at Vanier Cup finals have all been set at the SkyDome/Rogers Centre.

Selling Canadian university football is tough. When over 37000 people turn out, it’s obvious that they’re expecting something extraordinary. The game drew such a large crowd, not only because it was a rematch of ‘The Game,’ but also because there was little doubt that the two best teams in the country would provide a thrilling match.

McMaster rules CIS honours

In the days leading up to the pivotal Vanier Cup final rematch, the CIS announced the 2012 All-Canadian teams. The Marauders boasted an impressive six players on the first team and three on the second team. McMasters’ contributions to the first team included quarterback Kyle Quinlan and Aram Eisho, who was named defensive player of the game in last year’s Vanier Cup. Laval had five players on the teams.

The awards just kept coming for the Marauders in the week before the Vanier Cup. Seventh-year head coach Stefan Ptaszek was named CIS coach of the year. Under his direction, McMaster went 8–0 in the regular season, dominating the OUA, and rode a 21-game winning streak coming into the championship. McMaster has not missed the playoffs during Ptaszek’s time as coach.

To the shock of no one, Quinlan capped off the awards by hoisting the Crighton Trophy for the player of the year. Quinlan has led the Marauders to back-to-back Vanier Cup games, but remained humble after receiving the award. “The biggest prize is still out there. This is great but individual awards are something you look back on after the season,” he said.