If you look at a map of Montreal, you’ll notice the island of Laval hovering north of the Quebec metropolis. There is a bitter but friendly rivalry between Montrealers and Lavalois, which comes from their close proximity and long history.
So the fact that Montreal and Laval will meet in the 2014 Dunsmore Cup means there are huge bragging rights on the line for each city. Unfortunately, the University of Laval is about 300 km east of the city of Laval, and they play their home games at Telus Stadium in Quebec City. Nevertheless, on Saturday, the Carabins will travel to the provincial capital to take on the Rouge et Or for the right to host the Uteck Bowl against the Canada West champions.
Last week, in the RSEQ semi-finals, the Concordia Stingers were the victims of a demolishing 74-18 loss at Telus Stadium. Freshman quarterback Hugo Richard has been terrorizing defences since week one, and he continued against Concordia with five TD passes on only 228 yards and 14-17 passing. The mechanical engineering student has also engineered Glen Constantin’s offence, which produced 2643 passing yards in the regular season, second only to the Regina Rams.
Richard had many options to throw to this season, with 591 yards and nine TDs from Felix Faubert-Lussier but secondary receivers like Felix Lechasseur (312 yards, four TDs) and Anthony Auclair (336 yards, one TD) have been reliable targets for the 20-year-old QB out of Vanier College. On Saturday, Richard threw to ten different receivers, and five different players found the end zone, although Faubert-Lussier failed to make a catch.
Meanwhile, in Montreal, Danny Maciocia’s offense threw for 143 fewer yards than Laval at 2500, with senior QB Gabriel Cousineau tossing 2311 yards’ worth of passes. Against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, Cousineau went 25-33 for 269 yards and two majors in the 40-13 win. He received a lot of help from his talented freshman receiver Regis Icbasu, who caught 14 passes for 146 yards. Icbasu had the play of the game with a spectacular grab in the end zone that had him leap over two defenders like a basketball player before coming down with the ball. It looked like Jimmy Graham or Rob Gronkowski in the Carabin uniform.
Mikael Davidson, who finished with 769 yards and seven TDs this season, was just as important as Icbasu, but failed to find pay dirt despite 60 yards in the air and 31 yards on the ground. The senior – who is comparable to Dave Stala or Sam Giguere – was forced to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a head injury. It is unknown whether he will play in the Dunsmore Cup this weekend or not.
Laval had a much better rushing game this season, with Chris Amoah scampering for 494 yards and two majors, while Maxime Boutin and Guillaume Bourassa both rushed for over 400 yards and two and three TDs, respectively. In Montreal, Manuel Crisi-Lauzon ran for 285 yards and a single TD, and Sean Thomas-Erlington dashed for 221 yards and three TDs. However, with the powerful receivers and accurate quarterback playing for the Carabins, Maciocia has decided to go with more of a pass-heavy attack.
The defences are almost identical, with the second- and third- least points per game in Canada: Laval has allowed 9.8 points against per game, Montreal only 12.5. The Carabins allowed fewer passing yards per game (the best in the country at 183), which could pose a problem for Richard. Meanwhile Laval allowed the least rushing yards per game in the CIS at 50 yards per game, but this might not really pose a problem for the Montreal attack. With such closely-matched defences, the result is less likely to hinge on defensive play.
The key to this match-up is that Montreal beat Laval two weeks ago in the final regular season game by a score of 13-9. This ended the Rouge et Or’s 26 game winning streak, which dated back to 2011 – including a 40-13 win over the Carabins in Quebec City in week one. Richard was held to 14-28 passing in Montreal with one interception, while Cousineau went 20-30 for 219 yards and ran for the only TD of the game. Auclair, Faburt-Lussier, and Lechasseur combined for just 100 yards receiving compared to Icbasu and Davidson’s 123 yards. The Carabins dominated start to finish, completely overpowering the Rouge et Or.
Two of the best coaches in the CIS will meet up for the second year in a row, their third meeting in the past four seasons. Both Glen Constantin and Danny Maciocia could easily be in the CFL, but choose to stick Laval and Montreal, respectively.
It’s a rivalry game for the ages with the Vanier Cup being held in Quebec at McGill’s Molson Stadium in downtown Montreal. The teams will battle for pride and a chance to play in front of their home fans at the Vanier Cup – with only the Uteck Bowl in the way.
With the momentum that Montreal carries heading into this one, don’t be surprised if the Carabins pull off the victory. But it could go either way, and any football fan across the nation should pay attention to this game.
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