GUELPH, Ont. — The University of Montreal Carabins are heading back to the Vanier Cup for a second straight year with a 25-10 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday afternoon.
The Carabins will meet the winner of the Uteck Bowl — the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds — on Nov. 28th in Quebec City for Canada’s university football championship.
Later Saturday, UBC downed St. FX 36-9 to advance to the Vanier Cup game.
"Tomorrow is back to business, we’re going to have to study our new opponent and start adjusting in order to win the Vanier Cup again." Said Montreal quarterback Gabriel Cousineau.
Montreal looked like the better team on the field from the kickoff. David Deschamps opened the scoring with a 27-yard field goal to make it 3-0 Montreal.
Guelph looked dazed as Sean Thomas-Erlington ran in the ball for the first touchdown of the game, Deschamps converted to take it to 13-0 for the Carabins.
Cousineau continued to play in excellent form, throwing in a nine-yard pass to Phillip Enchill for a touchdown. Deschamps kicked two field goals in the second quarter and Montreal convincingly led Guelph 23-0 at halftime.
"We established the running game by taking control of the line of scrimmage, our defence played really well in the first half and our main objective was to keep them out of the endzone which we were able to do," said Carabins head coach Danny Mociocia. "Once we were able to take that lead, we felt good about the situation but we knew they were going to come out and battle in the second half, and that’s what they did."
The Gryphons finally got on the scoreboard in the third quarter with two field goals from kicker Gabriel Ferraro.
Montreal led 25-6 heading in to the final quarter of play.
Guelph improved vastly in the second half, playing excellent defence, only allowing Montreal to take one team safety. However, it was not enough to comeback against the talented Carabins.
"It’s devastating, we fought hard today and we never gave up which is all I can ever ask for in my teammates, I’m pretty happy with how we played and how we responded to adversity," said John Rush, fifth year linebacker for the Guelph Gryphons.
Cousineau upheld his reputation as one of the top ranking quarterbacks in the country, throwing one touchdown, with a 66 per cent completion rate.
Third year Montreal defensive lineman Junior Luke won the most valuable player award.