TORONTO – The stage is set for the U Sports football national semifinals on Saturday, when the last four teams still standing will battle for a berth in the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Vanier Cup on Nov. 26 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.
The ArcelorMittal Dofasco Mitchell Bowl is at 2 p.m. Mountain Time (4 p.m. ET), with the AUS champion St. Francis Xavier X-Men (8-1) visiting the Canada West monarch Calgary Dinos (8-2) at McMahon Stadium.
Saturday’s Mitchell Bowl will mark the first-ever meeting between StFX and Calgary.
The X-Men were the only team to repeat as conference champion last weekend, winning back-to-back AUS banners for the first time since 1982 and 1983. The Dinos return to the national Final Four after dropping the previous two Canada West finals on home turf at McMahon Stadium, against Manitoba in 2014 and UBC last November.
The X-Men heard all about it last year, before and after their 36-9 home loss to UBC in the Uteck Bowl. Since 2004, only one AUS team – Saint Mary’s in 2007 – has advanced to the Vanier Cup, and the conference’s last national title dates back to 2002.
Could this be the year the drought ends?
One person who definitely likes the X-Men’s chances on Saturday is head coach Gary Waterman, in his eighth campaign at the helm.
"Winning the Loney Bowl for the second straight season, this time on our home turf, was a great accomplishment for the X-Men football team," says the back-to-back AUS coach of the year. "We’ve had the same mantra all season, which is that the most important game of the year is the next one on the schedule. Even after clinching home field advantage with two weeks left to play, we focused on each contest individually, which ultimately led to a perfect in-conference record against some strong AUS opponents.
"It happens to be that the next game on our schedule is now the Mitchell Bowl against a tough Calgary team, and we are going to continue preparing the way we have all season. We learned some hard lessons last year in the Uteck Bowl, and we will surely draw from that experience as we head out west for the game."
Tough might actually be the perfect way to describe the 2016 Dinos. Resilient would be another.
As if losing countless key pieces following the 2015 campaign – including two-time Hec Crighton-winning quarterback Andrew Buckley, standout running back Mercer Timmis, top receiver Rashaun Simonise and record-setting kicker Johnny Mark – wasn’t enough, Calgary has had to deal with a depleted roster for the past few weeks after being hit hard by injuries late in the season.
After being named U Sports coach of the year last November following his first season at the helm, Calgary bench boss Wayne Harris Jr. definitely proved his 2015 national award was well deserved.
"We’ve faced adversity all year. How you handle that measures your character. I know the character of these guys – they’re a hard-working group of guys that never, ever quits" says Harris, whose team has been involved in five games decided by less than a touchdown so far this fall. "I’m extremely proud of this group – they’ve worked hard all season long to achieve this goal, and we still have goals in front of us we are trying to achieve."
They now hope to improve to 5-1 all-time in Bowl games against AUS opponents and advance to the Vanier Cup for the first time since 2013.