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 OUA conference champion Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (9-1) and the RSEQ titlist Laval Rouge et Or (9-1) kickoff at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time in the Uteck Bowl at TELUS-UL Stadium in Quebec City.
Laval head coach Glen Constantin and his troops are thrilled to be back in the national semifinals after losing to Montreal in the previous two RSEQ championship matches. The back-to-back Dunsmore Cup losses both came in Quebec City, where the Rouge et Or were once considered invincible, winning a mind-boggling 70 straight games overall on home turf prior to the 2014 Quebec final.
"We’re very excited," says Constantin, the 16-year Laval bench boss, whose program is a perfect 6-0 all-time in national Bowl games played at TELUS-UL Stadium and enters this year’s Final Four on a U Sports-best nine-game winning streak. "When you manage to get out of the Quebec conference, which is very competitive, you believe even more in your chances of going all the way. We’re definitely happy to get back to the Final Four"
Thankfully for Constantin, whose program has never gone three straight years without winning the Vanier Cup since he took over the reins in 2001, the Rouge et Or are once again one of the top defensive teams in the country this season. In conference play, the Laval D ranked second in the nation in points allowed (9.8 per game) and total yards (294.0), third against the run (91.8) and fourth against the pass (202.3).
While he hasn’t faced Laval since becoming Laurier’s head coach in 2013, Michael Faulds is well aware of his next opponents’ winning tradition. In his playing days, the former Western quarterback visited TELUS-UL Stadium for three straight years in preseason action from 2007 to 2009.
In only his fourth season at the helm, the young leader has guided the Golden Hawks to their first Yates Cup victory since 2005, when the team went on to claim the second Vanier Cup in school history thanks to a thrilling 24-23 decision over Saskatchewan.
"We have taken a major step this year winning the Yates Cup and especially having to go through two perennial powerhouses in McMaster and Western to do it. As cool as it is to make it to the Uteck Bowl and play in the mecca of Canadian university football against Laval, we are definitely not satisfied" says Faulds, whose team returns to La Belle Province for the second time this fall, three months after dropping a close 37-33 preseason decision against Montreal on Aug. 20. "Since we opened camp on August 13th, our two goals were to win a Yates Cup and a Vanier Cup, so we are eight quarters away now from meeting our own expectations"