Sports Rush

November 13, 2008 - Laval and Western favored going into bowl championships:

OTTAWA (CIS) - The top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or and No. 3 Western Ontario Mustangs will have home-field advantage on Sunday for the CIS football national semi-finals, and also hold a definite edge on paper over their respective opponents.
 
Quebec champion Laval (10-0) hosts the No. 6 and Canada West champion Calgary Dinos (7-3) in the Uteck Bowl at 12 p.m., while OUA champion Western (9-1) hosts the No. 5 and Atlantic champion Saint Mary's Huskies (8-1) in the Mitchell Bowl at 3:30 p.m.

 
The CIS semi-finals will be televised on The Score and RDS (webcast on SSN Canada), live from PEPS Stadium in Quebec City and TD Waterhouse Stadium in London, Ont., respectively.
 
The Rouge et Or, who captured their sixth straight Dunsmore Cup with a 28-17 win over No. 9 Concordia, are the only undefeated team in the nation and led all nine CIS media polls in 2008, the last eight in unanimous fashion.

This will mark Laval's sixth consecutive appearance in a CIS semi-final, tying the all-time record set by Saint Mary's from 1999-2004. 

The Dinos are advancing to a Bowl game for the first time since 1995 following a 44-21 domination of No. 8 Simon Fraser in the Hardy Cup final.
 
For the fourth time in six years, Laval had the best defensive unit in the country during the regular season, allowing only 60 points, the lowest total since Saint Mary's gave up an astonishing 35 points in 2001.
 
The Rouge et Or defence also led the nation allowing an average of 255 total yards and 69 rushing yards per game, and ranked second with 185 passing yards against per contest.
 
Leading the way for Laval was fourth-year tackle Étienne Légaré, who tallied 6.5 sacks and 23 tackles. The native of St-Raymond, Que., is the QUFL lineman of the year and a nominee for the J.P. Metras Trophy.
 
The Dinos defence was fourth in CIS in conference play with 127 points allowed, and ranked 11th in the nation in total yards (354 yds/g), 13th against the run (134 yds/g) and 10th against the pass (220 yds/g).
 
Third-year linebacker Andrea Bonaventura had a team-high 51 tackles in eight conference outings. The Hamilton native is the Canada West defensive player of the year and a nominee for the Presidents' Trophy.
 
Laval also holds the overall advantage on offence.
 
The Rouge et Or led the nation with 342.8 passing yards per match, and ranked second with 515.9 total yards per game, third with 337 points scored and seventh with an average of 173.1 rushing yards per outing.
 
Guiding the explosive Laval offence is fourth-year quarterback Benoit Groulx, who set a CIS single-season record this fall completing 75.2 percent of his passes (185/246) while throwing only two interceptions in eight conference games, a CIS low among starting pivots. The Montreal native was named QUFL MVP for the second time in three years and is the Quebec nominee for the Hec Crighton Trophy.
 
Sophomore Christopher Milo of Montreal also helped put points on the board for the Rouge et Or. The all-conference kicker established a CIS season mark with 25 field goals and a Quebec record with 117 points.
 
The Dinos offence is led by Canada West MVP and Hec Crighton finalist Matt Walter of Calgary. The second-year running back topped the West conference and was third in CIS with 904 yards on the ground after carrying the ball 147 times, fifth most in the nation. 
 
Calgary ranked 20th in CIS in both points scored (146) and total yards per game (351.1), and finished 13th in rushing (153.3 yds/g) and 19th in passing (197.9 yds/g).
 
Meanwhile in London, the Mitchell Bowl will pit one of the nation's most balanced offences against the country's most one-dimensional attack.
 
While Western has been a well-balanced team all season en route to a 31-17 defeat of Ottawa and a second Yates Cup title in as many years, Saint Mary's pounded its way to a 29-27 Loney Bowl win over StFX and a second straight AUFC championship. 

Story by: CIS 

November 8, 2008.  8 teams left, to fight for the final rights, to see who will make that prestigious trip to the 2008 Desjardins Vanier Cup in  Hamilton.

The winners from today, will advance to the final four.  Below we have the most recent updates:

AUFC final (Loney Bowl):
Saint Mary's 29, StFX 27 (FINAL)

OUA final (Yates Cup):
Western 31, Ottawa 17 (FINAL)

Canada West final (Hardy Cup):
Calgary 44, Simon Fraser 14 (4th QUARTER)

Sunday, November 9 / Dimanche 9 novembre

 12:30 pm QUFL final (Dunsmore Cup):
No. 9 Concordia (6-3) at No. 1 Laval (9-0)