Laval Rouge et Or top Calgary Dinos to win Vanier Cup

For three quarters, it seemed like the Calgary Dinos had their school first national championship in 18 years within reach.

But in the end, the Vanier Cup remained ever so frustratingly elusive, as the heavily favoured No. 2 Laval Rouge et Or wore down the smaller, less experienced No. 3 Dinos to claim the national championship with a 25 14 win.

just weren able to compete with them on the line of scrimmage, said Dinos head coach Blake Nill. fell short on the line of scrimmage. We tried playing with eight men in the box, seven men in the box, and we couldn stop their run game.

just shows you that we not quite there yet, and that not a surprise given the youth that we have. Rouge et Or clinched the title with a pair of fourth quarter drives, one of which ended in a six yard touchdown run from running back Pascal Lochard, the other a field goal from Boris Bede.

That the Dinos would even be within striking distance so late in the game seemed unlikely during a first half in which the Canada West champions were thoroughly dominated.

On drive after drive, the Rouge et Or Authentic Carmelo Anthony Jersey gave CIS running leader Mercer Timmis no room to work his magic. With QB Andrew Buckley struggling to find the time to get the ball to his receivers, it came down to the Dinos young defensive unit to keep the game close.

They were helped by two early missed field goals by Rouge et Dwight Howard Swingman Jersey Or kicker Bede, but the trio of Tanner Doll, Doctor Cassama and Thomas Spoletini were integral to keeping the score close.

Despite the offence struggles, Buckley said no one in the Dinos locker room was getting down on themselves about a 6 0 scoreline at halfime.

someone told me we be in Laval, playing against Laval, and down six going into halftime? I take that any day of the week, Buckley said. defence, those guys really put on today. They battled a really tough offence and Laval got a lot big boys, and they really held their own. the Rouge et Or defensive line continuing to close up any space in the middle Laval allowed a CIS low 76.3 yards per game this season the Dinos took to the air in the third quarter, and the strategy paid off quickly.

Buckley, who led his team with 82 rushing yards and went 19 for 29 through the air for 247 yards, spread the ball across the field, and after veterans Jake Harty and Chris Dobko scored touchdowns for the Dinos, the Calgary team briefly held a 14 12 lead.

more or less just called our playbook, and we were able to spring some things, Buckley said. were able to execute on a couple drives, but it wasn really a conscious decision to try and air it out. the start of the fourth quarter, it was anyone game. Then, the the Rouge et Or run game took over. The Dinos simply had no answer for the two headed monster of Maxime Boutin and Lochard, who combined for 374 yards on the ground.

The Dinos very nearly had one last chance to make things interesting when Bede missed his third field goal of the game with the score 22 14. But the Dinos were flagged for having too many men on the field, and the Rouge et Or received a officialnbasite.com/james-harden-jersey-c-1_87_405.html first down and another chance at the field goal, which Bede hit with 57 seconds left in the game.

Despite officialnbasite.com/dwight-howard-jersey-c-1_87_410.html coming up short, Nill refused to be disappointed in his team.

In the end, the Calgary Dinos didn have enough in the tank.

After a first half in which they struggled to get anything going offensively and a huge defensive performance was all that kept them in the game against the No. 2 Laval Rouge et Or, the No. 3 Dinos came out in the second half and very nearly pulled off the upset in the Vanier Cup final before falling 25 14.

The Rouge et Or who allowed a CIS low 76.3 yards per game this season blocked Dinos running back Mercer Timmis at every turn in the first half, limiting the CIS leader to only 15 yards in the first half.