REGINA — The Vanier Cup will stay in La Belle Province for the fourth consecutive year.
The Montreal Carabins took down the Saskatchewan Huskies 30-16 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on Nov. 22 to win the championship after a stellar performance led by rookie sensation Pepe Gonzalez.
Gonzalez threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns on 26 of 32 completed passes Saturday night, adding to his already outstanding season after being crowned U SPORTS Rookie of the Year.
Simon Larose caught nine passes, racking up 118 receiving yards and the final touchdown of the game. Hassane Dosso followed with 80 receiving yards and one touchdown on four catches.
Jake Farrell suffered his first loss as a starter since taking over for Anton Amundrud in Week 6. Farrell threw for 244 yards on 20 of 31 completed passes, along with two interceptions.
It was the final U SPORTS game for many Huskies, including Seth Hundeby — who won the U SPORTS Defensive Player of the Year — Ryker Frank and Daniel Wiebe.
Frank recorded 85 yards Saturday, 61 on the ground and 24 through the air. Meanwhile, Wiebe was held to 48 yards on four catches. Liam Piccinin led all Huskies receivers in receiving yards tonight with 82 on four catches.
Gonzalez dominates, Huskies offence struggles
The Montreal Carabins struck first with a rouge on the opening kickoff and followed it up with a 34-yard field goal from the leg of Philippe Boyer on the next drive to take a 4-0 lead six minutes into the game.
Saskatchewan responded with a 20-yard field goal of their own from Lukas Scott to come within one in the dying minutes of the quarter, as the two titans slowly started to figure each other out like two boxers in a title fight.
That all came to an end when the Carabins scored the first touchdown off a 41-yard pass from Pepe Gonzalez to Brandon Gourgon, who blew past his defender and caught the ball just a yard past the goal line. Not to be outdone, the Huskies responded with a four-yard rushing touchdown from the Regina-born Ryker Frank on the ensuing drive — which proved to be the team's only major of the night — and a rouge on the kickoff to tie it 11-11 halfway through the second.
The Huskies had stolen the momentum in their favour as the second quarter went on. However, the Carabins took the lead back with a rouge from a missed 39-yard field goal and added to it with a last-second field goal from 10 yards to go up 15-11 at the half.
Both teams came back out for the third and couldn't get anything going on their opening drives. Montreal punted around their 40, and Saskatchewan who were pinned deep in their own end, moved all of five yards before punting.
The game started getting back in motion thanks to a 46-yard bomb from Farrell to Liam Piccinin to put the Huskies knocking on the door of the red zone. But the Carabins stopped the Huskies at the 25 and they settled for three points from a 32-yard field goal to trim the deficit to one.
Montreal got that point back not long after from a punt that went through the side of the Saskatchewan end zone and extended their lead to 16-14. The Carabins and Huskies remained strong on defence, as neither team scored in the final minutes until Pepe Gonzalez aired one out on the final play of the quarter to the far left corner of the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown caught by Hassane Dosso.
Time was starting to run out for the Huskies, who found themselves down 23-14 entering the fourth. Saskatchewan forced the Carabins to punt deep in their own zone, and Montreal elected to concede a safety, trimming the lead to 23-16 with 11:45 remaining.
The Huskies had chances to start a drive late, but an interception and fouls on a punt return early in the quarter stunned any chances of getting into scoring range.
Montreal took full advantage and milked the clock as they pushed deep into Saskatchewan territory. With the Huskies on the ropes, the Carabins delivered the knockout punch with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Simon Larose to put the game out of reach and deliver the program's second Vanier Cup title in three years.
"I am extremely proud of this group," Carabins head coach Marco Iadeluca said post-game. "A lot of people counted us out this year ... but we knew what we were about. We knew what we had in the locker room."
"We were a team, not just a few individuals. I'm extremely proud of that."
Pepe Gonzalez had one of his best performances of the season as he led the Carabins' offence to put up 30 points. Gonzalez had high praise for his teammates and coaching staff after the game.
"Our coaches made a good game plan, and we just followed that game plan, and it worked very well," Gonzalez said. "I was missing some easy balls in the first half ... The run was working. I think that's what helped us in the second half to make explosive plays afterwards. And yeah, we missed a couple of shots in the first half. In the second half, we had the same look and we took it, and we got it. So that's what made the difference."
While the province of Quebec celebrates its fourth consecutive championship, Saskatchewan faces a stark contrast.
It was the Huskies' seventh loss in the Vanier Cup since winning their last title in 1998. Head coach Scott Flory said post-game he was proud of his team's efforts despite the loss.
"We fought, we didn't quit. We kept playing, just came up short today," Flory said. "We didn't do enough in the second half. We didn't feel like we got any traction ... defence fought their butts off, everybody played so hard."
"I am so proud of this season ... we'll be back."
The Montreal Carabins wrapped up the final U SPORTS game of the year with the win Saturday in Regina and will begin their title defence next season in August.