CIS football: Laval, Queen’s ready for Mitchell Bowl

KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The top-ranked and reigning Vanier Cup champion Laval Rouge et Or (9-1) and No. 4 Queen’s Gaels (9-1) face off in the Mitchell Bowl on Saturday, which will mark the first playoff duel in history between the two football programs.

The CIS national semifinal is set for 1 p.m. at Richardson Stadium, live on TSN and Radio-Canada.

Laval and Queen’s head coaches and players officially kicked off the Mitchell Bowl weekend Friday afternoon in Kingston with the traditional Meet the Teams media conference.

“We’re honoured to be here and face Queen’s, a football program with an outstanding tradition,” said Rouge et Or head coach Glen Constantin, whose team will appear in a CIS-record seventh straight Bowl game. “They are a really well-coached team. I remember when Coach (Pat) Sheahan took the job at Concordia in the late 80s, he built the Stingers into a great program and led them to an appearance in the Vanier Cup in 1998, and he has resumed his great work here at Queen’s.”

“If you want to be champions you have to beat champions and there’s no doubt in my mind Queen’s is one of the top teams in the country.”

Laval and Queen’s battled five times in the past, each time in the regular season, when they were part of the now defunct OQIFC. The Gaels won the annual meeting in 1996 and 1997, while the Rouge et Or responded with victories in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The first two tilts as well as the most recent took place at Richardson Stadium.

“Glen and his staff have done a magnificent job at Laval. I was there when the Rouge et Or really took off and captured their first Vanier Cup in 1999, and since then there’s been no looking back for them,” said Gaels head coach Pat Sheahan. “They scored over 300 points this year, they allowed only 61, they do everything well. There’s a reason why they’re the number one team in Canada.”

Laval led the nation for the second straight season and the fifth time in seven years in 2009 for least points allowed in conference play. Queen’s was fifth in the country with 149 points allowed.

The Rouge et Or offence was no slouch either, finishing second to Western (335) with 333 points scored, while the Gaels ranked eighth (272).

The Mitchell Bowl will see two of CIS’ premiere quarterbacks go head-to-head.

Laval fifth-year senior Benoit Groulx claimed the Hec Crighton trophy a year ago and is once again the QUFL nominee for CIS MVP honours this season. Queen’s Danny Brannagan racked up 10,714 passing yards over five regular seasons, good for second place on the CIS all-time list.

“I think one of the mistakes we made in 2007, when we were dominated by Saint Mary’s in the Uteck Bowl in Halifax, is we weren’t completely focused on that game, some players were already thinking about the Vanier Cup,” said Groulx about Laval’s last Bowl game on the road, which ended with a 24-2 loss to the Huskies. “This year, before the playoffs, we made sure it was clear with everyone that there are four stages to the playoffs. We took care of the first two obstacles, this is stage three.”

For Queen’s defensive lineman Shomari Williams, one of the keys to victory will be to stop Laval all-star running back Sébastien Lévesque, who averaged 9.3 yards per carry in conference play and is averaging 9.0 in the post-season, including a 266-yard effort in only two quarters of play in a QUFL semifinal win over Concordia.

“If I compare with last week’s Yates Cup against Western, they have different running philosophies. Western ran a lot of two backs, while Laval uses a lot of one back and two tight end formations, which means it’s easier for them to get to the edge because they can double team the end. So I’m going to have to be able to beat the double team.

“We had the mentality going into the Yates Cup final to stop (Nathan) Riva, and we have to do the same on Saturday, stop Lévesque.”

In Saturday’s other national semifinal at Huskies Stadium in Halifax, the No. 2 Calgary Dinos (9-1) square off against the No. 6 Saint Mary’s Huskies (8-1) at 1 p.m. Atlantic in the Uteck Bowl.

The winners of the Bowl games advance to the Desjardins Vanier Cup, Saturday, November 28 in Quebec City, live on TSN and Radio-Canada at 12 p.m.

MITCHELL BOWL

When: Saturday, Nov. 21, 1 p.m.
Where: Richardson Stadium, Kingston, Ont.
Who: No. 1 Laval Rouge et Or (9-1) at No. 4 Queen’s Gaels (9-1)
TV: Live on TSN & Radio-Canada

UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL ROUGE ET OR (QUFL champions)

2009 season
Overall record: 9-1
Regular season record: 7-1
Regular season standing: 1st
Playoff record: 2-0
Playoff results: 63-1 home win vs. Concordia (SF), 31-7 home win vs. No. 8 Montreal (F)
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 3): No. 1
Best Top 10 ranking (11 weeks): No. 1 (9 weeks: first 6 polls, last 3 polls)
Lowest Top 10 ranking (11 weeks): No. 2 (2 weeks: 7th and 8th polls)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (11 weeks): 11
Regular season offence (333 points / 41.6 per game): 1st QUFL / 2nd CIS
Regular season passing offence (291.8 yards per game): 2nd QUFL / 6th CIS
Regular season rushing offence (194.5 yards per game): 2nd QUFL / 6th CIS
Regular season defence (61 points / 7.6 per game): 1st QUFL / 1st CIS
Regular season passing defence (162.4 yards per game): 1st QUFL / 1st CIS
Regular season rushing defence (76.9 yards per game): 1st QUFL / 1st CIS

2009 QUFL individual honours
Major awards: QB Benoit Groulx (MVP), DT David Bouchard (best lineman), Glen Constantin (coach)
All-stars offence: Benoit Groulx (QB), Julian Feoli-Gudino (WR), Louis-David Gagné (C), Pascal Baillageon (G), David Bouchard (T)
All-stars defence: Marc-Antoine Beaudoin-Cloutier (DE), Jean-Philippe Gilbert (DT), Kelly Hilaire (LB), Maxime Bérubé (DB), Alex Surprenant (DB), Olivier Turcotte-Létourneau (CB), Jonathan Laliberté (S)
All-stars special team: Christopher Milo (P)

All-time head-to-head vs. Queen’s
Overall record: 3-2

2000 (away): 33-14 win (OQIFC regular season)
1999 (home): 23-0 win (OQIFC regular season)
1998 (home): 13-10 win (OQIFC regular season)
1997 (away): 32-7 loss (OQIFC regular season)
1996 (away): 18-7 loss (OQIFC regular season)

Bowl history (since inception of national semi-finals in 1967)
Last Bowl appearance: 2008 Uteck Bowl 59-10 home win vs. Calgary
All-time Bowl record: 5-3
All-time Bowl record on the road: 1-3
Mitchell Bowl record: 1-1
Mitchell Bowl record on the road: 1-1

2008 (home): 59-10 win vs. Calgary (Uteck)
2007 (away): 24-2 loss vs. Saint Mary's (Uteck)
2006 (home): 57-10 win vs. Acadia (Uteck)
2005 (away): 29-27 loss vs. Saskatchewan (Mitchell)
2004 (home): 30-11 win vs. Laurier (Uteck)
2003 (away): 36-32 win vs. McMaster (Mitchell)
2001 (away): 48-8 loss vs. Saint Mary's (Atlantic) *
1999 (home): 27-21 win vs. Saskatchewan (Churchill)

* Following the 2001 season, Laval forfeited all its games due to the use of an ineligible player.

Vanier Cup history
All-time record: 5-0

2008: 44-21 win vs. Western
2006: 13-8 win vs. Saskatchewan
2004: 7-1 win vs. Saskatchewan
2003: 14-7 win vs. Saint Mary's
1999: 14-10 win vs. Saint Mary's

Head coach: Glen Constantin
Year: 9th
Career regular season record: 58-14 *
Career playoff record: 22-6 *
Career overall record (season and playoffs): 80-20 *
Career record vs. Queen’s: 0-0
Bowl record: 4-3
Bowl wins: 2008, 2006, 2004, 2003
Bowl losses: 2007, 2005, 2001
Vanier Cup record: 4-0
Vanier Cup wins: 2008, 2006, 2004, 2003
Vanier Cup losses: None

* In 2001, Laval finished with a 5-3 regular season record and a 2-1 playoff record but forfeited all 7 wins due to the use of an ineligible player.

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY GAELS (OUA champions)

2009 season
Overall record: 9-1
Regular season record: 7-1
Regular season standing: 1st
Playoff record: 2-0
Playoff results: 32-6 home win vs. No. 9 McMaster (SF), 43-39 home win vs. No. 5 Western (F)
Final Top 10 ranking (Nov. 3): No. 4
Best Top 10 ranking (11 weeks): No. 2 (1 week: 9th poll)
Lowest Top 10 ranking (11 weeks): No. 8 (2 weeks: first 2 polls)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (11 weeks): 11
Regular season offence (272 points / 34.0 per game): 3rd OUA / 5th CIS
Regular season passing offence (348.4 yards per game): 2nd OUA / 2nd CIS
Regular season rushing offence (146.6 yards per game): 7th OUA / 15th CIS
Regular season defence (149 points / 18.6 per game): 4th OUA / 8th CIS
Regular season passing defence (230.8 yards per game): 5th OUA / 12th CIS
Regular season rushing defence (97.9 yards per game): 1st OUA / 3rd CIS

2009 OUA individual honours
Major awards: LB T.J. Leeper (Russ Jackson award nominee)
All-stars offence (First Team): Matt O’Donnell (T), Scott Valberg (IR)
All-stars offence (Second Team): Dan Brannagan (QB), Vince DeCivita (G)
All-stars defence (First team): Osie Ukwuoma (DE), Jimmy Allin (CB)
All-stars defence (Second Team): David Rooney (DB)
All-stars special teams (First Team): Stephen Laporte (cover)
All-stars special teams (Second Team): Dan Village (PK), Jimmy Allin (KR)

All-time head-to-head vs. Laval
Overall record: 2-3

2000 (home): 33-14 loss (OQIFC regular season)
1999 (away): 23-0 loss (OQIFC regular season)
1998 (away): 13-10 loss (OQIFC regular season)
1997 (home): 32-7 win (OQIFC regular season)
1996 (home): 18-7 win (OQIFC regular season)

Bowl history (since inception of national semi-finals in 1967)
Last Bowl appearance: 1992 Churchill Bowl 23-16 win vs. Guelph (neutral site: SkyDome, Toronto)
All-time Bowl record: 4-7
All-time Bowl record at home: 1-0
Mitchell Bowl record: 0-0
Mitchell Bowl record at home: 0-0

1992 (neutral site: SkyDome, Toronto): 23-16 win vs. Guelph (Churchill)
1991 (neutral site: SkyDome, Toronto): 42-22 loss vs. Wilfrid Laurier (Churchill)
1989 (away): 40-10 loss vs. Saskatchewan (Churchill)
1984 (away): 29-17 loss vs. Mount Allison (Atlantic)
1983 (home): 22-7 win vs. Toronto (Western)
1981 (away): 40-14 loss vs. Acadia (Atlantic)
1979 (away): 32-14 loss vs. Western (Yates Cup)
1978 (away): 32-10 win vs. StFX (Atlantic)
1977 (away): 35-22 loss vs. Acadia (Atlantic)
1970 (away): 24-20 OT loss vs. Manitoba (Western)
1968 (away): 29-6 win vs. Manitoba (Western)

Vanier Cup history
All-time record: 3-1

1992: 31-0 win vs. Saint Mary’s
1983: 31-21 loss vs. Calgary
1978: 16-3 win vs. UBC
1968: 42-14 win vs. Waterloo Lutheran

Head coach: Pat Sheahan
Year: 21st (10th at Queen’s / 11 at Concordia 1989-1999)
Career regular season record: 98-63-1 (50-30 with Queen’s)
Career playoff record: 13-14 (7-6 with Queen’s)
Career overall record (season and playoffs): 111-77-1 (57-36 with Queen’s)
Career record vs. Laval: 5-2 (all with Concordia)
Bowl record: 1-1 (both with Concordia)
Bowl wins: 1998
Bowl losses: 1993
Vanier Cup record: 0-1 (with Concordia)
Vanier Cup wins: None
Vanier Cup losses: 1998


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