VANCOUVER (CIS) – The McMaster Marauders won the first Vanier Cup in school history in dramatic fashion, as Ottawa’s Tyler Crapigna booted a 20-yard field goal in overtime to lift his team to a 41-38 win over the Laval Rouge et Or at B.C. Place Stadium Friday night in the 47th CIS football final in front of 24,935 fans.
Video Highlights, courtesy of TSN
[URL]http://watch.tsn.ca/featured/clip575161#clip575161
Courtesy of Andy Watson / Photo credit Richard Lam
Laval suffered its first national championship loss in school history, and they now have a 6-1 record at the Vanier Cup. They lost just one other time this season, 17-12 to Montreal on Oct. 8. They had a chance to become the winningest program in CIS history in their quest for a seventh national championship but remain tied with the Western Mustangs for the honour.
With the win, McMaster earns its first Vanier Cup win in two tries. Their only other appearance was in 1967, a 10-9 loss to the Alberta Golden Bears at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.
Kyle Quinlan of South Woodslee, Ont., was named the Ted Morris memorial trophy winner as offensive MVP, going 36-for-55 for 482 yards and two touchdowns in the air and adding 106 yards on 14 rushes on the ground. His 36 completions ties him for the second-best in Vanier Cup history and his 482 passing yards is second best as well. McMaster’s 41 first downs also ties a Vanier Cup record and their 675 total offensive yards is second best in Vanier Cup history.
Freshman linebacker Aram Eisho of Hamilton, Ont., was named the defensive MVP and recipient of the Bruce Coulter Award, leading the Marauders with 11.5 tackles and one forced fumble.
It’s only the second time in Vanier Cup history the national championship game was decided in overtime and the most points the Rouge et Or surrendered all season.
Crapigna had a chance to win it for McMaster earlier in the game on a 25-yard attempt with three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, he missed wide to the left. On his redemption opportunity in the second overtime period, he split the uprights for the winning points.
“I had a feeling I was going to get used again in overtime, so I just wanted to get right out and there kick it,” Crapigna said. “Obviously, I wanted another shot. It felt good to finally get that.”
He finished four-for-six on field goal attempts, connecting from 20, 24, 26 and 37 yards but missing from 30 and 40 yards out.
“I had a feeling the past couple of days it was going to be close game,” he said. “I was on the bus ride here thinking about it I had this feeling in my gut it was going to come down to a field goal. I made the one in overtime and that’s all that matters.”
McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek, in his sixth season, said he was proud of his team and his kicker.
“Tyler cannot win or lose a football game. He’s a member on that sideline. There was nothing for him to redeem from,” Ptaszek said. “He was ready to make the play and the only play that matters is the next one and he made the next one.”
Laval was looking to pull off a miraculous comeback, trailing 23-0 at the half in the first Vanier Cup game played in British Columbia. They rattled off 31 second-half points to force overtime.
“I’m really proud of my players and really proud of the character they showed,” said Laval head coach Glen Constantin, who holds the record with five Vanier Cup wins as a head coach. “They could have easily packed it in after the first half.”
The Laval offence struggled early but senior quarterback Bruno Prud’homme, in his final game, guided a strong comeback effort for his Rouge et Or.
“In the first half we dug ourselves a big hole with a number of mental mistakes,” said Prud’homme, who went 21-for-30 for 239 yards along with two touchdowns and two interceptions. “But we came back really strong and we should be proud of that.”
Early on, McMaster built a solid lead exposing the middle of the Laval secondary and with effective running from Quinlan.
The Marauders scored on their second drive after a fumble from Laval’s offensive star Sébastien Lévesque, as Crapigna booted a 26-yard field goal. The sophomore kicker – who missed McMaster’s previous three playoff games with illness – had just returned for the national final. His first of four field goals gave McMaster the early 3-0 cushion.
A fake punt by backup quarterback Marshall Ferguson late in the first quarter allowed the Marauders to keep a drive alive just inside Laval territory on a third-and-eight gamble when he connected with rookie receiver Ben O’Connor. The gamble led to a 32-yard Crapigna field goal to push the lead to 6-0 late in the opening quarter.
In just under two minutes, following an interception from defensive back Justin Daly late in the first quarter, the Marauders extended the lead to 13-0 on a six-play, 60-yard drive. Quinlan struck senior receiver Matthew Peressini from 21 yards out to make it first and goal and then completed a three-yard touchdown strike to sophomore running back James Hill with 13:38 to go in the half.
A Michael DiCroce grab off one of Quinlan’s 12 consecutive completed passes led to a rushing major from rookie Marauders tailback Chris Pezzetta to stretch the lead to 20-0 with 9:35 remaining in the opening half. The freshman scampered in from 13 yards out on a delayed draw play with good blocking and the help of a few missed tackles from Rouge et Or linebackers. He finished it off by diving into the endzone to cap off a six-play, 82-yard drive that lasted just 2:25.
Laval kicker Boris Bede missed a 35-yard field goal attempt and then Crapigna added his third field goal fo the game with just under two minutes remaining in the half to put McMaster up 23-0.
In the third quarter, Laval came back with a purpose – and they got some help from a brief run of undisciplined McMaster play. The Rouge et Or went on a 17-0 third-quarter run, started off on a 62-yard punt return by Guillaume Rioux to cut the lead to 23-7. Then a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown by Laval’s Frédéric Plesius on a poorly thrown Quinlan pass attempted on second-and-five cut the McMaster lead to 23-14.
On the next McMaster drive, DiCroce appeared to have scored on a 101-yard bomb from Quinlan but it was called back as he was ruled to be offside. The play would have made the score 30-14, but instead Laval responded with an 18-yard Bede field goal with 3:11 remaining in the third quarter and trim the lead further to 23-17 McMaster.
Lévesque gave Laval its first lead of the night, 24-23, on a 44-yard touchdown run with 13:03 left in the fourth quarter, dazzling the crowd with a nice cutback up the middle with good blocking and then zigging and zagging with a nice change of direction, capping off an eight-play, 107-yard drive that ate up just 3:06 on the clock.
Robert Babic made a couple of key catches in the early part of the fourth quarter to get the ball into Laval territory – he tied a Vanier Cup record for catches with 12 – to set up a Matthew Peressini nine-yard touchdown run to give McMaster the lead again, up 31-24, after a two-point conversion with 5:53 left.
Julian Feoil Gudino tied the game at 31-31 with 2:13 left on a five-yard catch, and then a solid McMaster drive set up a chance to win it for Crapigna late in the fourth quarter, but he missed wide to the left and Yannick Morin-Plante returned it to avoid conceding a rouge.
Both teams scored touchdowns on their first possession in overtime – McMaster first on a Brad Fochesato 26-yard touchdown catch from Quinlan and then Laval on an Adam Thibault 33-yard catch from Prud-homme.
It seemed fitting for the game to be decided in an extra period.
“AIl we said entering the fourth quarter was if I were to tell you in August that we were going to be in national final, down one point in the fourth with the best offence in the country, would you have taken it – they’ll take it,” Ptaszek said. “So I’ll go with ups and downs.”
“It was two great teams that are going to make plays from start to finish,” Ptaszek said. “It’s about what you’d expect you just keep playing until there’s no time left and see what happens, that’s pretty much what we did.”
Quinlan, who finished with 588 total yards, said he was proud of his team for their perseverance.
“We jumped all over them early but we weren’t comfortable with that,” Quinlan said. “We knew that these guys were as good as it gets in this country and they showed us why and battled right back. I’m just so proud of these guys for giving it everything that they had.”
“We just had to be live and just play with our hearts,” Quinlan added. “We might not have as much talent as the rest of these guys but you can do some crazy things when you play with everything that you’ve got. We knew we were in a football game, we knew they just weren’t going to roll over. We could feel the momentum turning over and we had one choice and that was to battle back.”
McMaster becomes the first OUA team to win the Vanier Cup since Queen’s won 33-31 over Calgary in 2009.
“What a privilege it is to work with them,” said Ptaszek. “We’re gonna enjoy it. I suspect we’ll wake up tomorrow and and start building and maybe not wait 44 years for the second one.”
NOTES: With the Laval loss, Guelph is now the only team with an undefeated record in Vanier Cup history… Quinlan had 128 yards passing and nine first downs in the opening quarter. Only two teams in Vanier Cup history had no points at the half and came back to win (Saskatchewa in 1996 and Laval in 2004)… Only one other Vanier Cup game went to overtime, the 1994 contest which was won 50-40 by the Saskatchewan Huskies over the Western Mustangs… It’s the final game for seven Laval players (Prud’homme, Lévesque, Feoli-Gudino, Jonathan Laliberté, Michel Boudreault, Pascal Baillargeon and Marc-Antoine Louis-Fortin) and five McMaster players (Ryan Chmielewski, Mackenzie Dent, Jarred Jones, Joey Nemet and Peressini)
SCORING SUMMARY
LAV: 0-0-17-14-7-0: 38
MAC: 6-17-0-8-7-3: 41
First Quarter
MAC-FG Tyler Crapigna 26 7:55
MAC-FG Tyler Crapigna 37 12:57
Second Quarter
MAC-TD James Hill 3 pass from Kyle Quinlan (Tyler Crapigna kick) 1:22
MAC-TD Chris Pezzetta 13 run (Tyler Crapigna kick) 5:25
MAC-FG Tyler Crapigna 24 13:37
Third Quarter
LAV-TD Guillaume Rioux 62 punt return (Bede kick) 3:03
LAV-TD Frédéric Plesius 37 interception return (Bede kick) 4:17
LAV-FG Boris Bede 18 11:49
Fourth Quarter
LAV-TD Sébastien Lévesque 44 run (Boris Bede kick) 1:57
MAC-TD Matthew Peressini 9 run (Matthew Peressini pass from Kyle Quinlan) 9:07
LAV-TD Julian Feoli-Gudino 5 pass from Bruno Prud’homme (Boris Bede kick) 12:47
Overtime Shootout
MAC-TD Brad Fochesato 26 pass from Kyle Quinlan (Tyler Crapigna kick)
LAV-TD Adam Thibault 33 pass from Bruno Prud’homme (Boris Bede kick)
MAC-FG Tyler Crapigna 20
Attendance: 24,935
-CIS-
Team Statistics (Final) 2011 Vanier Cup #1 Laval vs #4 McMaster
(Nov 25, 2011 at Vancouver, BC)
LAVAL MAC
FIRST DOWNS………………. 26 41
Rushing………………… 5 12
Passing………………… 16 25
Penalty………………… 5 4
NET YARDS RUSHING…………. 160 189
Rushing Attempts………… 22 32
Average Per Rush………… 7.3 5.9
Rushing Touchdowns………. 1 2
Yards Gained Rushing…….. 163 190
Yards Lost Rushing………. 3 1
NET YARDS PASSING…………. 239 496
Completions-Attempts-Int…. 21-30-2 37-56-2
Average Per Attempt……… 8.0 8.9
Average Per Completion…… 11.4 13.4
Passing Touchdowns………. 2 2
TEAM LOSSES………………. -44 -10
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS……….. 355 675
Total offense plays……… 57 90
Average Gain Per Play……. 6.2 7.5
Fumbles: Number-Lost………. 1-1 2-0
Penalties: Number-Yards……. 14-80 13-98
PUNTS-YARDS………………. 6-234 5-157
Average Yards Per Punt…… 39.0 31.4
Net Yards Per Punt………. 35.3 7.8
Inside 20………………. 2 0
50+ Yards………………. 0 0
Touchbacks……………… 0 0
Fair catch……………… 0 0
KICKOFFS-YARDS……………. 5-311 4-202
Average Yards Per Kickoff… 62.2 50.5
Net Yards Per Kickoff……. 45.0 28.0
Touchbacks……………… 0 0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 7-118-1 5-22-0
Average Per Return………. 16.9 4.4
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 4-90-0 5-86-0
Average Per Return………. 22.5 17.2
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 2-39-1 2-58-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Possession Time…………… 25:38 34:22
1st Quarter…………….. 6:32 8:28
2nd Quarter…………….. 5:07 9:53
3rd Quarter…………….. 6:50 8:10
4th Quarter…………….. 7:09 7:51
OT Quarter…………….. 0:00 0:00
Third-Down Conversions…….. 0 of 0 3 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances……. 2-3 6-6
Touchdowns……………… 1-3 3-6
Field goals…………….. 1-3 3-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards…….. 2-10 5-37
PAT Kicks………………… 5-5 3-3
Field Goals………………. 1-2 4-6 [HR][/HR] Individual Statistics
[HR][/HR] Individual Statistics (Final) 2011 Vanier Cup #1 Laval vs #4 McMaster (Nov 25, 2011 at Vancouver, BC) [HR][/HR] Laval
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ——————————————–
Seb. Levesque 17 139 3 136 1 44 8.0
Br. Prud’Homme 5 24 0 24 0 9 4.8
Totals… 22 163 3 160 1 44 7.3
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack ——————————————–
Br. Prud’Homme 21-30-2 239 2 33 5 Totals… 21-30-2 239 2 33 5
Receiving No. Yds TD Long ———————————–
J. Feoli-Gudino 10 106 1 18
Adam Thibault 3 52 1 33
J-S. Haidara 3 35 0 18
Mathew Norzil 3 20 0 10
Guillaume Rioux 1 21 0 21
Seb. Levesque 1 5 0 5
Totals… 21 239 2 33
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB ———————————————-
Boris Bede 6 234 39.0 46 2 0 Totals… 6 234 39.0 46 2 0 P
unts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg ———————————————
J. Feoli-Gudino 1 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Guillaume Rioux 5 94 62 3 73 34 0 0 0
Maxim. D-Kamara 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
Y. Morin-Plante 1 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pascal Lochard 0 0 0 1 17 17 0 0 0
Fred. Plesius 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 37 37
Totals… 7 118 62 4 90 34 2 39 37
Field goal attempts —————————————-
Boris Bede 2nd 06:58 35 yds – Missed
Boris Bede 3rd 03:11 18 yds – Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
—————————————
Boris Bede 5 311 0 0 62.2 [HR][/HR] McMaster
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg ——————————————–
Kyle Quinlan 14 106 0 106 0 18 7.6
C. Pezzetta 13 64 0 64 1 13 4.9
Matthew Peressi 3 16 1 15 1 9 5.0
Michael Dicroce 1 3 0 3 0 3 3.0
Joey Nemet 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0
Totals… 32 190 1 189 2 18 5.9
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack ——————————————–
Kyle Quinlan 36-55-2 482 2 38 2
M. Ferguson 1-1-0 14 0 14 0
Totals… 37-56-2 496 2 38 2
Receiving No. Yds TD Long ———————————–
Robert Babic 12 135 0 24
Michael Dicroce 7 102 0 38
Matthew Peressi 7 87 0 24
Brad Fochesato 5 95 1 30
B. O’Connor 5 74 0 25
James Hill 1 3 1 3
Totals… 37 496 2 38
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB ———————————————-
Tyler Crapigna 5 157 31.4 36 0 0
Totals… 5 157 31.4 36 0 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg ———————————————
Robert Babic 2 18 10 3 51 21 0 0 0
Michael Dicroce 3 4 3 2 35 22 0 0 0
Michael Daly 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2
Joey Cupido 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 27
S. Ventresca 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 29 29
Totals… 5 22 10 5 86 22 2 58 29
Field goal attempts —————————————-
Tyler Crapigna 1st 07:05 26 yds – Good
Tyler Crapigna 1st 02:03 37 yds – Good
Tyler Crapigna 2nd 01:23 24 yds – Good
Tyler Crapigna 2nd 00:00 40 yds – Returned
Tyler Crapigna 4th 00:00 30 yds – Returned
Tyler Crapigna OT 15:00 20 yds – Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg —————————————
Tyler Crapigna 3 151 0 0 50.3
Stephen Dennis 1 51 0 0 51.0
FUMBLES: Laval-Seb. Levesque 1-1. McMaster-Michael Dicroce 1-0; C. Pezzetta 1-0.
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
CFC Youth Game Spotlight: Quebec OL ready to lock it down
