BLOG: 2014 Sacks: Best defensive players and teams of the Year (FINAL EDITION)

I’m sorry for the late blog post. I’ve been work on final papers and writing finals to end my third semester at Concordia.

Almost three weeks ago, the CIS 2014 football season closed out with a fantastic fifty Vanier cup in Montreal. The Fifty Vanier Cup saw the Montreal Carabins make an epic nine point comeback in the fourth quarter to hoist their first ever Vanier Cup trophy and be crowned CIS royalty . The game will not be remember due to the nine point comeback but what happened with 52 seconds as OUA and McMaster legendary kicker, Tyler Crapigna was on the verge of tying history with most field goals in Vanier Cup with four. He was denied history as Carabins and Hamilton Tigercats draftee defensive lineman, Mathieu Girard blocked the kick to ensure the Carabins win. It was a beautiful sight to see live in the press box. So it’s time to award my defensive players from the Vanier Cup and my overall picks for best defender and team from the OUA, AUS, Canada West and RSEQ.

Vanier 50th Cup Defensive players

Montreal Carabins: Defensive back Anthony Coady was named Vanier Cup defensive player of the game. Coady had two interceptions in the Carabins Vanier cup victory. He also had two tackles. The Montreal Carabins other defensive back, Nicolas Gauthier lead both team in tackles with seven. He also had two assists on tackles in the Carabins win. The surprising fact was that Carabins best defensive player all year, linebacker, Byron Archambault only had three tackles however he did recover a fumble. The Carabins defense was one of the best in the CIS as they lead the CIS in sacks and also least amount of passing yards per a game.

McMaster Marauders: McMaster in the Vanier Cup sacked Montreal QB, Gabriel Cousineau not once and not twice but unheard six times. The six sacks resulted in a loss of 30 yards. Marauders defensive lineman, Mark Mackie led both teams in sack with two which resulted in a loss of 11 yards. Mackie had four solo tackles. McMaster linebacker, Nicholas Shortill who had six total tackles which was good enough for him to be led the Marauders in tackles in the game.

Defensive standouts from each league and best defensive team in each league as well.
Canada West Top defender: Alberta Golden Bear linebacker, Connor Ralph had an incredible 2014 campaign. He had 48 solo tackles which put him 6th in the CIS for tackles ,27 assists on tackles which put him in 8th spot in the CIS in that category. In total he had 61.5 tackles which was good enough for him to be 3rd in the country in tackles. Ralph however was not named defender of the year in the Canada west as that honour went to Saskatchewan Huskies defensive back, Mark Ingram. Ingram had 42 solo tackles this year but what he will be remember is for his strong ability of picking off passes as he had six interceptions this year which was good enough for him to lead the CIS in that category.

Best defensive team in Canada West: The Calgary Dinos even though they were upset by the Manitoba Bisons for the second time this season in the Canada West Championship game, it was still a great year for them. The Dinos led the CIS in total offense and most scores not to mention their star pivot, Andrew Buckley won the Hec Crighton this year because of it. Their defensive was just as solid as the offense this year as they only allowed its opponents to average 22.4 points per a game. The Dinos defense was also excellent at stopping the run this year as opponents running backs only averaged 114.9 yards against them which place them fourth in CIS. The defense only surround 179 points in eight games this year which put them ninth in the CIS.

AUS Top defender: Saint Mary Huskies linebacker, Jonathan Langa was perfect all year. Langa led the CIS in solo tackles with 62 and also led CIS in overall tackles with 80. He also averaged 10 tackles a game. Langa won AUS defender of the year and at the CIS Award banquet he won the President Trophy. Unfortunately for Saint Mary Huskies they had their worst year in football history as they went 0-8 at least it was not all bad as one of their players won top honours this year. The Saint Mary defense was very hard to pass on this season as they only allowed opponent QB to average 191.1 yards per a game.
Langa’s tackling ability will have CFL scouts raving about him. He definitely could be picked in the 2nd or third round of the upcoming CFL draft.

AUS Top Defense team of the year: Mount Alison Mounties. MTA had an undefeated regular season in the AUS with 8-0 record however they lost to McMaster in the Mitchell Bowl. The main reason for their undefeated regular season was because of the great play of their defense all year. The Mounties led the CIS in least amount points scored with 8.0 points per a game and only surrender 64 points which also led the CIS in total points not allowed. The Mounties defense also finished second in the CIS in fumble recoveries with 15. The defense finished the year allowing its opponents to have 324 yards per a game which was third best in the CIS. The last thing is their defense was excellent at stopping run this season as they allow only 98.1 yards per game which put them third in the CIS

OUA top defender: Ravens Linebacker, Leon Cenerini. He had 49 solo tackles which was good enough for him to be third in the CIS in that category. He had 61 tackles and 24 assists, his 61 tackles were good enough for him to be fourth in the CIS in tackles. Leon Ceneri however could not help the Ravens defense who give up 500 total yards per a game to its opponent. The OUA nominee for the president trophy was McMaster’s linebacker, Nick Shortill. who was the leader of the defense who only give up 17.8 points per a game and during the regular season they gave up 142 points to its OUA counterparts. Shortill had amazing season with Mac as he had 40 tackles, 22 assists on tackles also had 2.5 sacks for 23 yards and lastly one inception and one fumble recovery. Shortill is a 2015 CFL draft eligible player and the latest scouting bureau seem to love him as he has moved from fall to winter. In fall he was ranked 15 and now in winter he has moved to 11th. He will be a middle second rounder possible first rounder. Gee-Gees defensive tackle, Ettore Lattanzio won the J. P. Metras which was best lineman in the CIS this year. It is a well deserve honour for him as he had eight sacks which place him third in the CIS. Lattanzio in his four seasons with the Gee-Gees has had 31 total sacks. Lattanzio will be drafted in the upcoming CFL draft. He was ranked 20th in the latest scouting bureau list. I see him being late second rounder-mid third rounder.

OUA defensive team of the Year: You can’t go wrong with the McMaster Marauders. The team was the leading team in the OUA on defensive as they give up the least amount of points but also give up the least amount of yards per a game with 333.5 yards. The defense was led by Joey Cupido and Mark Mackie. Cupido entered his fifth year with high hopes as he missed all of last year season, he did not disappointed as he had 21 tackles and four assists but he used his skill as a ball hawk as a cornerback as he had four interceptions. Mark Mackie had 21.5 tackles and seven assists. He also had 4.5 tackles which resulted in a loss of 21 yards. He also had two sacks which resulted in a loss of 13 yards.

RSEQ Defensive player of the year: McGill Redmen linebacker, Karl Forgues. Forgues was snubbed this year as he did not make the RSEQ all-star team and was not an all-Canadian either. He did win RSEQ defensive Rookie of the year. He had one of the best season a rookie could have in his first year. He recorded 59 solo tackles which was the second best in the CIS,31 assists which was 6th best in the CIS and had 74.5 total tackles which was 2nd best in the CIS .He was also a sack machine as he had eight sack, one interception and lastly but not least he had two forced fumbles. He was the only bright spot for the Redmen team who lost every game this year. He averaged 9.3 tackles a game which was second best in the CIS. He could be a player to lookout for years to come. I expect him to win a president trophy someday. The RSEQ defence player of the year was Montreal’s Carabins linebacker, Byron Archambault. Archambault had 39 solo tackles and 21 assists on tackles. He had 49.5 total tackles in the eight games and finally the biggest role was his strong will to be able to get to the QB as he had nine sacks which was 2nd best in the CIS. Archambault is draft eligible in this year CFL draft, he was ranked 17th in the latest scouting bureau list. I suspect him to be a mid- second round pick-early third rounder.
Laval Rouge Et Or defensive lineman, Vincent Desloges was named RSEQ lineman of the year. It was a well deserve honour for him as he led the CIS in sacks with 12 and was second in sack yards with 64 yards.

RSEQ Defensive Team of the year: Montreal and Laval dominated on defense this year as they were tied for most QB sacks in a season. The two schools will always be dominated with their defensive players. I will avoid the conflict and disagreement on which school had the better defense this year, I’m going to avoid it and say the Concordia Stingers. The Concordia Stingers had major shakeup last year which saw the resignation of their coach after 0-8 season and the hiring of former Stinger linebacker,Mickey Donovan along with his brother ,Patrick also a former Stinger linebacker and was also a two time CIS defensive player was named defensive coordinator. Stingers defensive this season was a team of ball hawks as they led CIS in interceptions with 17. They also had five defensive touchdowns which was a CIS best. Stingers defensive halfback, Kris Robertson had the second most interceptions in the CIS with 5.He was also named first team all-Canadian for third time in his career to close out his CIS career. Last year, Robertson was out of football because he tore his ACL.He was picked by the Winnipeg Blue-Bombers in the second round of the 2013 CFL draft. The Stingers defense under the leadership of Patrick Donovan was great at stopping the run as they only allowed 117.5 yards per a game which put them in the top five in the CIS in that category.

Congratulations to the Montreal Carabins for winning the Fifty Vanier Cup in front of their fans. You guys deserve it. If you beat Laval in Quebec City then you are heck of football team and deserve to win the Vanier cup. I cannot forgot to Congrats to the McMaster Marauders for having incredible season and making it to the Vanier Cup. Better luck next year. At least you can have fun about the lost https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zHP7Y4FEzs8. I will be continue to be writing articles but on each universities new recruits in Quebec in the New Year so stay turn for that. Happy Holidays to everyone and may 2015 bring you more great memories.

I would love to hear from you who do you think was the best defensive players and team in the CIS this season? You can tweet me at Casey_Dulson.

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