STE. FOY, Que. – Just a 10 minute drive outside the walls of Old Quebec City, the Western Mustangs football team practiced in cold, crisp conditions at PEPS Stadium, preparing for what promises to be an exciting matchup between the nation’s top two ranked teams.
The No. 1 nationally ranked Laval Rouge et Or (11-0) and No. 2 nationally ranked Western Mustangs (9-1) play for the Uteck Bowl, the CIS national semifinal, Saturday Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. (12:18 p.m. kickoff) at PEPS Stadium in Ste. Foy in what is expected to be a winter-wonderland with snowfall in the forecast.
Laval, undefeated at home since 2004, may be at its most vulnerable with an injury to a player who posed problems for the Mustangs in the past. Receiver and special teams punt and kick return star Julian Feoli-Gudino is out for the game with a broken ankle sustained in Laval’s 22-17 win on Nov. 13 to win the Dunsmore Cup. Feoli-Gudino, who won the 2008 Vanier Cup MVP award, is definitely out of the lineup Saturday after going through season-ending surgery on Sunday,
In fact, the Rouge et Or are banged up across the board according to local newspaper reports. However, head coach Glen Constantin, guiding his squad to eight staight national semifinal games, said his team is ready and their depth is deep enough to handle the injury woes.
“At Laval we are all about team. We have great depth at receiver. We are all ready to accept the challenge this presents, and we have had a good week at practice.”
But Constantin is wary of the Mustangs and their potential.
“They have a very talented team and they’re the Ontario champions. Saturday will be an unforgettable experience,” he said. “Western is one of the premier programs in the country. I got a letter when I was being recruited from (former Mustangs head coach) Larry Haylor and it was a premier program then and it is still a premier program today.”
Senior Laval quarterback Bruno Prud’homme will get the start for the Rouge et Or. Constantin said he has handled the pressure associated with the position well.
“He has answered the challenged in the post Benoit Groulx era, and has answered the challenge and hopefully it will continue,” Constantin said.
Laval will be focussed on stopping Western’s nation’s best rushing attack. Constantin credited Western’s offensive line, and running backs Nathan Riva – “he’s very fast” – and Jerimy Hipperson – “he’s very physical” -and knows his defence is up for a big test.
“With quarterback Donnie Marshall, he runs a good system,” Constantin said. “It’s a big game for us, we will have to work hard.”
Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall showed praise for his squad, but said they will need to play at their very best to win in front of a capacity crowd – expected over 15,000 – on Saturday. He knows his running-first offence will also face its biggest test of the season against one of the CIS’s top run defences.
“It will be a challenge (to run the football) but it was a challenge two years ago to throw the football,” Greg Marshall said. “Now on offence we have balance. One of the challenges two years ago is we were young at running back, receiver and on offensive line. Now we’re more experienced (in those three positions) and we’re young at quarterback.”
But Greg Marshall has confidence in his first-year starter Donnie Marshall, also his eldest of two sons on the team.
“Donnie has managed the games very, very well, and he’s one of the reasons we’re here today,” said Greg Marshall, who also has another son, freshman sloback Brian Marshall, in the lineup on Saturday.
Greg Marshall noted his offence struggled in part because of a change in strategy after getting behind after two quick scores in the second quarter of the 2008 Vanier Cup at Ivor Wynne Stadium won 44-21 by Laval.
“We struggled early in that game two years ago to run the football against Laval. We got behind and we had to throw and that changed our gameplan,” Greg Marshall said. “Hopefully we can establish the run game tomorrow.”
The Uteck Bowl game can be seen live on TSN and on Radio-Canada. A live stream is available at [url]www.radio-canada.ca/sports and a tape-delayed stream at [url]www.tsn.ca. Follow along with a live blog at [url]www.westernmustangs.ca. Or listen on the radio at Newstalk 1290 AM CJBK ([url]www.cjbk.com) or CHRW Radio (94.9 FM) at [url]www.chrwradio.com/listen/.
Nov. 20: Uteck Bowl – Western at Laval, 12 p.m.
By Andy Watson
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
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