The Laval Rouge et Or and the Saskatchewan Huskies won their regional bowl games Saturday to advance to next week's Vanier Cup in a rematch of the final game two years ago.

Laval crushed the Acadia Axemen 57-10 at home in Quebec City and Saskatchewan won on the road over the Ottawa Gee-Gees 35-28 to send both teams to the Nov. 25 game at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon.

Laval University Rouge et Or gather around the Uteck Bowl trophy after trouncing the Acadia Axemen 57-10 Saturday. Laval moves on to play the Saskatchewan Huskies at the Vanier Cup next week in Saskatoon.
(Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)

The season's final game will pit two of the most dominant teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport football: Laval is seeking its third title in four years while Saskatchewan returns to the Vanier Cup for the third straight year.

Saskatchewan can only hope home field advantage next week will help reverse their fortunes in the big game. The Huskies have lost three of the last four Vanier Cups, including 7-1 loss to Laval at the 2004 Vanier Cup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Canada West champion Saskatchewan had better luck in Ontario this year, beating the OUA champions at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa. It was Saskatchewan's fourth Mitchell Bowl win in five years since the game was inaugurated in 2002.

Paul Woldu returned an interception 78 yards for a game-changing touchdown and Tyler O'Gorman rushed for 162 yards and three scores for the Huskies.

"We just turned it into one huge party," said Huskies head coach Brian Towriss. "And now we have to go deliver. It's time to keep that Cup at home."

Standing in their way are the Quebec champions from Laval, who return to the Vanier Cup after a one-year absence. The Rouge et Or won titles in 1999, 2003 and 2004.

The second-ranked team in the CIS had little trouble with the Atlantic champion Acadia Axemen in the Uteck Bowl earlier on Saturday, forcing five first-half turnovers en route to their 57-10 victory.

Acadia, playing their first Bowl game away from home in team history, were rattled early when Olivier Turcotte intercepted a Chris Judd pass and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown.

Turnovers prove costly

Three more first half turnovers led to 17 points and by halftime the Rouge et Or had a 33-10 lead.

"We made them pay dearly on three turnovers by scoring first-half touchdowns," said Laval coach Glen Constantin. "That broke their momentum."

The Rouge et Or finished the game with more than 450 yards of total offence. Quarterback Benoit Groulx threw three touchdowns to receiver Lavigne Masse to lead the way on offence.

The final score could have been much worse for Acadia, but Constantin pulled Groulx from the game in the third quarter and punted often in the fourth quarter.

It was the second loss for Acadia in front of the raucous crowd at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City, having lost to Laval 34-7 last month.

The PotashCorp Vanier Cup will kick off Saturday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. CT.

It will be the first time the Vanier Cup has been held outside of Ontario.

 

With files from the Canadian Press