Laval wins its 17th Dunsmore Cup in front of a record crowd

A record crowd for the Dunsmore Cup, the previous mark was 14,914 spectators in 2012 against Sherbrooke.

Marc Fortier’s defense was uncompromising in the second half, giving only crumbs to the Montreal offense. William Quenneville made the biggest play of the game with a sack on quarterback Jonathan Sénécal which resulted in a fumble. Laval scored the winning touchdown a few moments later.

“It was a play that made the difference at the end of the match and I’m really happy to have done it. I’m not disappointed that I made the decision to come back this season and I was missing something. It was a bit of an unfinished quest. I’m super happy.”

Head coach Glen Constantin was visibly satisfied with his team and the effort of his defense. They were able to contain the legs of opposing quarterback Jonathan Sénécal who finished with 38 yards on four carries. The defensive front also applied constant pressure on the Carabins star player.

“We told our players that it is not your assignment, but it is your duty to contain it. They were disciplined in their passing lanes. I’m very proud of the way we played against a good quarterback. It’s one of the good defensive performances since I’ve been in place.”

Lack of rhythm among the Carabins

Losing head coach Marco Iadeluca did not have too much difficulty identifying the reasons for this failure.

“We didn’t find our rhythm offensively and there were too many down periods where we didn’t move the ball. We have to find a way to help our quarterback with his rhythm by completing short passes. We did it at the end of the first half and at the end of the match, but it was insufficient.”

The pilot did not hate the defensive work of his formation, but a big mistake was costly.

“Things were going well for three quarters and we had a communication error at the start of the fourth quarter which cost seven points. We lost by five points, we can’t give big plays like that in the final, but the fact remains that I am proud of my players.

For graduating player Carl Chabot, it is the end of an excellent university career. The little receiver always seemed to have his best games against Quebec.

“It’s not the result we wanted and we gave everything until the end. I’m proud of the guys. We gave ourselves a chance to come back at the last minute, but we had to do it earlier.”

It should be noted that quarterback Jonathan Sénécal was not available for interviews after the Carabins game.

A balloon with a special place

Receiver Olivier Cool was voted the game’s MVP. He finished the game with 10 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown. Despite this great recognition, it was the match ball that Cool kept that seemed to make him happy.

“I’m going to have to fight a little with my girlfriend to find where I’m going to hang it, but there’s definitely a place somewhere.”

The 41-yard touchdown he scored early in the third quarter was important, but his catch after juggling the ball late in the game for a big first down was crucial.

“I was a bit lucky and the ball was floating and I created enough separation to get the ball at the highest point. It was a second down and seven yards and we had man-to-man coverage and Justin Éthier had confidence in this confrontation.

Laval hits hard coming back from the locker room

The Rouge et Or certainly didn’t appreciate falling behind at the half since they started the second half on a strong note. After an excellent Billy Jonas Pernier kickoff return, Arnaud Desjardins found Olivier Cool completely alone in the Montreal tertiary a few plays later for a 41-yard touchdown.

After an unsuccessful offensive sequence from Montreal, the locals scored their second field goal of the match which made the score 15 to 10 for Laval. The host team kept the pedal to the metal until the end of the match.

RSEQ Most Valuable Player, Arnaud Desjardins, assures that a few players felt the need to speak at the half.

“A few guys spoke up, including me. I apologized for the interception I threw in the second quarter and mentioned that we needed to work harder than we were doing right now. The guys came out strong and I’m so proud of them.”

The slender pivot was happy to win his second Dunsmore Cup in front of his fans.

“It feels good to make everyone happy by winning. There is enthusiasm for us in Quebec and we are so grateful.”

Direction Regina

The Rouge et Or will now head to Saskatchewan to play the Mitchell Cup. Their opponents will be the Regina University Rams who defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 19-14. Arnaud Desjardins also assured that his troop had a lot of energy left.

“There’s definitely some left, we’re super excited. Having experienced it in 2022, long team trips are exciting and I am convinced that we will come out of there with a victory.

What they said:

“We really had a good game plan to prevent Jonathan Sénécal from running with the ball. We had strategies focused on that and we executed well. When we take his legs away, he just throws and it becomes difficult at that time. (William Quenneville, Laval defensive end)

“Our ability to run the ball against the wind was big for us. An important aspect of the meeting.” (Glen Constantin, Laval head coach)

“We did not achieve our objectives at the start of the season with a good team on hand. I’m happy with the season overall, but we wanted a better outcome today.” (Marco Iadeluca, Montreal head coach)

“We believed in it until the end. We had a lot of adversity during the season and we ran out of time. In this type of match, it is often a battle of field positioning and they clearly had the better of us in the second half. (Carl Chabot, Montreal receiver)

“It was a very difficult match, but the better team won. I take my hat off to the Rouge et Or and even though we lost, I’m grateful to have played with the guys.” (Jeremiah Ojo, Montreal defensive line)

“I didn’t necessarily expect to have the individual season that I’ve had so far, but I knew that collectively we would be here today. (Olivier Cool, Laval receiver)

“Mathieu Roy had a phenomenal second half as a carrier and he got us out of trouble a couple of times.” (Arnaud Desjardins, Laval quarterback)