VANCOUVER – Quebecer Kevin Mital could not have chosen a better time to achieve his first career touchdown in the Canadian Football League, having accomplished the feat on Sunday in Vancouver, in a triumph for his team in the Gray Cup final.
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“It’s crazy,” exclaimed the Toronto Argonauts wide receiver while the blue and white confetti was still flying on the BC Place field. A Gray Cup victory, a ring, you can hardly ask for a better scenario and a better start to your career than that.
Mital, a 25-year-old athlete from Saint-Hubert, on the South Shore of Montreal, will have gotten used to shining in important moments. In 2022, during the conquest of the Vanier Cup in the uniform of the Rouge et Or of Laval University, he received the title of MVP of the final.
This time, in a 41-24 win for the Argos against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Mital caught two passes, including one for the major, for gains of 23 yards.
“During the whole week, Mital saw himself scoring a touchdown and he told me,” commented his Montreal teammate Kerfalla Exumé. When you say something like that, it’s like you’re throwing it out into the universe and it ends up existing.”
Papa champion
Exumé, 30, enjoyed a second career victory in the CFL after the one obtained in 2019 in the Blue Bombers uniform.
“It’s the ultimate goal, we try to lift the trophy every year, I couldn’t be happier,” reacted the cornerback.
Quebecer Kerfalla Exumé poses with his partner, Yasmine Abouelouafa, who is pregnant with their third child.
Photo Benoît Rioux
When celebrating, the Montreal veteran was accompanied by his wife, Yasmine Abouelouafa, pregnant with their third son. The first two, Malcolm and Ezra, will soon welcome their champion dad when he returns home.
Winning in front of your family
Regarding offensive lineman Anthony Vandal, he also enjoyed triumph in his first year in the CFL, like Mital, who is also his roommate in Toronto.
Anthony Vandal lifts the winners’ trophy
Photo Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images
“It’s my first football championship, it means so much to me, I want to make the most of this moment,” reacted the 26-year-old athlete, from the Vert & Or program at the University of Sherbrooke. . To have been able to live this Gray Cup experience with my loved ones and to win in front of them, it’s incredible and I’m really grateful for it.”
“There was no question of missing this,” said his father Alain, met on the BC Place field. I’m experiencing a lot of emotions this year. Already, at the beginning of June, when he called me to tell me that he had secured a place with the club, I was very emotional.
An unexpected adventure
In addition to his two parents and his sister Raphaëlle, Vandal triumphed before the eyes of his long-time partner, Amélie Lescarbeau.
Amélie Lescarbeau, spouse of Anthony Vandal
Photo Benoît Rioux
“I’m really lucky, we’ve been together for 10 years,” said the woman who knew him at Saint-Joseph Seminary in Trois-Rivières. When we started, he started playing football and I never thought that this adventure would go this far.
