The Rouge et Or’s defense stifles Laurier’s spectacular offense

KINGSTON | The Laval University Rouge et Or defense delivered a masterful performance against the Laurier Golden Hawks and the recipient of the Hec Crighton Trophy awarded to the country’s MVP Taylor Elgersma.

• Also read: The Rouge et Or wins the Vanier Cup

Despite all the flowers distributed to the Golden Hawks’ offense since the start of the week, defensive back Ndéki Garant-Doumambila had no doubt that the Rouge et Or’s defensive unit could contain their rivals.

“We knew what they were doing and we had to execute,” said the author of a sack, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. We are Laval and nothing can stop us. On my covered breakaway, I just had to do the shrimp thing and lie down on the ball. The defensive line and coaches allowed me to make plays. I had never won in my career and that’s why I came to Laval.”

It was defensive end Loïc Brodeur who caused the fumble and allowed the Rouge et Or to take a 22-17 lead a few plays later with less than three minutes remaining. “We have speed and intensity and we were well prepared. The goal was to put pressure on long deployment plays. We have been preparing all season for these big moments.”

Brodeur won the Vanier Cup in his first season. “It’s happening so quickly that I’m moved, to add the Lionel-Groulx Nordiques product. They thought they were coming after us and we took it personal.”

Natan Charron also had a strong match. The freshman defensive end had a sack, a tackle for loss and recovered a fumble. Head coach Glen Constantin and head of the defensive line was very happy with the performance of these young people. “I don’t want to disrespect Mathieu Betts who was present at the match, but Loïc because of his speed and his intensity has similarities with Mathieu,” he mentioned. Natan was recruited late and I’m very happy with him.”

Due to the injury to William Quenneville at the start of the match, the two young people worked extra hard.

Author of 3.5 tackles in addition to recovering a fumble, hybrid linebacker Francis Bouchard savored this moment, playing his last game in the university ranks. “There is nothing more beautiful,” he said. Ndéki set the tone with a big sack as he left. This play lit up the bench. The young people bought the plan from the start of the season and the future is bright.

“Except for two long plays that led to two touchdowns, we gave nothing,” continued Bouchard. We proved that we have a good tertiary and showed character after our more difficult performance in Regina during the Mitchell Cup.

A 51-yard run by Tayshaun Jackson and a 45-yard pass to Ethan Jordan led to the Golden Hawks’ two majors. Jordan finished the game with 179 receptions. As for Taylor Elgersma, he completed 23 of his 34 passes for 246 yards and was the victim of five sacks.

“These two explosive plays were scary,” said Cosntantin.

Pre-match spat

Involved in a verbal joust with quarterback Taylor Elgersma before the game as the two players went head to head, cornerback Jordan Lessard fully savored the victory and his first national title.

“There was no question of us not responding when he came to taunt us in front of our bench during the warm-up,” he said. He did that to every game and we told ourselves it would stop there.”

The Rouge et Or were stung Thursday evening during the Vanier Cup banquet. “There was a lot of tension in the air and lightning in the ceiling,” explained kicker Felipe Forteza. Laurier won the Coach of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards, but we knew who should have won those awards.”

If the players didn’t like it, Constantin saw things differently. “We want to win trophies where there is no vote,” concluded the Laval pilot.