CIS Football Report (Semi-Finals)

Posted by thesportsjunky on November 5, 2012 · 2 Comments 

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CIS Football was officially in playoff mode this week as every conference held the semi-finals of their conference. It is the best time of year as the best teams face off with everything on the line. If they lose they go home with nothing but a playoff spot to boast about but if they win they live to fight another day in the CIS season. The regular season doesn’t matter in the playoffs besides the deciding what field you play on. Every game now came down to one play or one missed opportunity for teams to get to their conference finals. In the CanWest conference the top four teams throughout the year were all that remained of the six teams in the conference. Calgary, Regina, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba would all square off in the CanWest playoffs for a chance at the Hardy Cup. Calgary had been the force of the conference all year and was looking to continue their four-year reign in the CanWest when they took on the Manitoba Bison. The Dinos won easily as they dominated the Bison to earn a chance at winning their fifth straight Hardy Trophy. In the other game in the west the Regina Rams took on the Saskatchewan Huskies in another easy win for the Rams. The Rams would now get to face the Calgary Dinos in the Hardy Cup as the only team to beat the Dinos all year. It will be a great matchup of the two clear best teams in the West with the Rams knowing that they can compete with the Dinos. In the OUA it was the second round of playoffs as regular season rivalries took hold in the semi-finals. The McMaster Marauders took on the Western Mustangs in a matchup of the two most recent powers in the conference. A brief scare for the Marauders in the first half was quickly dealt with as the Marauders won and now look for a repeat as OUA champions. In one of the best games of the weekend the Guelph Gryphons and Queen’s Golden Gaels had a major battle like their first meeting in the regular season. The Gaels got out to a 36-14 lead but allowed the Gryphons to come back and tie the game. The Gryphons then won the game in overtime to complete a massive comeback. Now the #1 and 2 teams in the OUA will face off as the Gryphons look to hand the Marauders their first loss of the season. In the RSEQ there was a lot of talk about a Montreal-Laval final but both had to get through their semi-finals to make it happen. The Rouge et Or easily got through the McGill Redmen who earned a spot in the playoffs after Bishop’s forfeited a win moving them in to the playoff spot. Montreal had a much more difficult time though as the Sherbrooke Vert et Or would not go down easily. Montreal went down early 7-0 but then showed their strength scoring 24 unanswered points in what looked like a blowout in the making. Sherbrooke wouldn’t go away though as they began a run that would lead to the biggest upset of the weekend. The Vert et Or scored 35 straight points and would not let the Carabins back into the endzone. When all was settled the Vert et Or had come out on top 42-24 and would get their shot at the Dunsmore Cup. Sherbrooke now takes on the Rouge et Or to break their nine-year winning streak as they hope to keep the upsets coming. In the AUS there would only be one semi-final as the Saint Mary’s Huskies took on the Mount Allison Mounties. The Huskies did not look like themselves all year while the Mounties could say the same as they shot up to #2 in the conference. The Huskies did not change that much though as they easily handled the Mounties and looked like their old selves. Now the Huskies will take on longtime rival the Acadia Axemen as they look for revenge for their two losses in the regular season. The conference finals are set and the Vanier Cup is that much closer. There are only 8 teams left in the CIS picture as championships begin to get handed out and the national playoffs come into focus as games will only get better from here on the road to the Vanier.

 

Conference Semi-Finals:

CanWest:
Regina Rams 31 – 9 Saskatchewan Huskies
– The Huskies were trying to take their chance at coming back into the fold of the CanWest conference but it was the Regina Rams time as the second place team easily ran over the Huskies for their spot in the finals

 

Calgary Dinos 57 – 18 Manitoba Bison
– The Dinos are the constant in the CanWest as they continue to be one of the strongest teams in the CIS and proved that they are a team to fear in the National level after handling the Bison to move one step towards the National level

 

OUA:
Guelph Gryphons 42 – 39 Queen’s Golden Gaels (OT)
– Both teams faced off during the season in a great game and their playoff matchup was no different as the Gaels came out to a first half 36-14 lead but could not contain the Gryphons who tied the game in the 4^th quarter and won it in overtime to move on the OUA Finals

 

McMaster Marauders 42 – 28 Western Mustangs
– The Marauders are the best team in the CIS so it was no surprise that they did not panic when the Mustangs came out to an early lead as Kyle Quinlan led the Marauders back to a dominant win for another berth in the Yates Cup

 

RSEQ:
Laval Rouge et Or 46 – 9 McGill Redmen
– The Redmen snuck in to the playoffs due to a technicality that saw Bishop’s lose a win and the joy of getting into the playoffs did not last long when they were to face Laval who easily beat the Redmen to go back to the Dunsmore Cup

 

Sherbrooke Vert et Or 42 – 24 Montreal Carabins
– The Montreal Carabins were the only team to beat Laval this year and the rematch was expected to take place next week but it wasn’t to be as the Vert et Or from Sherbrooke surprised everyone beating the Carabins to earn a spot in the RSEQ finals

 

AUS:
Saint Mary’s Huskies 49 – 11 Mount Allison Mounties
– The Huskies are getting hot at the right time as they are now on a two game winning streak with both games ending in big blowouts as they proved that the beginning of the season was just a fluke beating the Mounties easily to earn a spot in the Loney Bowl

 

Conference Finals:

Hardy Cup:
Regina Rams vs. Calgary Dinos (November 10^th; 1:00 pm MST)
– Regina is the only team to beat the Calgary Dinos all year and they will get a chance to do that again in the Hardy Cup Finals as the Rams try to end the 4 years reign of the Dinso in the CanWest conference to move on to the National Playoffs

 

Yates Cup:
Guelph Gryphons vs. McMaster Marauders (November 10^th; 1:00 pm EST)
– The Marauders have yet to lose this year and with Kyle Quinlan at the helm any team is in trouble but the Gryphons are hoping that they can earn the biggest upset of the playoffs by beating the Marauders and preventing the repeat

 

Dunsmore Cup:
Sherbrooke Vert et Or vs. Laval Rouge et Or (November 10^th; 1:15 pm EST)
– The Laval Rouge et Or are the 9 time RSEQ champions and have rarely been challenged even this year only losing one game but the Vert et Or are looking to continue their upset playoffs by ending the reign of the big red machine

 

Loney Bowl:
Saint Mary’s Huskies vs. Acadia Axemen (November 10^th; 1:00 pm AST)
– Both teams have faced off twice already and the Axemen have come out on top both times to win the conference but the Huskies are hoping that they continue their strong play of the past two weeks to win another Jewett Trophy

Filed under College Football, Football · Tagged with AUS Conference, AUS Finals, AUS Semi-Finals, Calgary Dinos, CanWest Conference, CanWest Finals, CanWest Semi-Finals, CIS, CIS Football, Dunsmore Cup, Guelph Gryphons, Hardy Cup, Hardy Trophy, Jewett Cup, Laval Rouge et Or, Loney Bowl, Manitoba Bison, McGill Redmen, McMaster Marauders, Montreal Carabins, Mount Allison Mounties, OUA Confernece, OUA Finals, OUA Semi-Finals, Queen's Golden Gaels, Regina Rams, RSEQ Conference, RSEQ Finals, RSEQ Playoffs, RSEQ Semi-Finals, Saint Mary's Huskies, Saskatchewan Huskies, Sherbrooke Vert et Or, Western Mustangs, Yates Cup