Université Laval Rouge et Or team celebrate after winning the Vanier Cup over the University of Calgary DinosJacques Boissinot
There are wins, there are emphatic victories, and then there's what the Laval Rouge et Or did in Saturday's Vanier Cup.
La Vieille Capitale is alight with talk of perfection and shattered records this evening - Laval capped off an unbeaten season with a Vanier Cup conquest that will be considered among the most dominant performances in the history of the championship
"Our whole motto was start fast, play hard and finish, that's what we do . . . winning this at home is very, very special, you might call it the ultimate experience in university football," Laval coach Glen Constantin said as his players celebrated a few steps away with bottles of sparkling wine and cheap cigars.
It was always going to be tough for the University of Calgary Dinos to upset the 12-0 Rouge et Or, but in the event, they weren't even close, losing 29-2 in a contest that saw them thoroughly dominated in all three phases.
"I thought the kids worked hard all week . . . I think it was just one of those days, we weren't ready, things didn't fall into place," said Calgary coach Blake Nill, a former Vanier Cup-winning coach who is now 2-6 in encounters with his good friend Constantin.
It was the fifth Vanier Cup triumph for Constantin as head coach - he was an assistant coach for their first in 1999 - tops among CIS coaches.
The Rouge et Or also ran their unbeaten streak in national championship games to six.
That mark ties the University of Western Ontario at the summit of Vanier Cup success, although it took the Mustangs 12 appearances do what Laval has achieved in 15 years of existence.
Laval also became the first team to win the championship in their home stadium, before more than 16,000 fans, and where they are now 44-0 since the fall of 2004.
And if the Dinos had high hopes of avenging their loss to Queen's in the 2009 Vanier Cup - also played in Quebec City - they were quickly dashed on this day.
So complete was the dominance of the Laval defence, the Dinos were held to the lowest amount of total offence in Vanier Cup history - 140 yards - on a snowbound day in Quebec City.
"(Defensive coordinator) Marc Fortin called for a lot of pressure up front, which I think helped, we were in the quarterback's face all day" said Laval defensive end Marc-Antoine Fortin. "The footing wasn't great out there, there was a fair bit of ice, it was certainly complicated for all of us, and probably worse for their offence."
The Rouge et Or ran out to a 14-0 lead before the Dinos had even managed a first down.
Bitter disappointment then, for a Calgary team who's season has ended at Laval University's PEPS stadium in each of the last three years (they were runners-up to Queen's in last year's Vanier Cup and also lost the 2008 Uteck Bowl to Laval).
The dozen Dinos who will be leaving the squad - including fifth-year quarterback Erik Glavic - won't have fond memories of La Vieille Capitale.
"Their defence really flies around," said a disconsolate Glavic. "They deserve it."
It didn't help that several of Glavic's receivers dropped passes at crucial times - Anthony Parker was particularly culpable - and that the running game, so effective in last week's Mitchell Bowl, dried up almost entirely.
The Dinos were shackled from the get-go, and though they were able to make some headway in the second half, all the points in this game would be scored by the home side - Calgary's two came on a safety conceded by Laval kicker Christopher Milo.
Laval running back Sebastien Levesque rampaged for 145 yards and a touchdown in the first half alone - he ran for 168 yards in total and would be named the game's MVP - and that despite nursing an apparent leg injury.
Such was Laval's early domination that they piled up 281 first half offensive yards to 40 for the Dinos, and their vaunted ground attack produced -6 yards.
Levesque was hammered to the ground on Laval's third play from scrimmage by Calgary's Andrea Bonaventura, and left the field limping noticeably - he has been bothered by a knee problem that forced him to miss five games this season.
So the Dinos can be forgiven for being surprised when Levesque came back on the next series and busted a 41-yard touchdown run off the left side to give the home side a 7-0 lead at the 4:27 mark of the first quarter.
The Rouge et Or ran the lead to 14-0 on their next series when Laval quarterback Bruno Prud'homme hit Yannick Morin-Plante on a wide receiver screen and the latter scampered 40 yards to pay dirt.
Milo then added a 12-yard field goal to make it a 17-0 game.
It took a moment of strategic largesse by the Rouge et Or for Calgary to get on the board - Milo opted to give up a safety rather than punt from deep in his own end zone.
On the next series, Dino kicker Aaron Ifield fumbled a high snap to gift the ball to Laval at the Calgary 24, though the defence held firm, Milo extended Laval's lead to 20-2 with a short field-goal.
He would later add his third field goal of the half, this time from 23 yards, and knocked a fourth through the uprights from 27 yards in the dying seconds of the second quarter to give Laval a 26-2 lead.
They wouldn't look back.
Though the Dinos threatened in the third quarter and moved the ball effectively - Eric Dzwilewski came on to replace Glavic for several series in the third quarter - the Laval defence stood tall.
Though the Rouge et Or managed only three second half points - a Milo field goal in the fourth quarter - it was more than enough, this game felt more lop-sided than the final score suggested.
In the fourth quarter, Levesque thought he'd scored another long touchdown run - it was called back for holding but by then the outcome was already well beyond doubt.