By Canadian Press

U Sports Roundup: Golden Hawks rally for Yates Cup win over Mustangs

Nov 12, 2016 | 1:15 PM

LONDON, Ont. — Nathan Mesher kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired and the No. 5 Laurier Golden Hawks rallied for a thrilling 43-40 victory over the No. 3 Western Mustangs on Saturday in the largest fourth quarter comeback in the 109 years of the Yates Cup.

The win, Laurier’s first OUA championship since 2005, put the Golden Hawks into next weekend’s Uteck Bowl against the Laval Rouge et Or, who beat the Montreal Carabins 20-17 in the RSEQ final. The winner of the Uteck Bowl will advance to the Vanier Cup.

“I am probably the only one crazy enough to think it could actually happen,” said head coach Michael Faulds after capturing his first Yates Cup as a coach to go along with the two he won as a player. “I tell the players that and they gave me a nod. But I truly did believe.”

Down 40-19 in the fourth quarter, Laurier responded with 21 unanswered points — on three TD passes from quarterback Michael Knevel — to tie the game and set up the winning field goal. 

Knevel tagged Brentyn Hall for a 29-yard strike with eight minutes left to cut the deficit to 40-26. A 23-yard touchdown from Carson Ouellette five minutes later made it 40-33 and Kurleigh Gittens Jr., caught a three-yard TD pass to tie the game with just over a minute to play.

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Knevel finished with 309 yards and was 22 for 36 with the three touchdowns. 

Levondre Gordon added a rushing TD for Laurier in the first half and Mesher was good on all five of his field-goal attempts.

Western QB Chris Merchant threw for 281 yards with touchdowns to Harry McMaster and George Johnson. Merchant was also intercepted once.

Alex Taylor had three rushing scores for the Mustangs.

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RSEQ FINAL

MONTREAL — Reveiver Jonathan Breton-Robert threw a three-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Hugo Richard on a gimmick play with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter as the Laval Rouge-et-Or slipped past the Montreal Carabins 20-17 to win the RSEQ Final.

Laval will face Laurier in the Uteck Bowl on Sat. Nov. 19.

Breton-Robert finished with a 161 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Richard completed 28-of-44 pass attempts for 392 yards and a TD. Richard also led Laval’s ground attack with 49 yards rushing.

Montreal QB Pierre-Luc Varhegyi was 8 for 12 for 112 yards and a touchdown, while Carabins kicker Felix Menard connected on three field goals and added a conversion and a rouge for 11 points.

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LONEY BOWL

ANTIGONISH, N.S. — Tivon Cook threw two touchdowns to Christain Ridley to lead the No. 10 StFX X-Men to a 29-8 victory over the Mount Allison Mounties for their second straight AUS championship.

StFX will play the Calgary Dinos in next weekend’s Mitchell Bowl with a spot in the Vanier Cup on the line.

Cook completed 20-of-29 pass attempts for 264 yards and the two scores. He was also intercepted twice.

Ryan Lambert kicked two field goals for the Mounties, who picked up their other two points on a safety in the fourth quarter.

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HARDY CUP

CALGARY — Jeshrun Antwi rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns as the Calgary Dinos held on for a 46-43 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds to win the Hardy Cup.

Quarterback Adam Sinagra completed 22-of-29 pass attempts for 366 yards, three TDs and an interception as Calgary built a 36-26 lead by the end of the third quarter.

Ben Cummings ran in two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as UBC mounted a late comeback.

The Dinos will face StFX in the Mitchell Bowl next weekend.

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The Canadian Press