Huskies, Mustangs to add chapter to head-to-head history with Vanier Cup clash

Storied U Sports programs collide for sixth time

Adam Machart has delivered big plays for the Huskies.

As two of U Sports most storied football programs, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the University of Western Ontario Mustangs are historic familiar foes.

On Saturday, the two sides will face each other for a sixth time when they collide in the U Sports championship game – the Vanier Cup (12 p.m. Saskatchewan time, CBC). The two sides enter the contest to be played at Stade Telus – Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, each riding eight-game winning streaks.

The Huskies, who have won the Vanier Cup three times, are 8-1 overall and rated fourth in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. The Mustangs, who have won the Vanier Cup seven times, are 9-1 overall and are rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

In the previous five encounters between the two squads, the Mustangs claimed victory on four occasions.

The Huskies and Mustangs last met in the 2018 Mitchell Bowl at Western Alumni Stadium, which was then known as TD Stadium, in London, Ont.

The teams were tied 17-17 at halftime before the Mustangs shot out to claim a 47-24 victory. There are still a few holdovers from that game, which should create some familiarity between the two sides.

The Huskies and Mustangs first went at in way back in 1974 in London, Ont., in the Churchill Bowl. The Churchill Bowl used to serve as one of U Sports semifinal games and was last rewarded in 2002.

In the 1974 Churchill Bowl, the Mustangs romped to a 41-17 victory and moved on to win the second Vanier Cup in program history.

The two sides wouldn’t meet again until the 1989 Vanier Cup. At that point, Brian Towriss was cemented as head coach of the Huskies, and Larry Haylor was entrenched as head coach of the Mustangs. They took the helms of their respective programs in 1984.

Both men would find their way into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as builders.

Mason Nyhus fires a pass downfield for the Huskies.

Entering that contest, the Mustangs were an established power having won the Vanier Cup four times. The Huskies were a team on the rise.

Before 32,877 spectators at what is now known as Rogers Centre and then known as the Skydome in Tononto, Ont., the Mustangs were too much for the Huskies and stormed to a 35-10 victory to capture the Vanier Cup for a fifth time.

Mustangs’ receiver Tyrone Williams was named the game’s MVP hauling in five catches for 157 yards and one touchdown. Williams would go on to win two Super Bowls as a member of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and 1993 and one Grey Cup as a member of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in 1996.

The Huskies would win their first Vanier Cup in 1990 and collide with the Mustangs again this time in the 1994 Vanier Cup that was played once more at Rogers Place in Toronto. Going into this U Sports title clash, both programs were now established powerhouses.

This battle would go down as an all-time U Sports classic and the moment memorable encounter between the two sides.

The Mustangs took 31-14 lead into the fourth quarter before the Huskies offence hit high gear. The Huskies went on a roll and assumed a 37-34 lead with 64 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a 34-yard touchdown reception from David Blackburn.

With four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Mustangs kicker Frank Jagas kicked a 42-yard field goal to force a 37-37 tie and send the Vanier Cup to overtime for the first time ever.

Under the overtime rules U Sports used at the time, the teams played two halves that were 10-minutes in length. The Huskies and Mustangs exited the first 10-minute half with the game now tied 40-40.

The Mustangs scored the only 10 points of the second overtime half to claim a 50-40 victory and their sixth Vanier Cup title.

Nick Wiebe (#43) has had a strong season at middle linebacker.

Huskies star quarterback Brent Schneider was named the game’s MVP, and he completed 36-of-67 passes for 528 yards and four touchdowns, while throwing five interceptions.

The Huskies would win their second Vanier Cup in 1996 before next meeting the Mustangs in the 1998 Churchill Bowl. This clash would take place at the Huskies storied home field of Griffiths Stadium and the fourth time would be a charm when it came to achieving victory for the Dogs.

Huskies star running back Doug Rozon zipped to a 49-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter and the hosts ran to a 33-17 victory. Rozon finished the contest carrying the ball 23 times for 214 yards to go with his major score, and he caught three passes for 37 yards.

The Huskies advanced onward to win their third Vanier Cup title.

After that Churchill Bowl encounter, the Huskies and Mustangs wouldn’t meet again until the 2018 Mitchell Bowl. The Mustangs entered that Mitchell Bowl as defending Vanier Cup champions having thumped the Universite Laval Rouge et Or 39-17 in the 2017 U Sports title game.

The Mustangs rode the golden arm of star quarterback Chris Merchant to win the seventh Vanier Cup in program history in 2017.

 After downing the Huskies in the 2018 Mitchell Bowl, the Mustangs fell 34-20 in the Vanier Cup to the Rouge et Or, who were playing in their home park in Stade Telus – Universite Laval.

This year’s clash will see Huskies head coach Scott Flory and Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall face each other for a second time.

Flory, who was an offensive lineman on the Huskies Vanier Cup winners in 1996 and 1998, rejoined the program in 2014 as an assistant coach after playing 15 years with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes. He took on the head coach role in 2017 as Towriss’s successor.

Sam Bakers sheds a defender after making a catch.

In a short time, Flory has name a name for himself in the head coach role guiding the Huskies to two Canada West Conference titles and making the Vanier Cup in four seasons on the job.

Marshall has been a career coach whose time as a sideline boss spans five decades. He was a Mustangs assistant coach under Haylor when the Mustangs won the Vanier Cup over the Huskies in 1989 and 1994.

He guided the McMaster University Marauders as head coach from 1997 to 2003 and went on to become head coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2004 to 2006.

Marshall rejoined the Mustangs as head coach in 2007 and has guided the program to seven Ontario University Athletics conference championships and a Vanier Cup title in 2017.

Both teams bring a cast of standout players to the contest.

The Huskies are guided by gunslinger Mason Nyhus at quarterback, have a big playmaker at running back in Adam Machart and sure handed pass catchers in Sam Baker and utility player Colton Klassen.

As is tradition with the Huskies, their offensive line makes things go, and they have a great one again with Nick Summach at right tackle, Connor Berglof at right guard, Oluwayombo Olabimtan at centre, Derek Beaubien at left guard and Noah Zerr at left tackle. Berglof has starred for a lengthy stretch at centre before moving over to right guard.

On defence, the Huskies look to defensive ends Riley Pickett and Nathan Cherry, linebackers Nick Wiebe and Clovis Lumeka and defensive back Charlie Ringland to make momentum changing plays.

The Mustangs start first year signal caller Evan Hillock at quarterback. He took over the starter’s role in the Mustangs second regular season game and guided the offence with a steady hand.

Hillock appears to be on the cusp of a great U Sports career.

The Huskies look to celebrate one more big win.

Sophomore Keon Edwards is the Mustangs game breaker at running back and veteran receiver Savaughn Magnaye-Jones is the team’s big play pass catcher.

Centre Elliot Beamer, guard Phil Grohovac and tackle Zach Fry anchor the offensive line.

The Mustangs are filled with standouts on defence including defensive end Deionte Knight, defensive tackle Malcolm Hinds and free safety Daniel Valente. Knight has been a terror when it comes to tracking down and sacking quarterbacks.

This latest chapter of head-to-head encounters between the Huskies and Mustangs has the potential to be as memorable as the 1994 Vanier Cup.

On Saturday, they will confront each other for a prize only one can win.

HuskieFAN a home run for Huskies

In a sports media world in Canada that continues to shrink, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies found an inventive way to get more coverage.

At the start of this season, the Huskies partnered with Pattison Media to launch the HuskieFAN app and website. The coverage HuskieFAN has provided to date has been outstanding.

HuskieFAN’s coverage is focused on Huskies football and men’s and women’s hockey.

Huskies football games are streamed digitally and carried on the radio waves on the AM dial by 750 Beach Radio based out of Melfort, Sask.

All men’s and women’s hockey home and away games are broadcast digitally with HuskieFAN app staff providing play-by-play call for those contests.

Pattison media gained extra attention here for becoming the first private broadcaster in Canada to commit to broadcasting a full season of women’s hockey with Daniella Ponticelli taking on the role of play-by-play voice of the Huskies women’s team. Ponticelli is also the current anchor for Global News Morning in Regina.

Well-known veteran broadcaster Wray Morrison is the senior producer, host and partnership coordinator for HuskieFAN. He has comfortably filled the role calling Huskies football games, and he has shown his hidden talent of being a pretty good writer creating written content for the HuskieFAN site.

On the HuskieFAN’s biggest adds might Katie Brickman-Young, who is a former sportwriter for the now defunct Moose Jaw Times-Herald. She is also a communications advisor for the Federated Co-operatives Limited.

Brickman-Young is a seasoned and experience WHL beat writer, and she is strong at finding different hooks to pull readers into feature, advancer and game story pieces.

HuskieFAN has pulled in Jeff D’Andrea, who is a sports reporter with Pattison Media’s paNOW in Prince Albert, Sask., to do play-by-play of some men’s hockey games along with providing strong written content. D’Andrea is known as a veteran on the WHL beat covering the Prince Albert Raiders.

Matt Morrison, who is Wray’s son, has provided analysis on Huskies football broadcasts. He is likely one of the industries more under-appreciated broadcasters.

Ben Tompkins, who is news and sports reporter with Pattison Media, will add content to HuskieFAN from time to time too.

This partnership between Pattison Media and the Huskies has turned out to be a great one, because it is giving the consistent beat coverage the Huskies football, men’s and women’s hockey team deserve. HuskieFAN has stories on the other Huskies teams too.

Overall, it is great an avenue has been found to get consistent coverage to the football team and the two hockey squads. That type of attention for U Sports programs is unfortunately not the norm anymore in Canada.

It is great all involved took a chance on this idea.

On the full disclosure front, I was approached by a manager at Pattison Media about contributing to HuskieFAN, but I couldn’t make it work with my current work life schedule and trying to be more present on the family front.

The approach came during a time when my main focus was on a big family wedding that was happening at the start of September and the timing for me was all wrong.

Still, I am happy to see HuskieFAN has taken off like it has, and good people are doing a great job with it. Feel free to check it out at huskiefan.ca.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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