Next stop Guelph as Carabins seek road wins to repeat as CIS football champions

Home field was sweet for the University of Montreal Carabins when they took their first CIS football championship last year, but this time they’ll have to win on the road.

The fourth-ranked Carabins (8-2) visit the fifth-ranked Guelph Gryphons (9-1) in the Mitchell Bowl game on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Vanier Cup final Nov. 28 in Quebec City.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad,” Carabins coach Danny Maciocia said. “It’ll be an experience for some of our guys to take a trip together.

“We have an idea of the (Ontario) conference, but it’s always hard when you play people you don’t know. Both teams will have 60 minutes to figure it out.”

It may be a good year for visitors. Last week, away teams won the final of all four CIS conferences, with Montreal edging powerhouse Laval 18-16 in Quebec City to take the Quebec Conference and Guelph knocking off Western 23-17 in London, Ont., for the OUA championship.

The UBC Thunderbirds and St. Francis Xavier X-Men, who meet Saturday in Antigonish, N.S., in the other semifinal, the Uteck Bowl, also won on the road.

The last time all four visitors won was 1984, when Guelph went on to claim its only national title.

A year ago, Montreal upset Laval and then played the national semifinal at home, edging the Manitoba Bisons 29-26. The Vanier Cup game was at Percival Molson Stadium, where 22,000 partisan fans saw them nip McMaster 20-19, thanks to a blocked Marauders’ field goal attempt in the final minute.

The Carabins goal now is to get back to Quebec City and repeat as Vanier Cup champions on the home field of their bitter rivals.

“Last year we beat Laval and waited for Manitoba here,” said defensive back Maiko Zapeda. “We got pretty confident and Manitoba came and gave us a good football game.

“It was a style of football we don’t see a lot in Quebec and they caught us by surprise a bit. This year, we’re not underestimating Guelph. We’re not going there overconfident. We’ll give them the respect they deserve.”

Both Montreal and Guelph feature strong running games. Sean Thomas-Erlington rushed for 199 yards last week against a talented Laval defence, while the Gryphons’ Johnny Augustine has 353 yards on the ground in two post-season games.

The Carabins had the best run defence in the country this season, while Guelph boasts one of the top linebackers in John Rush, who had 12 tackles and three sacks against Western.

“Their defensive front is quite active,” Maciocia said of the Gryphons. “They’re going to try to get physical with us and try to prevent us from running the ball.

“Offensively, they love to run the ball and their quarterback (James Roberts) will make enough throws, particularly to No. 1 (A’dre Fraser) and No. 80 (Jacob Scarfone). It’ll come down to (controlling) the line of scrimmage.”

Another similarity: Both coaches have Edmonton Eskimos connections. Guelph’s Stu Lang won five Grey Cups over eight seasons as a receiver with the Esks, while Maciocia was coach and general manager between 2005 and 2010.

The Gryphons have gone 7-1 in the regular season the last four years but, until now, always bowed out in the conference playoffs. It has been 31 years since Guelph hosted a bowl game.

“We know we will have our hands full with the defending Vanier Cup champions coming to town, but we are looking forward to representing the OUA and giving this great Montreal team all we have,” Lang told the CIS website.

The teams have not met in an official game since 1967, but they played in the pre-season this summer, with the Carabins winning 38-10 in Montreal.