Photo courtesy: Piper Sports Photography/U Sports
If the Saskatchewan Huskies had any homefield advantage in the 60th Vanier Cup, it didn’t come from the officials.
While the squad from Saskatoon was soundly beaten by the Montreal Carabins in front of a friendly local crowd on Saturday afternoon in Regina, one egregious missed call loomed large in the aftermath.
With the Carabins marching inside the three-minute warning at the end of the first half, quarterback Pepe Gonzalez escaped the pocket on second-and-seven to find Simon Larose for an 18-yard catch. Flags initially came out, as replays showed that the first-year pivot was several yards past the line of scrimmage when he delivered the throw. However, the officials second-guessed themselves, picking up the flag and waving off the obvious penalty to allow the drive to continue unaltered.
“All the word I got was he somehow got talked out of it,” Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory said post-game, choosing his words carefully. “I don’t know. I’m not a ref. We don’t have replay. You’ve got to trust that both the ones they picked up, it was for a reason.”
“It’s hard. I’m not gonna get into that whining and complaining. If you’re gonna get it right, I think that’s the whole point (in picking the flag up).”
On this occasion, the referees didn’t get it right. The Carabins continued down the field and ate up the remainder of the clock. While the Huskies held firm at their own three-yard line, Philippe Boyer hit a chip-shot field goal on the final play of the half to go into the break leading 15-11.
While that didn’t prove to be the difference in a 30-16 final, Saskatchewan could have had a chance to steal momentum and earn a halftime lead if the correct call had stood. Even so, star linebacker Seth Hundeby wasn’t interested in dwelling on the flag that should have been.
“That’s gonna happen. There’s gonna be some crazy stuff. I don’t know, keep playing football. That’s my philosophy,” he said. “Line up on any given play, you can get a touchdown, you can force a fumble. I don’t know, man. You just gotta keep chugging.”
Despite the officiating error, the penalty margin for the game skewed heavily in favour of Saskatchewan. The Carabins were flagged 13 times for 135 yards, including several majors, while the Huskies committed just six infractions for 60 yards.
Being more disciplined didn’t translate into success on either side of the ball, as Montreal outgained the Hardy Cup champs 434 yards to just 281. Flory refused to deflect from that result
“Look at us on offence — we didn’t do enough in the second half. Didn’t feel like we got any traction,” he said. “Kudos to them. I don’t know if we executed cleanly enough.”