{"id":300953,"date":"2025-11-23T03:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300953\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T03:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:47:09","slug":"ice-in-his-veins-montreal-carabins-pepe-gonzalez-becomes-fourth-first-year-qb-to-win-vanier-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/300953\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ice in his veins’: Montreal Carabins’ Pepe Gonzalez becomes fourth first-year QB to win Vanier Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: James Hajjar\/Carabins<\/p>\n

A Vanier Cup victory<\/a> has cemented Pepe Gonzalez as arguably the best first-year player in the history of Canadian university football, but he doesn\u2019t seem to be satisfied yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna work extra hard in the offseason, hopefully put some pounds on me,\u201d the 20-year-old told reporters as the confetti rained down on Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna keep the same energy, the same attitude, and we set the bar high. We\u2019ve just got to maintain it for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez led the Montreal Carabins to a 30-16 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies in the 60th Vanier Cup<\/a>. The Mexican-born passer, who immigrated to Canada at seven years old, took home the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy as the game\u2019s MVP, completing 27-of-33 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers.<\/p>\n

For head coach Marco Iadeluca, it was the proverbial cherry on top of a remarkable season from the rookie sensation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping he\u2019d have his best game of the season today, and I actually think he did,\u201d he told 3DownNation. \u201cThe kid\u2019s been outstanding. He\u2019s got ice in his veins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Carabins were supposed to be in a transition period this year after the graduation of Jonathan Senecal, their former Hec Crighton-winning quarterback. The seventh-round CFL Draft pick had been the driving force behind the team\u2019s offence since transferring from UConn, leading them to a Vanier win in 2023.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez\u2019s ascendence to the starting job mid-way through the season opener changed that perception. He led the RSEQ in both passing yards and touchdowns, throwing for 2,284 yards, 19 TDs, and eight interceptions to win the Peter Gorman Trophy as the U Sports rookie of the year<\/a>. More importantly, he upset the top-seeded Laval Rouge et Or in the Jacques Dussault Cup and knocked off Saint Mary\u2019s in the Uteck Bowl to advance to his first national championship game.<\/p>\n

That came on the road in Regina \u2014 the home province of the Huskies. A reported 8,896 fans were in attendance at Mosaic Stadium, the gross majority of whom were sporting green. While that was only a fraction of the crowd he played in front of at Stade Telus against Laval, the young QB admitted to feeling some butterflies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of nervous when we came out. I didn\u2019t expect to see a lot of people, but at the same time, it\u2019s so fun to play with so many people in the stands. We get fueled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez\u2019 nerves did not show. After taking a moment to find his rhythm in the first quarter, he diced up the Huskies with repeated shots downfield. While two would-be touchdowns fell barely incomplete, he set up Brandon Gourgon for a diving 41-yard grab early in the second quarter and ended the third with a 32-yard dime to Hassane Dosso.<\/p>\n

Even as Saskatchewan\u2019s defence began to apply pressure late with Presidents\u2019 Trophy winner Seth Hundeby, Gonzalez appeared undisturbed. He stood in against the blitz to deliver a seven-yard capper to Simon Larose late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were playing cover three. They\u2019ve been playing that the whole season. We saw it on tape,\u201d he explained, dismissing his personal prowess. \u201cOur coaches made a good game plan, and we just followed that game plan, and it went very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez\u2019s victory makes him the fourth freshman quarterback in U Sports history to capture a Vanier Cup, following St. FX\u2019s Terry Dolan in 1966, UBC\u2019s Michael O\u2019Connor in 2015, and Western\u2019s Evan Hillock in 2021. Of the previous three, only Dolan was actually in his first year of university \u2014 O\u2019Connor redshirted at Penn State before transferring, and Hillock attended Western during the cancelled 2020 season.<\/p>\n

Given the uniqueness of Gonzalez\u2019s accomplishment, it is worth asking just how high his ceiling could be. Even while basking in the championship glow, he is laser-focused on returning to Mosaic, next time as a CFL quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully. I\u2019m gonna keep working hard,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a couple of goals in mind this offseason, and I\u2019m positive if I work hard, if I invest a lot of time into football, I can really play here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: James Hajjar\/Carabins A Vanier Cup victory has cemented Pepe Gonzalez as arguably the best first-year player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-300953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}