Rams come heartbreakingly close to knocking off favourite Rouge et Or in Mitchell Bowl
CBC
The upstart Regina Rams suffered a heart-breaking 17-14 loss to the heavily-favoured Laval Rouge et Or in USport's Mitchell Bowl.
The Rams, who finished fourth in the Canada West regular season, took a 14-10 lead on running back Marshall Erichsen's 36-yard scamper to pay dirt with just 3:45 left in the game.
But the Rouge et Or offence, which had been kept in check the entire game, put together an 85-yard scoring drive in the final minutes.
It was capped off by Isaac Gaillardetz's five-yard TD pass from quarterback Arnaud Desjardins with just 1:19 left on the clock for the winning score.
"I don't really have words, just just proud of the guys," said a dejected Rams head coach Mark McConkey.
"It was a special year. We didn't want it to end today. We thought we could go one more week."
Laval returns to the Vanier Cup two years after winning the championship in 2022, and will play the Laurier Golden Hawks, who defeated the Bishop's Gaiters 48-24 earlier in the Uteck Bowl.
The Vanier Cup will take place on Saturday in Kingston, Ont., Nov. 23, available live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem at 1 p.m. ET.
Regina came into the game not expected to give Laval much trouble.
But the Rams, who were just 3-5 in the regular season and had to beat Manitoba and Saskatchewan on the road to reach the Mitchell Bowl, gave the perennial contenders everything they could handle.
Time and again the Rams defence came up with huge plays to keep the game close late into the fourth quarter.
Rams defensive back Michael Jordan had an interception in the end zone and a fumble recovery inside the Rams 10-yard line to stop two second-half Laval drives.
And the Rouge et Or didn't do themselves any favours, racking up nine penalties for 105 yards.
The Rouge et Or had taken a 10-7 lead on a Felipe Forteza 32-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
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