Riders beat Lions to punch ticket to CFL West final
Nov 03, 2024
The Riders are back in the West final for the first time since 2021.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies have been thisclose to winning a U Sports football championship for two straight seasons.
Head coach Scott Flory expects his squad to get over that hump very soon.
“We’re knocking at that door and we will punch through that glass ceiling there right away,” Flory told Gormley on Monday, two days after Saskatchewan lost 30-24 to the Laval Rouge et Or in the Vanier Cup in London, Ont.
“I’m really proud of the boys. We competed and played our hearts out. It was a few plays here and there. That’s the way it is in championship games and unfortunately, we just came up a little bit short.”
Saskatchewan has lost each of its past six appearances in the Vanier Cup. The Huskies last won the Canadian university football title in 1998.
Laval, meanwhile, won the 11th Vanier Cup in school history.
“It comes down to just those handful of plays. (The Rouge et Or) did a good job of making very few mistakes,” Flory said.
“A lot of times in the big games, any type of mistake you make just gets (amplified). Our guys were there last year in a close one and (it was) a close one again this year.”
It was a tightly contested showdown Saturday, with the game tied at 17 at halftime. But Laval pulled away in the fourth quarter.
“That’s what championship football is — it was back and forth,” Flory said. “Our guys never quit; they never stopped. We had a turnover there late and marched the field again and scored. We just ran out of time at the end of it.”
The Huskies also played in the 2021 Vanier Cup, losing 27-21 to the Western Mustangs.
As is life for U Sports programs, the Huskies will look different heading into 2023. While Flory said they’re still a young team, they’ll lose four key members for next season, including quarterback Mason Nyhus.
The Regina product threw for 3,829 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 games in 2022. He was named the Canada West conference’s most outstanding player and a second-team All-Canadian.
“That’s going to be the tough one to replace, a fifth-year starting quarterback who is an All-Canadian,” Flory said. “He can do whatever he wants. I just hope that he stays involved in football and is around our program some way, somehow. He’s one of the best to go through our program for sure and I don’t doubt he has a lot to offer the game still.”