If the Saskatchewan Huskies had any home-field advantage in the 60th Vanier Cup, it didn't come from the officials.
While the Saskatoon squad was badly defeated by the Montreal Carbines In front of a friendly local crowd on a Saturday afternoon in Regina, one egregious missed call took on serious consequences.
As the Carabines marched within the three-minute warning at the end of the first half, defender Pepe Gonzalez broke out of the pocket on second-and-7 and found Simon LaRose for an 18-yard catch. The flags came first as replays showed the freshman center was several yards from the line of scrimmage when he made the throw. However, the officials came to their senses, raised the flag and brushing aside the obvious punishment to allow the disc to continue unchanged.
“All I heard was that somehow he was talked out of it,” Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory said after the game, choosing his words carefully. “I don't know. I'm not a judge. We don't have a replay. You have to believe that both of them were chosen for a reason.”
“It's complicated. I won't go into all that whining and complaining. If you get it right, I think that's the whole point (of raising the flag).”
In this case, the judges did not get it right. The carbines continued to move across the field and ate up the rest of the time. With the Huskies holding firm at their own three-yard line, Phillip Boyer kicked a field goal on the final play of the half and went into the break leading 15-11.
While the margin remained unchanged at 30-16 in the final, Saskatchewan could have had a chance to gain momentum and earn a halftime lead if the correct call had been made. Regardless, star linebacker Seth Handeby had no interest in dwelling on the flag that should have been there.
“It's going to happen. Some crazy things are going to happen. I don't know, keep playing football. That's my philosophy,” he said. “Line up on any play, you can score a touchdown, you can force a fumble. I don't know, man. You just gotta keep chugging.”
Despite the refereeing error, the game's penalty differential tilted heavily in Saskatchewan's favor. The Carabins were flagged 13 times for 135 yards, including several big ones, while the Huskies committed just six offenses for 60 yards.
The increased discipline did not translate into success on either side of the ball, as Montreal outgained the Hardy Cup champions 434 yards to just 281. Flory refused to deviate from that performance.
“Look at us offensively – we didn't do enough in the second half. It didn't feel like we had any strength,” he said. “Kudos to them. I don't know if we did it clean enough.”
