Québec wins second consecutive Football Canada Cup, defeating Alberta 21-11

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In a rematch of last year’s finals, Québec successfully defended their national championship 21-11 against Alberta in the gold medal game of the 2012 Football Canada Cup hosted by the Ontario Football Alliance (OFA) at TD Waterhouse Stadium on the campus of Western University in London, Ontario.

Samuel Chénard opened the game’s scoring at 2:37 of the first quarter on a 12-yard field goal as Québec jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.

Alberta tried to respond on the final play of the opening quarter on a 48-yard Daniel Ellis field goal attempt which had the distance but missed wide left.

Ellis missed his second field goal of the half, this time from inside the 20 yard line. The kick went through the end zone for the single, making the score 3-1.

The teams traded turnovers as first Québec starting quarterback, Michael Arruda was intercepted by Alberta defensive back, Levi Sim. On the following play a fumble recovery by linebacker, Brian Harelimana gave the ball right back to Québec.

Later in the second quarter, defensive back, Mathieu Boutin added another Québec turnover, intercepting Alberta quarterback, Boston Rowe at the Alberta 40 yard line.

After going 4 of 11 passing for 63 yards Arruda who was spectacular in Québec’s first two games was replaced in the second quarter by Samuel Chénard who went on to complete 8 of 11 passes for 186 yards on the day.

After Alberta conceded the single to make the score 4-1, Québec added two more interceptions off of Rowe to give them three in the first half. Boutin intercepted the second while defensive lineman, Gabriel Bouvette intercepted the third with 5.7 seconds remaining in the half. On the final play of the first half, Chénard hit a 30-yard field goal to put Québec up 7-1.

Running back, Jonathan Thebaud ended the third quarter in spectacular fashion with a 43-yard run, increasing Québec’s lead to 13.

Early in the final quarter, a great Daniel Ellis punt pinned Québec at their own 14 yard line. A sack on second down by Alberta defensive lineman, Nick Haggerty set up 3^rd and long for Québec, inside their own 10. Québec conceded the safety to make the score 14-3 with 8:14 left to play.

With 5 minutes remaining quarterback, Samuel Chénard found receiver, Danny Debrosse-Smith on a 90-yard touchdown strike to increase the Québec lead, 21-3.

Following the score, with Chris Merchant now in for Rowe under center Alberta was intercepted for a fourth time on the day, this time by William Jouan-Ladouceur with three minutes left to play.

Alberta would seize some momentum late in the game when Troy Hansen blocked Québec’s attempted punt and linebacker, Brad Friesen recovered in the end zone for the Alberta score. The two point conversion was unsuccessful, making the score 21-9.

With under a minute to play and Québec deep in their own end, Chénard was forced to take a safety following a bad snap, marking the game’s final score.

In the loss the Alberta running back tandem of Bryson Dobush and Ryder Stone rushed for a combined 120 yards. Dobush rushed for 67 yards on 9 carries while Stone rushed for 53 yards on 11 carries.

Players of the game