Gaels looking forward to national semifinal game

Queen's won the Yates Cup on Saturday, will face the Huskies in Mitchell Bowl this weekend.

It was back to work for the Queen's Gaels football team.

Hours after celebrating a victory in the 117th Yates Cup on Saturday, the Gaels are preparing to take on the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Mitchell Bowl this Saturday.

Queen's earned the trip to Saskatoon after beating the previously unbeaten Laurier Golden Hawks 30-27 in the OUA championship game in Waterloo.

The Gaels took advantage of five Golden Hawk turnovers, one was by linebacker Justin Pace who picked off a Cal Wither pass late in the second quarter and ran it back 33 yards for a score. That put Queen's up 27-3 at the half.

Fifth-year quarterback Alex Vreeken threw for 169 yards with a touchdown for the Gaels and says it took a total team effort to win the game.

The Gaels will meet the Huskies, the Hardy Cup champions in the Canada West conference, for a berth in the Vanier Cup game on Nov. 22.

During a virtual news conference on Monday, Gaels head coach Steve Snyder says he, the coaching staff, and the players are looking forward to taking their game to the national stage.

Pace says he is excited for a chance to get one step closer to playing for a national championship.  

Being in two different conferences, this will be the first meeting between the two teams this season.

Snyder says some of their preparation will take place while the game is going on.

Huskies head coach Scott Flory, who was also on the news conference, says he too will rely on what he and the team are seeing during game action.

The Mitchell Bowl will take place at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon with the kick-off set for 3:15 pm eastern time.

The other national semifinal features the Montreal Carabins of the RESQ conference taking on the Saint Mary's Huskies of the AUS conference in the Uteck Bowl in Halifax that will also go this Saturday at 1 pm eastern.

Story by Ken Hashizume