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KINGSTON, Ont. (November 21, 2009) – The No. 4-ranked Queens Gaels upset the No. 1 and defending national champion Laval Rouge et Or 33-30 on Saturday afternoon to capture the CIS semifinal Mitchell Bowl in front of 6,972 fans at Richardson Stadium.

The victory sends the Gaels to their first CIS final since 1992 where they will face the No. 2 Calgary Dinos next Saturday in Quebec City in the 2009 Desjardins Vanier Cup. Calgary defeated the No. 6 Saint Mary's Huskies 38-14 in the Uteck Bowl at Huskies Stadium in Halifax to also qualify for the title game.

The Rouge et Or, who were looking to advance to play for the Cup at their home field of PEPS Stadium, fall to 1-4 in CIS bowl games on the road. They were appearing in an all-time record seventh straight Bowl semifinal.

Danny Brannagan of Burlington, Ont., was 24-of-41 with two touchdowns and 306-yards passing, with only one interception. Fellow fifth-year senior Benoit Groulx of Montreal completed 26 passes on 42 attempts recording 425-yards, three majors and no interceptions.

The telling statistic was the eight sacks put forward by Queen's defence. Defensive end Shomari Williams of Brampton, Ont., tallied 3.5 sacks and seven tackles to earn the Maury L. Van Vliet trophy as the BlackBerry player of the game.

“Hats off to Laval. They are a really strong team and deserve all of the credit they get,” said Williams. "We just executed our game plan perfectly. We came out here with a game plan, we stuck to it and we really worked hard to win this game”

“We really showed up today,” added head coach Pat Sheahan, who took over the Gaels program in 2000 and who had previously led the Concordia Stingers to a Vanier Cup appearance in 1998. “The kids played well, the offence did just enough today and defence won it in the second half. Laval is a great football team and it was an honour to compete against them.”

With Laval coming into the game as heavy favourites, many pundits expected the Gaels to be in tough. However, despite the Rouge et Or's past success including four Vanier Cup victories in the last six years, it was the Gaels who took the lead after the first quarter of play.

After Laval grabbed an early 3-0 advantage on a 40-yard field goal by Christopher Milo of Montreal, the Gaels put together a six play, 77-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Therrien, also of Montreal.

Despite the early deficit, Laval started off the second quarter with a bang as they went 67 yards on three plays to re-take the lead. Freshman Junior Seydou Haidara of Quebec City caught a five-yard pass from quarterback Groulx in the end zone after the 2008 Hec Crighton trophy winner had hit Maxime Béland of Neuville, Que., for a 62-yard gain to set up the score.

Queen's regained the lead late in the half on the strength of Therrien, who ran for a number of first downs to move the OUA champions deep into Laval territory. With Queen's at the Laval two-yard line, Brannagan faked the handoff to Therrien before hitting Christopher Ioannides of Toronto in the end zone to put the Gaels up 14-10.

After a defensive stop, kicker Dan Village of Abbotsford, B.C., connected on a 37-yard field goal to give the Gaels a 17-10 lead at the half.

The defence came up big again early in the third quarter as the Gaels recorded two tackles for a loss deep in Laval's territory to force the Rouge et Or to concede a safety.

A 35-yard Milo field goal pulled Laval within six points before the game swung in Queen's favour.

Milo attempted a 44-yard field goal that missed wide left and star returner Jimmy Allin of Belleville, Ont., ran the ball back 120 yards for a touchdown.

The return gave the Gaels all the momentum heading into the fourth quarter and they capitalized once again when Brannagan connected with Mark Surya of Burlington in the corner of the end zone for a 24 yard touchdown.

With a 33-13 lead, the game appeared to be in control for the locals but the Rouge et Or quickly showed why they were the top-ranked team in the nation going into the duel.

Less than two minutes after Surya's score, Groulx hit Béland for a 12-yard touchdown to give Laval life.

The Queen's offence, needing first downs to run down the clock, could not penetrate the Rouge et Or's defence as Laval cracked down on the Gaels rushing attack. Queen's was forced to take a safety after being pinned deep in the end and Laval was suddenly within 11 points.

After getting the ball back following the safety, Groulx drove the Rouge et Or down the field again and connected with Julian Feoli-Gudino of Costa Rica for an 11-yard score. Laval went for the two-point conversion and Groulx ran in the ball from five yards out to cut the deficit to three.

Queen's, once again needing first downs, could only get one on their next possession and Laval got the ball back with just over a minute to go at their own 16. After a first down conversion, Groulx was pressured by the Gaels front three and Frank Pankewich of Thunder Bay, Ont., stripped the ball out of Groulx's hands. The ball was recovered by Osie Ukwuoma of Mississauga, Ont., on the Laval nine-yard line and the Gaels kneeled out the clock to pull off the upset.

“We came close. Julian came close to making a catch to continue our final drive. We were centimeters away from making big plays all game,” said Groulx, who seemed to have connected with Feoli Gudino at midfield on the first play of Laval's possession only to see his receiver drop the ball as he was tackled. “I think the team showed great character right to the end, coming back from 20 points down and never giving up.”

The Gaels return to the Vanier Cup the first time since 1992 when they defeated Saint Marys Huskies 31-0 at the SkyDome in Toronto.

Queen's second last appearance in the Vanier Cup came against Calgary in 1983 when Calgary defeated the Gaels 31-21 at Varsity Stadium, also in Toronto.

NOTES: Allin's 120-yard field goal return was the longest in Queen's history and second longest in CIS playoff history. Allin eclipsed his own record of 115 yards in the OUA quarter-final game vs. Western on October 27, 2007… The Mitchell Bowl appearance marked the latest the Gaels have played at home since the 1922 Grey Cup when Queen's topped the Edmonton Elks 13-1 (Dec. 2)…

BOXSCORE

Queen's: 7-10-9-7: 33
Laval: 3-7-3-17:30

First Quarter
LAV-FG Christopher Milo 40 7:28
QUE-TD Jimmy Therrien 1 run 12:12

Second Quarter
LAV-TD Junior Seydou Haidara 5 pass from Benoit Groulx (Christopher Milo kick) 0:43
QUE-TD Chris Ioannides 2 pass from Danny Brannagan (Dan Village kick) 12:49
QUE-FG Dan Village 37 14:59

Third Quarter
QUE-SAFETY team 3:50
LAV-FG Christopher Milo 35 6:36
QUE-TD Jimmy Allin 120 MFG return (Dan Village kick) 13:19

Fourth Quarter
QUE-TD Mark Surya 24 pass from Danny Brannagan (Dan Village kick) 0:13
LAV-TD Maxime Béland 12 pass from Benoit Groulx (Christopher Milo kick) 2:05
LAV-SAFETY team 9:12
LAV-TD Julian Feoli Gudino 11 pass from Benoit Groulx (2pt Groulx rush) 11:22