Vanier Cup heartbreak: U of S Huskies lose 30-16 to Montreal Carabins

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies couldn’t get the offence clicking as they lost 30-16 in the 2025 Vanier Cup to the Montreal Carabins.

Montreal quarterback Pepe Gonzalez threw three touchdown passes as the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) champions won the U Sports national football title in front of 8,896 fans at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday.

The Huskies only managed five points in the second half — two of those from a surrendered safety by Montreal.

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The Huskies were back in the national title game for the first time since 2022, when they lost to the Laval Rouge et Or 30-24. The Huskies had last won the Vanier Cup back in 1998 — just the third time the team has ever won it.

It’s been tough sledding for the Huskies in the Vanier Cup, now having lost seven straight times in the title game.

U of S Head coach Scott Flory said his immediate thoughts went to the fifth-year players who won’t have another chance at it.

“That’s the hard part about college football — there’s a time clock on it and those guys don’t get to play college football again,” Flory said.

“(Montreal) is a great football team and they just made more plays than us in the end and that’s just kind of the way it goes sometimes.

“Happy for them but so proud of our guys. We fought, we didn’t quit and just kept playing. We just came up short today.”

Montreal last won it in 2023, defeating the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

Prior to the game, U of S linebacker Seth Hundeby was named the top defender in the country, winning the Presidents’ trophy as the U Sports Defensive Player of the Year.

“For me, winning a ring would be really cool but I’m not going to get to play with a lot of these guys (again),” Hundeby said after the loss.

“We had a lot of fun, we love each other and I’m grateful for how many games I got to play with this group. I wouldn’t change anything for the world. I’m super happy that we fought to the bitter end. It’s tough and the sun is going to come up tomorrow but it’s a tough one.”

Hundeby had 10 total tackles in the game (five defensive, five special teams) and two sacks.

Also receiving hardware prior to the game was Gonzalez, who was named the U Sports Rookie of the Year. The passer had 19 touchdown tosses this season — second-most in the country.

The Carabins got out to an early lead after scoring a rouge on the game’s opening kickoff.

Both teams traded field goals before Gonzalez connected with Brandon Gourgon for the first touchdown of the game on a 41-yard strike.

The Huskies battled back and answered with a Ryker Frank touchdown as the running back rushed it in from four yards out.

After trading more rouges, the Carabins took a 15-11 lead into halftime after a field goal at the end of the second quarter.

The Huskies managed a field goal in the third quarter, while Montreal only added a rouge.

Gonzalez connected with Hassane Dosso for the rookie’s second touchdown pass of the game.

The Carabins surrendered a safety, which made the score 23-16, making it a one-score game.

Gonzalez put the game away with his third touchdown of the game as he hit Simon Larose for the score with just 2:22 left. Gonzalez finished with 344 yards and three touchdowns in the game.

“It sucks,” said quarterback Jake Farrell, who threw two interceptions in the loss.

“We work so hard to get here and losing on the biggest stage — it stings but massive credit to them. They have a great team and have great players and we knew that coming in. Congrats to them.”

During the game, there were some officiating calls that appeared to be incorrect, including picking up a flag on a pass that Gonzalez appeared to throw a couple yards past the line of scrimmage.

“Two flags in the first half — the only word I got from it was it somehow got talked out of it. I’m not a ref, we don’t have replay and you have to trust that both got picked up were for a reason. I’m not going to get into that whining and complaining,” Flory said, adding that ultimately they didn’t do enough in the second half.

“It didn’t feel like we got any traction. Kudos to them but I don’t know if we executed cleanly enough but we just didn’t do a good enough job in the second half, to be honest with you. Our defence fought their butts off and everyone played so hard,” Flory said.

The Huskies, the 2025 Canada West champions, dealt with a lot of adversity to reach this point. After the team’s Hardy Cup win, the team stated that starting quarterback Anton Amundrud, 23, has been diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer.

“I don’t know if people really understand how much we have been through this year outside of our quarterback. I think we had six or seven season-ending knee injuries in totally random situations, losing guys and then the situation with our quarterback and these guys just kept playing and I’m just so proud of them, I really am,” Flory said.

Read more:

• Etched in history: Vanier Cup hosted for the first time in Regina
• ‘It’s electric’: Regina welcomes 60th Vanier Cup with pep rally