Gianfranco Rocca kicked three field goals as the York Yeomen registered the first postseason win in the team's 35-year history, a 12-4 victory over the 10th-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees in Ontario Conference quarter-final play Saturday.
Rocca connected from 26, 32 and 48 yards and added a 29-yard single while defensive end Paul Graca had a pair of sacks, including a safety after tackling Ottawa quarterback James Baker in his end zone early in the second quarter.
Clinton John added three interceptions for York.
"It is for all the guys who have played here over the last [35]years," said second-year York coach Tom Gretes. "That was our theme this week. We are carrying the torch for those guys and we really bought into that."
In the other Ontario Conference quarter-final matches Saturday, it was: No. 2 McMaster 63, Guelph 10; No. 3 Queen's 51, Waterloo 14; and No. 7 Western 65, Windsor 10.
York faces McMaster next week in one of the Ontario Conference semi-finals while Queen's meets Western in the other.
In Canadian Interuniversity Sport regular season games Saturday, it was: No. 5 Saint Mary's 61, Mount Allison 0; No. 8 St. Francis Xavier 35, Acadia 13; No. 4 McGill 34, Bishop's 14; Calgary 15, Saskatchewan 10; No. 9 Regina 41, Simon Fraser 10.
At Toronto, Ottawa had a net offence of 425 yards compared to York's 246. Baker completed 28 of 47 passes for 335 yards while York's Billy Barbosa completed 20 of 37 for 207.
For Ottawa, which exited with a 5-4 record and got its points on a field goal and single by Jeffery Lee-Yaw, coach Denis Pich said his team just made too many mistakes.
"All the credit to York, they played a heck of a game. We knew their defence was outstanding and their field goal kicker was amazing," Pich said. "For us, we just didn't execute."
At Hamilton, the undefeated and second-ranked Marauders (8-0) had no trouble with the Gryphons (2-6), who allowed five touchdowns in the second quarter.
Kyle Pyear, who led the CIS with 1,227 yards rushing during the regular season, rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns. Rick Andrades, McMaster's other running back, also scored three TDs.
The Marauders led 52-10 at halftime.
Rookie Andre Cockett had 155 yards receiving and two TDs, including a 70-yarder.
John Behie was 10-for-17 for 210 yards and three touchdowns for McMaster.
At Kingston, Ont., Tommy Denison ran for one TD and was 31-for-39 for 421 yards passing including five TDs as third-ranked Queen's (7-1) beat Waterloo (3-5).
Iain Fleming set the Ontario conference record for receptions in a playoff game with 16, two more than John Nardi of Toronto in 1994. Fleming had 172 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Brad Smith had seven catches for 143 yards and a touchdown for Queen's. Denison also threw to Sean McKinnon and John Northcote for touchdowns, while Denison and backup quarterback John Lawless scored on the ground.
Waterloo quarterback Miro Hadjinian left the game in the first half with a leg injury. His replacement, Jonathan Morbey, threw second-half touchdown passes to Graham Baechler and Ian Forde.
At London, Ont., Chris Hessel passed for 487 yards and seven touchdowns in just three quarters of work as the seventh-ranked Mustangs (6-2) beat the Lancers (3-5).
Hessel had 321 yards passing and five TDs in the first half alone as the Mustangs led 42-10 at the half.
Western rookie Jay Leroy caught four passes for 159 yards while veteran Christian Heffernan hauled in four passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns.
At Antigonish, N.S., the No. 8 X-Men (6-2) jumped out to an early 21-0 lead and held on for a win against the Axemen (4-4).
The win secured St. Francis second place in the Atlantic Conference and home field for next week's semi-final against Acadia.
Two Stephen Linder field goals, Adam Stinson's 18-yard TD run, and a 12-yard TD pass play from Nick Chessa to Tarek El-Bitar put St. Francis up 21-0 by halftime.
Adam MacDonald's fumble recovery in the end zone for a TD early in the fourth quarter assured St. Francis of the win. Chessa added another major score on an 11-yard pass to Stinson.
At Sackville, N.B., the No. 5 Huskies (6-2) piled up 723 total yards on offence against the Mounties (1-7).
Steve Panella was 21-for-30 for 283 yards. Jay Currie caught seven of the passes for 99 yards and three TDs. Gabe Harvey, who rushed for 94 yards on 12 carries, and Mathieu Demers had two TDs each.
Defensively for the Huskies, Tim MacDonald, Jeff Moodie and Philippe Roberge each made four tackles. Mount Allison quarterback Jeff Keddie had three passes intercepted.
The Vanier Cup defending champions have next week off and await the winner of the St. Francis-Acadia semi-final. The Mounties are out of the playoffs.
At Regina, Cory Olynick rushed for three touchdowns as the No. 9 Rams (5-3) defeated the Clan (2-6).
Regina finishes the regular season third in Canada West, while Simon Fraser finishes sixth.
Michael Thomas and Shane Ostatowich also scored touchdowns for Regina.
Rams quarterback Mark Anderson completed 16 of 24 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns, while J.R. Davies went 14-for-26 for 241 yards and a touchdown for the Clan.
Regina meets Calgary next week in semi-final play. Simon Fraser did not qualify for the playoffs.
At Saskatoon, Jeff William rushed for 148 yards as the Dinos (5-3-0-1) beat the Huskies (4-4).
The Dinos finish second in Canada West and have home-field advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs, while the Huskies finished fourth.
Dinos quarterback Lincoln Blumell completed 15 of 25 passes for 268 yards, including a 60-yard TD pass to Jamie Elliot. Sheldon Ball completed 32 of 51 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown, including a 13-yard strike to Aaron David.
Calgary hosts No. 9 Regina next week in one of the Canada West semi-finals, while Saskatchewan faces No. 1 Manitoba.
At Montreal, Nick Hoffmann rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns as the fourth-ranked Redmen (7-1) beat the Gaiters (2-6).
Anand Pillai accounted for 10 of McGill's points, including field goals of 29 and 18 yards, to become the career leading field-goal kicker in school history.
McGill's Josh Sommerfeldt completed 10 of 22 passes for 143 yards. Sylvain Desrochers completed 16 of 33 passes for 230 yards and one TD for Bishop's.
The Redmen host Bishop's again next week in one Quebec Conference semi-final. Laval (6-2), will host third-place Concordia (4-4) in next week's other Quebec semi-final.