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East West Bowl May 12, 2018

Late Lyles TD lifts Team West to victory in annual East West Bowl

(Mathieu Belanger)

QUEBEC CITY — Manitoba Bisons running back Jamel Lyles scored the game-winning 18-yard touchdown with 2:12 remaining on the clock, to lead Team West to a 15-14 victory in the 2018 U SPORTS Valero East-West Bowl on Saturday at Laval’s TELUS-UL Stadium.

It was the third straight victory for the West team and improved their record to 10-6 in the annual Canadian Football League (CFL) top prospects game since the event began in 2003.

“Boys were working hard, saw the cut-back there and coach gave me a chance to finish so that’s what I tried to do,” Lyles told CFL.ca’s Marshall Ferguson after the game when describing the play. “We came back and rallied together.”

In a relatively low-scoring affair, Lyles was part of a ground-attack by committee for Team West, totaling 159 yards on 33 carries in the win.

While Laurier’s Kurleigh Gittens Jr., StFX’s Kaion Julien-Grant, Queen’s Chris Osei-Kusi and UBC’s Trivel Pinto looked primed to own the afternoon based on practice, it was names like Hunter Karl of Calgary making a big grab over the middle, Regina’s Kyle Moortgat beating press coverage to catch a fade and Colton Hunchak of York winning Team West MVP that stood out on the day.

UBC’s Michael O’Connor and Guelph’s Theo Landers led the way under centre, combining for 236 yards on 21 of 35 passing.

The players invited to the East-West Bowl come from every corner of the country in both hometown and school. Ontario University Athletics led the number of total invitees with 34 followed closely by Canada West (23), RSEQ (17) and the AUS (11).

The Vanier Cup finalist and this week’s hosts, the Laval Rouge et Or, led the number of invites by a single school with seven while the 2017 Vanier Cup champion Western Mustangs have six players in attendance.

– With files from Marshall Ferguson