GRAZ, Austria – Matt Walter of the University of Calgary Dinos scored a pair of touchdowns to earn player-of-the-game honours as Canada defeated Austria 36-14 to move to 2-0 at the World Championship of American Football Monday night.

The victory, which follows a 45-10 triumph by Canada over France in their opener, sets up a semi-final match-up against Japan Wednesday. The winner advances to the gold medal game, slated for Saturday in Vienna.

Walter, who was a late addition to the Canadian roster after spending training camp with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, scored two majors for the second straight game – the first on a 32-yard pass from former Western Ontario quarterback Michael Faulds to make it 14-0 in the second quarter, followed by Canada's final score on a 6-yard run late in the fourth.

Canada but was made to fight for every yard against a determined host nation spurred on by a 4,500-strong crowd at the UPC Arena in Graz.

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Walter racked up 74 yards on 9 carries along with three catches for 32 yards, while receiver Jakob Dieplinger and running back Mario Nerad delighted the home crowd by breaching the end zone. Faulds put in an impressive performance for Canada, completing 17 of 24 pass attempts for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Linebacker Florian Heuter took the Austrian MVP honors, leading the team with 6.5 tackles including one for a loss, while offensively Dieplinger had 87 receiving yards and Florian Grein gained 65 on the ground.

Walter is joined on the Canadian team by two Dinos teammates, offensive lineman Reed Alexander and defensive lineman Josh Symons. Calgary head coach Blake Nill is the defensive coordinator for Team Canada.

Of the 45 players on the Canadian roster, 41 are either current or former CIS players.

Canada and Japan face off Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. MT (3 p.m. local/Central European Time) for the right to play for the gold medal. The game will be available live online (German only) at www.ifaf.org.

The winner will take on the winner of the USA-Mexico contest for gold on Saturday night, while the two semi-final losers will meet up for bronze Friday in Vienna.

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