WATERLOO, ONT.—Quarterback Luke Balch had just absorbed the ultimate sack. He realized his next snap was never coming.

The University of Waterloo Warriors were reeling Monday after their football program was suspended for one year after nine players tested positive for steroids in the biggest doping scandal in Canadian university history.

But no one was hit harder than veterans like Balch, who won’t get to play his fifth and final season.

“I get emotional, thinking I don’t have a senior day, I don’t have a last game moment,” said Balch. “We have a lot guys together on this team in their fifth year. We grew up together on this team as a family. These are my brothers. All of a sudden, it’s over. That’s it. It’s unacceptable in my mind.”

He wasn’t alone. Team captain Patrick McGarry found it hard to bear they won’t get a chance to improve on last year’s 3-5 record at Warrior Field, which has undergone a $1 million-plus refurbishing.

“We’re getting a nice new field with Field Turf and they just pulled the rug from under us,” said McGarry.

News of the one-year team suspension also hit some of the 15 players on the team from the Greater Toronto Area like a load of bricks.

Russ Kovshoff, a 210-pound linebacker from King City, was hoping to grab a starting position in his third year with a Warriors squad that hadn’t made the playoffs in six years.

“I expected some kind of penalty for the guys caught, but it’s unfair to punish everyone,” Kovshoff told the Star’s David Grossman.

The university has placed head coach Dennis McPhee and assistant Marshall Bingeman on paid leave while a full review is conducted. The decision to suspend the program was made by university vice-president and provost Feridun Hamdullahpur.

The scandal was triggered in March when Waterloo receiver Nathan Zettler was arrested for possession and trafficking of anabolic steroids and HGH. Waterloo director of athletics Bob Copeland then ordered the entire team be tested

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which split the $30,000-plus cost of testing with the university, conducted 61 urine tests and 20 blood tests — some blood test results are still pending. Of the nine confirmed doping cases, four players admitted to doping, one refused testing, three tested positive and one case is pending additional police investigation.

Joe Surgenor, a second-year linebacker from Barrie., admitted to steroid use and was suspended for two years after waiving his right to a hearing. Jordan Meredith, a rookie linebacker, tested positive for Tamoxifen, commonly used to combat the side effects of steroids. He acknowledged doping and accepted a two-year ban.

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“There’s no question that this has been an eye-opener,” said Marg McGregor, CEO of Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

With files from Daniel Girard