Bishop’s needs help to make the playoffs and beat Laval

THE RECORDS: The Gaiters head into the contest with a 3-5 record and in a tie for fourth place in the CIS Quebec conference with the Concordia Stingers. Laval is 7-1 and clinched the league pennant with their win over Sherbrooke last week.

LAST TIME OUT: A 15-yard catch by Shantino Wilson with 23 seconds left gave the Gaiters a come-from-behind victory, 21-18, over the McGill Redmen on Saturday afternoon at Coulter Field. Wilson’s touchdown, the first of his career, was the culmination of a ten-play, 68-yard drive over 1:37, as the Gaiters completed a comeback from an 11-0 halftime deficit. Jordan Heather tossed a pair of touchdowns, as he also found Quincy Van De Cruize early in the third quarter to start the comeback. He finished with 350 yards passing, his fourth 300-yard game of the season. McGill took an 11-0 lead on a 42-yard reception by Tristan Baldini and a pair of safety touches. The other McGill touchdown came on an interception return by Jesse Briggs. A pair of singles and a field goal by Mathieu Paquette rounded out the scoring for Bishop’s.

PLAYOFFS?: Since Concordia holds the tiebreaker over Bishop’s, the playoff scenarios are much simpler than in recent years. In order to make the postseason, the Gaiters must defeat Laval, and McGill must defeat Concordia. Any other set of results leaves the Gaiters in fifth place.

LAST MEETING: Sébastien Lévesque ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns as No. 3-ranked Laval defeated the Gaiters, 57-9, on Oct. 16 in Quebec City. The Rouge et Or led 19-9 at halftime, but pulled away with four touchdowns in the third quarter. Laval also got touchdowns from Charles Lambert, Maxime Boutin, Guillaume Rioux, and Christian Lavaud. Four field goals and a single by Boris Bede, along with a safety touch, rounded out Laval’s scoring. The Bishop’s scoring came courtesy of a four-yard pass from Jordan Heather to Alexander Fox in the second quarter, and singles by Mathieu Paquette and O’Shane Daley.

THE SERIES: All-time, the Gaiters are 6-20 against Laval. The teams first met in a league contest on September 2, 1996, a 22-11 win for the Gaiters at the PEPS stadium. The Gaiters have not beaten Laval since a 1-0 victory on November 3, 2001, a streak of 12 straight wins for the Rouge et Or.

SENIOR MOMENT: Today marks the last regular-season home game for the Gaiters’ seniors. The Gaiters have three fifth-year players: receiver Steven Turner, linebackers Tyler Jutras and Jermaine Lewis-Parris, along with six fourth-year players: Harrison Maloney, John Jean-Baptiste, Kenrick Ritchie, Kiron Clarke, Pier-Luc Champagne and David Haddrall

HE’S SPECIAL: Second-year receiver Alexander Fox was named the QUFL Special Teams Player of the Week last week, after posting 266 all-purpose yards, his second game over 250 all-purpose yards this season. Last week, he gained 91 yards on seven punt returns, ran a missed field goal back for 43 yards, and had two kickoff returns for 48 yards. He also made a pair of key receptions on the Gaiters’ game-winning drive, as he finished with seven catches for 84 yards.

PASSING FANCY: The Gaiters remain the top-rated pass offence in Quebec, and the fourth-highest nationwide, with an average of 296.9 yards per game. Gaiter quarterbacks Jordan Heather, Alex Rivet and Shane McDonald have combined to go 173-for-321 for 2,375 yards with 15 touchdowns. The Gaiters have recorded five 300-yard passing games this year. With their 350 yards last week, Bishop’s moved to within 100 yards of their all-time single-season team passing record. They need only 82 yards to break the record of 2,457 yards, set in 1995.

TAKE YOUR PICK: Bishop’s has made a league-leading 13 interceptions this year (the fifth-highest total in the CIS), and knocked down 30 pass attempts. McMaster leads the country with 19 picks. Ryland Smith and Tyler Jutras lead the Gaiters, and are tied for 10th nationally, with three picks this year, while O’Shane Daley and Marcus Lam-Peters each have a pair of thefts. Smith leads the CIS with nine passes knocked down.

THE HEATHER REPORT: Third-year quarterback Jordan Heather is fifth in the nation with 268.6 passing yards per game. The leader is McMaster’s Kyle Quinlan, who averaged 341.6 yards per game. Heather has posted an efficiency rating of over 100 in six games this year, and is second in the country in completions (161), attempts (296) and total yards (2149). His 14 touchdowns is also fifth nationally. Heather also leads the conference in “total offence” (rushing + passing yards combined) with 280.5 yards per game.

FOX ON THE RUN: Second-year receiver Alexander Fox leads the conference with 1,110 all-purpose yards, averaging 138.8 yards per game. Fox has had two 100-yard receiving games this year, and has had two games over 250 all-purpose yards. He is now 10th on the league single-season all-purpose yards list (league records in this category start in 2002). The team record is 1,533 set by Jamall Lee in 2007.

CFL GAITERS UPDATE: With the injury to starting running back Andrew Harris, Jamall Lee may see more playing time this Saturday, as his B.C. Lions take on the Edmonton Eskimos. Lee has 13 Special Teams Tackles this year, and a fumble recovery. So far this year offensively, he has three carries for 8 yards. Among the other Lions-Gaiters, James Yurichuk made made one defensive tackle and one special teams tackle in the Lions’ loss to Hamilton. Two weeks ago, Yurichuk excecuted a dribbled ball manoeuvre for the second time in his career, as he kicked the ball 24 yards forward and picked it up in a game against Calgary. Yurichuk how has 32 total tackles (21 defensive, 11 special teams) on the year. Shawn Gore is expected to return to action this week, after being scratched last week. He has 52 catches for 727 yards. Tim Cronk has five special teams tackles and a touchdown, while Dan McCullough has seven special teams tackles. Altogether, ex-Gaiters have accounted for 24.2% (36 of 149) of the Lions’ Special Teams Tackles this season. Elsewhere in the league, Stamps rookie Junior Turner has made 23 tackles, including a pair of sacks, while Justin Conn has a pair of special teams tackles. Saskatchewan’s Mathieu Boulay returned to action on Sept. 24, after spending two weeks on the injured list. He made his first career tackle September 4 vs. Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Kyle Jones is back on the one-game injured list. He has nine total tackles this season.

TODAY IN GAITERS HISTORY: On October 29, 1955, the Gaiters defeated the Royal Military College by the score of 12-9, as they improved their record to 5-0 on the year (4-0 OSLAA “B”). John Pratt and Don Stringer scored touchdowns for the Gaiters, who would go on to defeat the Macdonald Aggies next week to win their second consecutive OSLAA “B” title. The 1955 Gaiters were inducted into the RBC Wall of Distinction in 2009.

UP NEXT: If the Gaiters make the playoffs, they would have a return match against the top-seeded Rouge et Or, with the game set for Saturday afternoon in Quebec City.

THIS WEEK: The Bishop’s Gaiters close out the regular season with a visit from the No. 2-ranked Laval Rouge et Or.

NOTHIN’ BUT NET: The game will be webcast on SSN Canada, available at [url]www.ssncanada.ca

FOLLOW LIVE: There are a number of ways to follow the game live:

· Score and quarter updates will be available at [url]www.gaiters.ca and at @BishopsGaiters on Twitter.

· Live stats will be available at [url]http://livestats.prestosports.com/bishops.

· The Gaiters’ in-game live chat will return this week. Follow the links at [url]www.gaiters.ca to join in.

TICKETS, PLEASE: Tickets are available at the gate. Adult tickets cost $13. Concession tickets are priced at $5 (Champlain/high school students), $3 (Bishop’s students) and $2 (children under 12).
Bishop’s Sports Info