The Montreal Carabins lost the Laval Rouge et Or 30-11 Saturday afternoon in front of a packed house at CEPSUM.
This defeat, combined with a Bishop’s Gaiters victory over the McGill Redmen, gives the Carabins the third spot in RSEQ standings. The team will play their semi-final match at Bishop’s next Saturday.
“We made mistakes in the second half that cost us dearly, said Carabins Head Coach Danny Maciocia. “We cannot afford such mistakes, especially not against a team like the Rouge et Or.”
“The only way to overcome this is to work harder. We must be prepared to face Gaiters, because this is a team that relies on a special attack. ”
While the Carabins clung onto an 11-3 lead after three quarters, the Rouge et Or began a chain reaction of four touchdowns on four consecutive possessions.
First, the Rouge et Or scored a touchdown on a long play pass of 71 yards from Alex Skinner to Felix Lechasseur which ended in the end zone. After a failed two-point conversion, the gap was reduced to 11-9 in favor of the Carabins.
Moments later, Maxime Boutin made four consecutive rushed for gains of 43 yards. Pascal Lochard then completed drive with a with a one yard touchdown score. On their next possession, the Rouge et Or scored on a seven yard run by Guillaume Bourassa. The Rouge et Or had the 23-11 lead with less than three minutes left to play.
Bourassa added a second touchdown on a 16-yard run. In total, The Rouge et Or had 341 total offensive yards against 257 for the Carabins.
“I cannot say exactly what happened, but it is clear that we did not play our best football in the second half, said Carabins defensive lineman David Ménard (Kinesiology).
The Carabins had the lead at halftime and scored the only points of the first quarter as the Rouge et Or conceded a safety early in the game. During the second quarter, after two spectacular catches by Mikhail Davidson (mathematics) for gains of 38 yards, the Carabins couldn’t convert on a third down. The Rouge et Or took advantage of this and then took over the lead on a 20-yard field goal by Boris Bede. On the last sequence of the half, the Carabins crossed 63 yards and quarterback Pierre-Luc Varhegyi (Administration, HEC Montreal) completed work on a seven-yard run with just 6.3 seconds on the clock.
The Carabins retreated back to the locker room with a 9-3 lead. In the second half, the Carabins scored just two points as the Rouge et Or conceded a safety. Varhegyi completed 14 of 27 for 181 passing yards. His favorite target was Mikhail Davidson, who caught four balls for 81 yards. Meanwhile, Skinner completed 13 of 23 for 197 passing yards. Manuel Crisi-Lauzon (Arts and Science) racked up 88 yards on the ground.
On defense, John Samuel Blanc (Safety and Police Studies) was the biggest threat with six solo tackles. Antoine Pruneau (Health and Physical Education) also did well with a total of five tackles and two batted down balls.
In the RSEQ semi-final next weekend, the Rouge et Or, unbeaten this season, will host either the Sherbrooke Vert & Or if the team won their game later in the day on Saturday or the McGill Redmen.
Both games will be played next Saturday at 1:00.
With files from Mathieu Dauphinais
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