CIS: Saint Mary’s Huskies suffer heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Sherbrooke Vert et Or

Early in the first quarter, the Huskies got on the scoreboard first when kicker Brett Lauther (Truro, Nova Scotia) was successful on a 38 yard field goal attempt.  This put the Huskies up 3-0.

Vert et Or’s Francois Lapointe helped Sherbrooke overtake the lead at the 13:33 mark of the second quarter when he found the end zone on a seven yard pass. The conversion attempt by kicker William Dion was good enough to give Sherbrooke the lead 8-3.

Halfway through the quarter, Huskies linebacker Marvin Golding (LaSalle, Quebec) scored scoped and scored a touchdown.  With Lauther’s successful conversion attempt, the Huskies reclaimed the lead 10-8.

After a Vert et Or safety, Lauther booted a 43 yard field goal which gave the Huskies a 13-10 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Lauther was successful on a 38 yard field goal attempt to increase the Huskies lead by six.  However, the Vert et Or came right back as William Dion kicked a 15 yard field goal to cut the lead by three.

After Lauther’s two straight field goal successful attempts in the fourth (43 and 45 yards), the Huskies enjoyed a nine point lead.

With 1:46 left in the game, the Vert et Or pivot Jeremi Roch-Doyon connected with Gabriel Goulet for a 30 yard touchdown score to put the team within two points of the Huskies.  Sherbrooke got the ball back after a stalled Huskie drive, and wth 14 seconds remaining, kicker William Dion was successful on a 25 yard field goal attempt to seal the win for the Vert and Or and deny the Huskies their first victory of the season.

Huskies head coach Perry Marchese said that the loss was heartbreaking for the entire team.

“I’m heartbroken for our kids, for our young men,” commented Marchese, in his rookie season as head coach.  “They played right from the beginning of the game to the last play of the game.”

“We’ve been talking all year about how we’re going to compete every single play, every down, all the way through and right to the last play of the game, right through to the field goal.”

Marchese was pleased with the performance the team in spite of the loss.

“Our guys went 100 miles an hour,” reflected the Huskies head coach.  “I’m proud of all of them.”

“I’m disappointed for them that we didn’t get the “W” for them and offensively, it’s on us.  Definitely, our defense did everything they could do and our special teams were fantastic.  We’re going to have to regroup on offense.”

In the first half, the Huskies had trouble with executing their offensive game plan.  Not only were they having difficulties getting first downs, but their running game was halted by the Vert & Or defense.

“We had an opportunity going into the game,” explained Marchese.  “They (Sherbrooke) didn’t know what we were going to do because we had a new quarterback in there but I think at the end of the day, we’re going to have to come up with stuff that Jean (Legault) is going to good at.”

This game marked the first start for Huskies quarterback Jean Legault, who coincidentally is from Sherbrooke, Quebec.  He became the starter this week after Huskies number one pivot Jack Creighton was sidelined for the season with two fractured vertebrae in his neck.  Creighton suffered the injury in the Huskies loss to the Acadia Axemen last week in Wolfville.

For his part, Marchese was impressed by Legault’s outing against the Vert et Or.

“One thing about Jean is he’s as smart as can be,” added the Huskies head coach.  “He’s a competitor.”

“He worked his butt off that whole game.  At the end of the day, he was just a player as he was one of the 48 players we dressed this week and he played his ass off.”

A huge reason the Huskies were still in the game were due to the strong performance from the defensive unit, but the exceptional play of Lauther.  For his exceptional play in today’s game, Lauther was named player of the game.

“I don’t coach Brett but Brett coaches me,” expressed Marchese of Lauther.  “When he walks on the field, he says ‘I’ve got this field goal’ and we say ‘go get that field goal’.”

“When he walks on the field and says ‘let’s punt’”, I say ‘let’s punt’.  He’s a fantastic kicker both off the ground and punting.”

While it is hard to lose in a disappointing fashion, the Huskies head coach said the team would take away some positives from today’s outcome.

“Our guys have a ton of heart,” says Marchese.  “All our guys know when they step on the field and they’re between the lines, they play as hard as they can possibly play.”

“That’s all our guys know and all they’re doing.”

Photos courtesy of Mona Ghiz
(website: http://www.ghizphotos.ifp3.com/)

(twitter: http://twitter.com/vohra_ameeta)