SHERBROOKE β The No.7-ranked Bishopβs Gaiters concluded their remarkable 2013 regular season with a 40-21 victoryΒ on Saturdayagainst the McGill Redmen in RSEQ University Football action. Quarterback Jordan Heather and receiver Alexander Fox were simply outstanding. They broke a multitude of school, RSEQ and CIS records en route to securing their first home playoff game since 1994.
Heather (Oromocto, N.B.), had already re-written the Bishopβs record books. He set the CIS single-season passing record with a 93-yard touchdown strike fittingly to Alexander Fox as time ran out on the third quarter. His 3132 yards is the new mark for CIS quarterbacks to strive for and he becomes just the fourth pivot to throw for over 3000 yards. The history major finished the day 26-for-47, 484 yards passing, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.Β The 484-yards ranks 10thΒ all-time in the RSEQ and is his second highest total this year (538 against Laval on Sept. 28).Β It also marks the fourth consecutive game he has passed for over 400 yards. His 20 touchdown tosses in 2013 is the most ever in the RSEQ.
The Montreal native, Fox, saved his best performance for last. He caught seven passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns.Β The latter two stats are Bishopβs records for a single game. Foxβs second touchdown of the day, a three yard catch, gave him 23 for his career, the most receiving touchdowns ever in the RSEQ. He also reached the 1000-yard plateau, only the 11thΒ player in Canadian University football to do so, and earned another Gaiters record.
Not to be outdone by the two record-breakers, fifth year captain Matt Burke rushed for 132 yards and added 35 more in the receiving column.Β He too was playing his last regular season game on Coulter Field.
Fellow senior, kicker, Mathieu Paquette (Sherbrooke, Que.) was 4-for-4 on field goal attempts with makes of 20, 22, 28 and 29 yards. He closed out his stellar bounce back season 17-for-23 on field goals including a long of 47, while registering 76 points.
McGill jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the first quarter. Late in the frame, a 22-yard Paquette field goal put the Gaiters on board before the teams switched ends on the cold, rainy Lennoxville afternoon.
The rhythm of the game changed quickly as the Gaiters scored 20 unanswered points in the second quarter. After a 20-yard field goal by Paquette, Fox scored his first touchdown of the day, on a 54-yard pass from Heather. He did it again less than five minutes later, this time his record breaking 3-yard touchdown catch. Paquetteβs third field goal of the half put Bishopβs on top 23-8 as the teams headed to their locker rooms.
The Gaiters added 17 more points on the scoreboard in the third quarter, with two more majors from Fox (60 yards and 93 yards, respectively) and a 29-yard field goal from Paquette.
The Redmen tried to push in the fourth-quarter but it was not enough. They finish the season with a 3-5 record while the Gaiters improved to 6-2, their first six-win season since 1993.
In Montreal the No. 2 Laval Rouge et Or (8-0) defeated the No. 6 Montreal Carabins (5-3).Β The result means the Gaiters will host an RSEQ semi-final nextΒ Saturday, Nov. 2, against the Carabins. Kickoff is slated forΒ 1 p.m.Β on Coulter Field.
Stay tuned toΒ www.gaiters.caΒ for more details about the first university playoff game in Lennoxville since 1994.
Game notes: The Gaiters out-gained the Redmen 665-503 yards β¦ Bishopβs lone turnover came on a failed third down conversion late in the game while McGill was 3-of-5 on third down conversions and threw one interception β¦ Another senior, Steve McCollum (Brampton, Ont.) led the Gaiters defensive charge recording eight tackles and two sacks.
Photo credit: Β Andrew Dowbrewolskyj
Source: Β Marty Rourke, Bishop’s Gaiters Sports Information
LENNOXVILLE Β βΒ Alexander FoxΒ hauled in four touchdowns and quarterbackΒ Jordan HeatherΒ set a CIS single-season passing record as Bishop’s defeated McGill 40-21 on Saturday, to wrap up the RSEQ football schedule.
The result, combined with Sherbrooke’s 28-21 victory over winless Concordia (0-8), knocked McGill out of a playoff berth. The Redmen had an identical 3-5 record with fourth-place Sherbrooke but lost the head-to-head tie-breaker, 45-26, in the only meeting between the clubs, last month.
The seventh-ranked Gaiters finished a surprising second in the RSEQ standings with a 6-2 record, including three wins by a single point. They will host Montreal (5-3) next Saturday in a conference semifinal. It will mark the Gaiters’ first home playoff date in the Quebec league since 1993, the year of their last six-win season (6-1). In next Saturday’s other Quebec semifinal, No. 2 Laval (8-0) will host Sherbrooke (3-5), live on Radio-Canada at 1 p.m.
Heather, a fifth-year senior from Oromocto, N.B., racked up 484 passing yards against the Redmen to finish the campaign with 3,132 yards, breaking the previous national standard of 3,047, established only a week ago by sophomore Will Finch of Western. Heather shattered the record in spectacular fashion, connecting with Fox for a 93-yard scoring major on the final play of the third quarter.
It was the fourth TD pass of the afternoon for Heather, who completed 26 of 47 attempts on the day. The veteran pivot finished the campaign with 199 completions, the sixth-highest tally in CIS history.
Fox, a senior from Montreal, ended the contest with 256 yards on seven catches. He was the country’s leader this fall in yards (1,009) and reception majors (12).
Heather directed an offence that generated 33 first downs and 665 net yards against the Redmen, who replied with 31 and 503, respectively.
The game featured seven players who generated over 100 yards of offence, including BU running back Matthew Burke (132 yards on 19 carries) and Nathan Heather, brother of the Gaiters QB, who hadΒ 113 yards on eight receptions.
Place-kicker Mathieu Paquette rounded out the scoring for Bishop’s with 16 points. He went 4-for-4 on field-goals, connecting from distances of 22, 20, 28 and 29, respectively. He also converted all four TDs.
Redmen quarterbackΒ Jonathan CollinΒ completed 29 of 43 attempts for 357 yards, three TDs and one interception.
RookieΒ Casey Cook, one of two Redmen to reach the century mark in receiving yardage, caught nine balls for 137 yards and a pair of TDs.
McGill opened the scoring when Collin found Cook for a 28-yard TD toss at 3:44 of the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff,Β Samy RassyΒ unleashed an 84-yard kickoff rouge, the third-longest in McGill history and one shy of the school record held by Richie Klimas (1983) and Andrew Boon (1993). The Quebec league mark is 90 by Ottawa’s Darren McNiece (1996) and Concordia’s Dave Miller-Johnston (1998).
From that point forward, the Redmen were held off the scoreboard until Cook’s second touchdown at 13:35 of the fourth quarter.
McGill led 8-3 after the first quarter but the Gaiters roared back with 37 unanswered points before McGill responded. BU took a 23-8 lead into halftime and a 40-8 advantage into the final stanza.
The only other scoring play for McGill was a three-yard TD toss from Collin to rookieΒ Damian Massey-HirtΒ to close out the scoring in the fourth quarter.
REDMEN RAP: McGill seniorΒ Jean-Philippe PaquetteΒ amassed 217 all-purpose yards, including 112 on 11 receptions. He also had 76 on three kickoffs and 29 on three punt returns…Running backΒ Luis Guimont-MotaΒ rushed for 98 yards on 18 carries, just missing the century mark for what would have been the fifth time this season… Leading the McGill defence were linebackersΒ Alexandre BernardΒ (8 tackles),Β Chris O’KillΒ (7.5) andΒ Eric GracioppoΒ (6)… The Redmen are expecting to lose nine seniors to graduation, including QBΒ Jonathan Collin, OLΒ Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, OLΒ Robert Ravensbergen, K/PΒ Samy Rassy, DLΒ Gerry Sasa, DLΒ David Deku, LBΒ Maxwell Bauer, LBΒ Alexandre Bernardand DBΒ Mattey Ossom.
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Photo credit: Derek Drummond
Source: Earl Zukerman, McGill Redmen Sports Information
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