Heather’s near-record performance leads Gaiters over Mount Allison

SACKVILLE, N.B. – Jordan Heather’s three-touchdown, 459-yard passing performance led the Bishop’s Gaiters to a 36-23 victory over the Mount Allison Mounties in CIS football action today at MacAulay Field. The Homecoming crowd of 2,628 saw the Oromocto, N.B., native finish one yard short of the Bishop’s school record of 460 yards, set by Silvio Martel in 1991.

Heather’s scoring passes all came in the second half, as the Gaiters broke the game open. He connected with Alexander Fox (Montreal West, Que.) on a pair of touchdowns, an eight-yard toss early in the third and a 53-yard strike at 4:25 of the fourth. Heather’s other major came on a 65-yard pass-and-run to Steven Turner (Brampton, Ont.) midway through the third.

Quincy Van De Cruize (Etobicoke, Ont.) had other Gaiter touchdown, as he gave Bishop’s a 10-3 halftime lead. A pair of field goals by Mathieu Paquette (Magog, Que.) and a safety touch rounded out the Gaiters’ scoring.

For Mount Allison, Jake Hotchkiss threw for two touchdowns as he found Adam Molnar and Ben Stehr on scoring passes. Emmanuel Musangu also scored for the Mounties on a one-yard run. Alex Curtis opened the scoring for the home side with a 20-yard field goal early in the first quarter.

Heather finished 26-for-41 with one interception. The Gaiters had three receivers go over 100 yards, as Fox finished with nine catches for 148 yards, Turner had five for 125, while David Haddrall was 6-for-105. Van De Cruize was the Gaiters’ leading rusher, with seven carries for 52 yards.

The Mounties’ Hotchkiss went 23-for-36 for 309 yards with three interceptions. Molnar was his favourite target, with seven catches for 100 yards, while Stehr had five for 86.

The Gaiters put up 477 yards of net offence, while Mount Allison gained 377. The Mounties made 24 first downs to the Gaiters’ 23, but committed seven turnovers. The Gaiters coughed the ball up five times. Bishop’s committed 15 penalties for 95 yards, while the Mounties were whistled ten times for 90 yards.

Defensively, the Gaiters were led by veteran linebacker Tyler Jutras (Chateauguay, Que.), who had six tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble return. Jermaine Lewis-Parris (Brampton, Ont.) made five tackles, a sack and a fumble return. Marcus Lam-Peters (Toronto, Ont.), Jeff Rogers (Dartmouth, N.S.), and Ryland Smith (Brampton, Ont.) had the Gaiter interceptions, while Greg Mellios (Cornwall, Ont.) and Steve McCollum (Brampton, Ont.) had the other Gaiter sacks.

Mount Allison’s defence was led by Kwame Adjei, who had 5.5 tackles and an interception. Ryan Downe and Justin Richard each had a pair of sacks for the Mounties.

Mount Allison’s next game is Saturday, September 24 as they host Saint Mary’s in Moncton, as part of the Touchdown Atlantic celebrations. The Gaiters’ next game is also on Saturday, as they host the No. 6-ranked Montreal Carabins in the annual Homecoming Game. Kickoff at Coulter Field is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised on SRC, the French-language television service of the CBC.

Bishop’s Sports Info

BISH MT.A

First downs………………. 23 24
Yards Rushing…………….. 68 100
Yards passing…………….. 459 314
Total offence…………….. 527 414
Team losses………………. 50 42
Net offence………………. 477 372
Passes made-tried…………. 26-41 24-39
Returns-yards…………….. 6-70 11-192
Intercepts-yards by………. 3-78 1-29
Fumbles-Lost……………… 4-3 3-3
Sacks By: Number-Yards…….. 3-26 5-45

Punts-average…………….. 7-38.4 7-20.0
Penalties-Yards…………… 15-95 10-90
Possession Time…………… 31:56 28:04
Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team losses such as yards lost on broken plays.

RUSHING: Mt.A Kukkonen 13-59, Hotchkiss 7-24, Molnar 1-12, Ellis 1-4, Musangu 1-1; Van De Cruize 7-52, Jean-Baptiste 1-7, J.Heather 1-6, McDonald 1-4, Paquette 1-2, King-Fileen 4-1, McCalla 1-(minus 4).

RECEIVING: Mt.A Molnar 7-100, Stehr 5-86, King 4-49, Trentham 4-45, Moore 1-13, Kukkonen 1-12, de Palezieux 1-5, Ellis 1-4; Bish Fox 9-148, Turner 5-125, Haddrall 6-105, Coventry 5-72, Jean-Baptiste 1-9.

PASSING: Mt.A Hotchkiss 23-36, 309 yds, 2 TD, 3 int; Coles 1-3-5-0-0; Bish J.Heather 26-41-459-3-1.