U Sports recap (6): uOttawa wins first time in 5 years in Panda Game

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Friday, Sept 28

Sherbrooke (0-5) 2 , Montreal (4-1) 43

With files from: Montreal Carabins

A particularly productive end to the first half helped Montreal’s Carabins defeat the Université de Sherbrooke’s Vert & Or by 43-2 on Friday night in front of a crowded CEPSUM.

While the scoreboard showed 1 min 9s to go before retreating to the locker room, the score was 14-0. That’s when things unlocked.

Dimitri Morand (Communication Sciences) joined Louis-Mathieu Normandin (Accounting CPA, HEC Montréal) in the end zone, before repeating the feat with Regis Cibasu (Administration, HEC Montréal), barely a minute later.

On the kickoff, the returner of the visitors escaped the ball, which allowed the Blues to add three points, a 17th consecutive in just over a minute.

“It really gives confidence before retiring to the locker room, launched Louis-Mathieu who concluded the match with two passes captured, both for major. It’s been three games in a row that we score a lot of points and it’s fun!”

Morand finally finished the game with 14 passes completed in 18 attempts for 275 yards. He joined three receivers in the end zone and was the victim of no interception.

His favorite target was Cibasu who caught seven balls for 91 yards, in addition to his middle finger.

“We have been able to perform games that are often done in practice, admitted the offensive coordinator Gabriel Cousineau. Dimitri led the game well and played with confidence. There are small aspects of his game that he has to work on, but that’s part of his learning curve.”

In the first defensive sequence of the match, Samuel Rossi (Kinesiology) and Philippe Lemieux-Cardinal (Kinesiology) combined their efforts to make a sack.

This sequence represented what was waiting for the various Sherbrooke pivots for the rest of the evening.

After the first 30 minutes of action, the defense did not give their opponents a single first game and limited them to a total harvest of negative yards.

At the end of the game, the Foxes racked up just nine yards through the air.

“We really have to give credit to the players, without hesitation head coach and defensive coordinator Danny Maciocia. The guys play well and there is a nice chemistry between them and it seems.”

Benoit Marion (Industrial Relations) also managed to project the quarterback to the ground.

Tysen-Otis Copeland did an interception, his second of the season.

In five games this year, the defense has awarded just one touchdown. It was precisely against Vert & Or, two weeks ago.

Louis-Philippe Simoneau (Occupational Health and Safety) had another great evening. The crowd favorite kicker placed all three attempts between the two posts, including 43 yards. He also placed three of his clearances inside the 20-yard line.

The Carabins will travel to Quebec City next Sunday for their second duel of the season against the Rouge et Or.

UBC (1-4) 21 , Alberta (1-4) 26

EDMONTON – First-year Golden Bear Jordy Kibamba broke up a pass in the endzone on the final play of regulation, sealing a thrilling 26-21 win for the Alberta Golden Bears over UBC Thunderbirds, Friday night at Foote Field.

The win is the first on the season for Alberta (1-4), and comes in a game that featured fantastic offensive performances, key defensive stops, and a phantom catch late in the fourth quarter. With the victory, Alberta moved past UBC in the standings, as the T-Birds lost their fourth-straight game to fall to 1-4 in conference play.

Jonathan Rosery paced the offence for the Golden Bears, rushing for 161 yards on 23 carries, including his second touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter. His major score would hold up as the difference, as the Bears stopped UBC’s final drive with no time left on the clock.

“I felt there were three skilled guys in Western Canada in last years recruiting class who I thought were absolutely special, and Rosery was one of them.” said Golden Bears head coach Chris Morris. “He’s a little guy who can make people miss, and has those nifty plays in him. And thats a hard combination to find. A guy who is electric, and who is also a hard-nosed blue collar kid. For an 18-year old to come out and do what he did tonight is special.”

Alberta starting quarterback Brad Baker also had his best performance of the season, tossing 250 yards and one touchdown. UBC starter Michael O’Connor threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns himself, but was haunted by 17 incompletions and a handful of dropped passes.

Forcing those incompletions was a rejuvenated Golden Bears defence, who easily put forth their best performance of the season. O’Connor was sacked twice, while the Bears D also forced three fumbles and finished with three pass-breakups, including the Kimbamba stop.

“The defence has played well all year, but we have had them on the field way too much.” continued Morris. “Tonight is the first night we actually made some big plays on defence”

UBC opened the game with a TD drive, capped off by a O’Connor pass to Trey Kellogg from five yards out. A 33-yard field goal late in the first quarter gave the Thunderbirds a 10-0 lead.

The Bears slowly started to chip into their opponents lead, as Brent Arthur made three-straight field goals to open the second quarter. Baker gave Alberta their first lead with a 38-yard TD bomb to Daniel Bubelenyi, as Alberta took a 16-10 lead into the half.

A 45-yard catch and run touchdown from O’Connor to Ben Cummings restored the UBC lead at 17-16, on an impressive drive to start the third quarter. Another Arthur field goal restored Alberta’s slim lead, before Rosery’s TD plunge gave the Bears a 26-17 fourth-quarter edge.

UBC was able to manage two drives late in the fourth quarter, in their comeback bid. UBC’s first late-game drive led to a 30-yard Greg Hutchins field goal. The second drive was aided by a O’Connor incompletion, that was discussed by officials before being called a catch deep inside Alberta territory. The catch gave UBC three late shots at the endzone to take the lead, all of which fell incomplete.

“They played their hearts out tonight. At the end of the game their was some things that happened that were a little funky. I’m really happy we pulled that win out.” finished Morris. “Now we get the bye week, which gives us a chance to go over the details. And if we keep getting better a little every game, we will be fine.”

The two teams will now enjoy the conference’s annual Thanksgiving week break, before returning to Canada West action on October 12th.

Saturday, Sept. 29

SMU (5-0) 27 , StFX (3-2) 24

Antigonish, NS – In an exciting game from start to finish, it was the Saint Mary’s Huskies who came out on a top of a 27-24 game over the StFX X-Men at StFX Oland Stadium in front of a Homecoming crowd of close to 2400 fans.

The teams exchanged leads throughout the game with the deciding touchdown coming late in the fourth quarter to give Saint Mary’s the victory.

The only scoring in the first quarter came off a Keiran Burnham (Cambridge, ON) 37-yard field goal. He booted another one from 35 yards out for the first play of the second quarter to give the X-Men an early 6-0 lead.

The Huskies got on the board with a Brian Hope (Port Coquitlan, BC) 13-yard field goal later in the second quarter. They added their first major of the game with just under two minutes to play in the opening half. Quarterback Kaleb Scott (Mount Albert, ON) found Tre Wright (Calgary, AB) in the end zone for a seven-yard reception as Saint Mary’s took their first lead of the afternoon at 10-6.

Burnham closed the gap with a 31-yard field goal five minutes into the third quarter to bring the X-Men to within a point.

The Huskies increased their lead with a one-yard touchdown run by Jericho Daher (Mount Albert, ON) after several penalties and first and goal attempts. Hope’s point after made it 17-9 in favour of SMU.

The X-Men stormed back to tie the game thanks to a strong 35-yard punt return by Kaion Julien-Grant (Toronto, ON) and an 18-yard reception by Greg McDonald (Halifax, NS) to place them in good field position. Quarterback Bailey Wasdal (Calgary, AB) punched in the one-yard touchdown then connected with Jordan Socholotiuk (Waterford, ON) for the two-point conversion to knot the score at 17-17 with 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

As the game continued to go back and forth, Hope kicked a 32-yard field goal on the Huskies opening drive of the fourth quarter as they regained the lead at 20-17.

Wasdal and the StFX offense strung together a solid drive leading to a first and goal scenario with four and a half minutes left in the game. Wasdal punched it in for his second major score of the game to give the X-Men the 24-20 advantage.

Not to be outdone, the Huskies offense quickly got to work as Scott found Henry and Liam O’Brien (Parksville, BC) for a 39 and 20-yard passes, respectively, to put them deep in X-Men territory. Henry then hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass to once again re-gain the Huskies lead (27-24) late in the game with under three minutes to play.

The X-Men attempted to come back but on a critical third and six play with a minute and a half left, fell short of the first down and turned the ball over to the Huskies.

The visitors hung on for the three-point victory as Kaleb Scott earned Subway player of the game honours, finishing with 20 for 35 with 334 passing yards. He also rushed for 117 yards on 10 carries.

Veteran X-Men defensive back Dylan Bell (Brockville, ON) was the player of the game for the X-Men with seven tackles on the afternoon and two interceptions.

Scott’s favorite targets on the day were Henry (4-71) and O’Brien (4-58). Scott was also the Huskies leading rusher and Tyrique Dixon-Bowden (Halifax, NS) picked up 45 yards on eight carries.

For the X-Men offense, Wasdal was 10 for 23 on the day with 108 passing yards. Julien-Grant had four receptions for 17 yards and McDonald was two for 44. Socholotiuk lead the ground attack with a solid 175-yard performance on 31 rushes.

On the defensive side of the ball, Bell lead the X-Men with seven tackles, one break-up and two interceptions for a loss of 28 yards. Tyler Cordeiro (Oakville, ON) had 5.5 tackles.

Huskies linebacker Brad Herbst (Ottawa, ON) led all tacklers in the game with 10.5, while Jarek Richards (Chateauguay, QC) had nine.

With the win, the Huskies improve their record to 5-0 atop the AUS standings. The X-Men, in second place, drop to 3-2. They will travel to Acadia for a Friday night match-up on October 5th. The Huskies will host Bishop’s on Saturday in a 2:00 pm game.

uOttawa (4-1) 38 , Carleton (4-2) 27

OTTAWA, Ontario – A sellout crowd at the 50th Panda Game at TD Place saw the uOttawa Gee-Gees come away with a 38-27 victory to capture their first win in the rivalry match in five years.

On the opening play from scrimmage QB Mike Arruda tossed a swing pass out right to WR Quinton Soares, who proceeded to fool the Gee-Gees defense by then throwing his own pass deep down the right side to a wide open Dominic Walker. The Ravens receiver did the rest by sprinting into the endzone for the opening touchdown.

Shortly after that, Carleton looked as if they seize the momentum with an interception by defensive back Jon Edouard, but on the ensuing drive, Arruda’s pass was tipped into the arms of a waiting Rashad Spooner. uOttawa would take advantage of the turnover a few plays later on a touchdown pass from Sawyer Buettner to Carter Matheson to tie the game.

Carleton was able to get their offense going again halfway through the 2nd. Three passes of 15 yards or more drove the Ravens all the way down to the uOttawa 6 yard line, where they capped off the drive with a floating pass over the middle from Arruda to Soares for the score and a 14-7 lead.

The Gee-Gees responded quickly though, as a 40 yard pass from Buettner to a wide open Kalem Beaver down the middle of the field tied things up again at 14. The Gee-Gees added a field goal by Campbell Fair as time expired to go up 17-14 at halftime.

Beaver continued to elude the Carleton defense in the second half, passing the 100 yard mark on another long score of 37 yards this time, putting uOttawa up by ten midway through the 3rd. Things got worse for the Ravens before the quarter was out. After a fumbled punt return by Jalen Jana, Buettner found Dylan St. Pierre at the very back of the end zone to give the Gee-Gees a three score lead 31-14.

Nathan Carter would punch in a 7 yard touchdown run to cut the Gee-Gees lead to 38-20 halfway through the 4th. Carter refused to let the game die, passing 100 yards on the next drive and scoring his 2nd rushing touchdown in just over 3 minutes to bring the Ravens within 11. That was as close as Carleton would get. For uOttawa, the 38-27 victory is their first in the Panda Game since 2013, and first at TD Place. The Gee-Gees leap to 4-1 in the standings, while Carleton drops to 4-2.

Carleton running back Nathan Carter didn’t mince words when addressing his team’s performance. “People weren’t accountable. People made mistakes. People messed up,” Carter said after the game. “We had spurts where we played well. But that doesn’t win you games. We need to play a full game of football, and we didn’t do that.”

One positive is that Carter and the Ravens realize what they need to work on as they enter the final two games of the season. “We had a wake up call,” said Carter. “We need to execute our base plays. Finish. Play a good 60 minutes of football.”

Up Next
Laurier @ Carleton
Friday, October 5 (1 PM)
MNP Park – Ottawa, ON

Western (5-0) 26 , Queen’s (3-3) 23

KINGSTON, Ont. (September 29, 2018) – The Queen’s Gaels (3-3) fell to the No.1 Western Mustangs (5-0) in a heartbreaking 26-23 loss on Saturday afternoon.

GAME FLOW
After the Gaels opened the scoring on an early rouge, the Mustangs drove down the field for 75 yards on eight plays. Cedric Joseph capped off the lengthy drive with a 1-yard touchdown rush to give Western a 7-1 lead.

The Gaels chipped into the deficit to start the second quarter as Nick Liberatore sent a 26-yard field goal through the uprights to make it 7-4.

After a Western rouge, the Gaels scored their first touchdown on the day as Nate Hobbs capped off a 93-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Western’s Marc Liegghio converted on a 20-yard field goal before half to send the two teams into the locker room tied 11-11.

The Gaels grabbed a hold of the momentum out of the break as Nate Hobbs ran in his second one-yard touchdown rush of the game to give the Gaels as 18-11 lead. The touchdown was Hobbs’ eighth rushing touchdown of the season which leads the OUA.

The Gaels then pinned the Mustangs deep in their own zone forcing them to concede a safety bringing the Gaels lead to 20-11.

In the fourth, the Gaels built their lead up to 23-12, but the Mustangs would have the last laugh as they controlled the final nine minutes of the game.

First, Alex Taylor found a hole for a 20-yard touchdown run cutting the Gaels lead to 23-18.

Then after stopping the Gaels defensively, the Mustangs took the following possession down the field for the go-ahead score.

Mustangs’ quarterback Chris Merchant kept the ball himself for a 12-yard touchdown run which was enough to seal the ballgame.

MUST-SEE MOMENTS
This play from Matteo Del Brocco helped set up Nate Hobbs for a rushing touchdown.

Take a look at yet another Gaels’ flea-flicker play. Jeremy Pendergast showed off his quick hands.

BY THE NUMBERS
141 – Matteo Del Brocco set a new career-high with 141 receiving yards.
2 – Cameron Lawson had his strongest game of the season with two sacks and six tackles.
947 – Despite what was a fairly low-scoring game both teams combined for 947 total yards. Defences stood their ground in the red zone.

FINAL SAY
“We laid it all out on the field but when you play against a top team you’ve got to be almost perfect, they made a few plays there at the end and we had a couple of tough calls,” said head coach Pat Sheahan. “It was a great football game played hard right until the end, they are a great team and we were right there step for step with them. We were good enough to beat them today and that was the message to the team, and we just need to play just a little sharper.”

UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to bounce back as they head on the road next Friday. They’ll play the McMaster Marauders (3-2) for an 11am start in Hamilton. You can catch all the action on OUA.tv.

Toronto (0-5) 24 , Windsor (1-2) 26

Game Recap: Windsor Lancers

The Windsor Lancers celebrated 50 years of Lancer football in dramatic fashion with a come from behind victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Alumni Weekend at Alumni Field.

Clark Green capped off the day with a Lancer record setting six field goals in a single game, as the Blue & Gold defeated the Blues 26-24.

GAME STATS
Clark Green had a record day kicking the ball, going six for six and hitting his last kick from 45 yards out. Toronto’s Ethan Shafer hit his only attempt as well from the 28 yard line.

Marvin Gaynor final got the running game going for the Lancers, picking up 92 yards on 16 carries. Cole Goodfellow led the rush for the Blues, gaining 19 yards on two carries

Will Corby led all receivers with seven catches for 172 yards and a touchdown. The Lancers main weapon was Kaeden Walls who had 115 yards on six catches and a touchdown.

GAME FLOW
Things didn’t get off to a great start for the Lancers. Backup Blues quarterback Connor Ennis led his team down field to pick up a major on their first drive, finding Nolan Lovegrove in the end zone from 39 yards out. The aerial attack persisted as later in the quarter, Will Corby hauled in an 88 yard touchdown to put the Blues up 14-0. Things got worse when David Adeniran muffed a punt in the end zone, putting the Blues up 21-0.  The Lancers rattled off three straight field goals to lower the deficit, but went into the half down 21-9.

In the second half the Lancers offense showed some of the red zone woes that plagued the team in first half. However, with some stout defense the Lancers began to claw their way back into the game. After a couple more Clark Green field goals, the Lancers finally found pay dirt with a long bomb to Kaeden Walls, moving the game to a two point spread. Down by two, Clark Green marched out with a chance to put the Lancers up and set a Lancer record in the process. Green hit the field goal, his sixth of the day to set a new Lancers record and put the Lancers up. On the ensuing Toronto drive, Cole Verlinde intercepted Toronto’s Connor Ennis to seal the game, giving the Lancers their first win of the season, 26-24.

UP NEXT
Up next the Lancers travel to London to take on the Western Mustangs on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 7:00pm. You can watch live at OUA.tv.

Guelph (3-3) 27 , Laurier (2-3) 24

Game Recap: Jamie Howieson, Laurier

WATERLOO, Ont. (September 29, 2018) – The No. 8 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s football team saw their losing streak extended to three games on Saturday afternoon as they lost 27-24 to the Guelph Gryphons on Homecoming weekend at University Stadium.

Turnovers and a lack of execution on offence in the second half were the difference in the game. The Hawks turned the ball over on seven occasions, including six interceptions, while failing to find the scoreboard in the second half as they lost three games in a row for the first time since 2015.

After building a 14-point lead at halftime on the strength of two touchdowns from Levondre Gordon of Mississauga, Ont., and a punt-return major from Kurleigh Gittens Jr., of Ottawa, the Hawks were their own worst enemy in the second half.

Quarterback Tristan Arndt of London, Ont., who was the victim of three Guelph interceptions in the first half, including one returned for a touchdown, continued to struggle through the air.

After throwing a fourth interception that led to a Guelph single, Arndt was intercepted for the second time in the contest by defensive back Dotun Aketepe of Barrie, Ont., who returned the turnover 69 yards for a touchdown to pull Guelph to within six points.

Another single from the Gryphons cut the lead to five and Guelph’s defence continued to pressure Laurier, picking up their sixth interception midway through the fourth quarter. That ultimately led to a Jewan Jeffrey (Brampton, Ont.) touchdown, which gave Guelph a one-point lead.

Although the subsequent two-point convert failed, the Guelph defence continued their outstanding play to force a safety, giving them a three-point advantage.

Head Coach Michael Faulds made the decision to pull Arndt for the final three possessions, giving way to Connor Carusello of Caledonia, Ont. However, the rookie pivot could not engineer a comeback in the final minutes as Laurier dropped to 2-3 on the season, putting them at 2-3 and eighth overall in the OUA standings.

The win moves Guelph to 3-3 and leaves them tied with three other teams for fourth in the conference.

TOP PERFORMERS
Laurier
– Gordon, who finished the contest with 139 yards on the ground, added a pair of touchdowns to his career total, giving him 20 as a Golden Hawk, one of five players to ever achieve the mark

– rookie linebacker Tommy Bringi of London, Ont., had the best game of his young career in just his second career start, recording a team-high seven tackles to go along with a sack, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry

Guelph
– Aketepe shone for a stout Gryhons’ defence as he finished with 5.5 tackles and two interceptions
– OUA tackles leader Luke Korol of Lynden, Ont., continued his outstanding season with 10.5 tackles, one interception and two pass breakups

RECEPTIONS KING
– with a reception late in the fourth quarter, Gittens Jr. joined former Golden Hawk Stefan Ptaszek at the top of the Laurier record books with 186 career receptions
– the mark ranks him tied for 10th all-time in U SPORTS history, leaving him 65 behind all-time leader Charles-Antoine Sinotte from McGill University who posted 251 in his career

IN THEIR OWN WORDS – Michael Faulds
On what changes may be coming moving forward
“We’ll look at the film but we’re going to have to make a change. It hasn’t worked out the past couple of games and we need to play better.”

What the mentality is on the team
“We came in to today treating this game like a playoff game and we’re going to treat the next game the same way. We have to move on. It’s a short week and we need to be ready for Carleton.”

UP NEXT
With their playoff hopes dwindling, the Golden Hawks face a must-win contest on the road this week as they head to Ottawa for a School Day Game on Friday, October 5 against the No. 5 Carleton Ravens. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. from MNP Park.

MTA (2-3) 18 , Bishop’s (0-5) 10

SHERBROOKE, Que. – Stephen Casey (Boucherville, Que./Champlain College St-Lambert) scored on a 1-yard plunge after the Bishop’s Gaiters took the opening kickoff for 14 plays and 8:23.  That was the highlight of the day for the hosts and their 1501 fans in attendance on homecoming Saturday in Lennoxville.  The visiting Mount Allison Mounties spoiled the party and held on for an 18-10 win in AUS Football action.
A close call midway through the third quarter seemingly gave the Gaiters life; however, after a long discussion the referees ruled a single point and not a touchdown for the home side.

Gaiters punter Arnaud Dandin (Paris, France/Cégep de Thetford) booted the ball into the Mounties end zone where it was bobbled out of bounds with both Bishop’s and Mount Allison players in the vicinity.  A touchdown signal was given, then overturned and it was ruled to be a single point for the Gaiters.

That swayed the momentum back to Mount Allison although they were not able to put the game out of reach. Bishop’s forced a safety to cut the lead to 15-10 at the 8:53 mark in the fourth stanza.  The Mounties remained poised and James Parker connected on a 41-yard field goal to extend their lead to eight with just 57 seconds remaining.  The Gaiters ran six plays and moved the ball 39 yards in their attempt to tie, but pivot Mathieu Demers (Lévis, Que./Cégep LImoilou) was intercepted as time expired and the Mounties held on for an 18-10 win.

Demers took the majority of the snaps for Bishop’s.  He went 15-30 for 131 yards but threw three interceptions.  Casey’s score was the Gaiters’ lone major while he alternated time with Demers on the opening drive.  He finished 2-2 for 14 yards and also had three rushes for three yards and the major.

Keil Ambursley led the way for Mount Allison. He carried the ball 21 times for 121 yards.  Quarterback Troy Downton completed 19 of 27 passes for 190 yards and a major.

Players of the Game:
Subway Player of the Game, Bishop’s: Louis-Philippe Gregoire (Jonquière, Que./Cégep de Jonquière) (12 carries, 56 yards)
Mount Allison Player of the Game: AmbursleyWhere we Stand:
The loss drops Bishop’s to 0-5 on the year while Mount Allison improves to 2-3.Next up:
The Gaiters will travel to Halifax to take on the Saint Mary’s Huskies on Saturday, Oct. 6. Kickoff is 3 p.m. Atlantic time.

Social Corner:
Stay up-to-date with everything Bishop’s Gaiters on social media using @BishopsGaiters and #GaiterNation or check out www.gaiters.ca.

Laval (5-0) 53 , Concordia (2-3) 2

With files from: Mathieu Tanguay, Laval Rouge et Or
Montreal, September 29, 2018 – Quiet in the first half, the Rouge et Or attack went off 30 points in the third quarter Saturday in Montreal, en route to a 53-2 win over the Concordia Stingers.

Quarterback Hugo Richard scored two majors on the ground and two touchdown passes, while defensive back Émile Chênevert earned two interceptions, one of which he brought back to the end zone. Laval (4-0) finally got 32 first games against 10 for the Stingers, and 438 yards against 118.

Check out the complete statistics of the match

Head coach Glen Constantin drew a mixed record of the game. “We did some very good things, but it’s certain that in the first half we were not necessarily happy. Being stopped on a second and two yards, if you want to forge an identity and pass messages, you have to be able to convert this type of game. ”

“It’s a beautiful feeling,” said Emile Chênevert, about his touch. The medical student was keen to give credit to his teammates for his success, he who has three interceptions in his last two games. “The opposing quarterbacks do not have much time to throw the ball, because the Mathieu Betts and Vincent Desjardins of this world are hungry and want to go get them! ”

Modest beginnings … before the explosion

It was not until a dozen minutes before points scored on the board, when the Stingers conceded a safety touch. When the Rouge et Or got their hands on the ball, Hugo Richard led the offense from his line of 35 into the end zone. Félix Garand-Gauthier scored his first career touchdown by capturing a four-yard pass to make Laval 9-0 after transformation.

David Côté added to the score with a 26-yard field goal. Then, another sustained sequence of the Rouge et Or ended with a touchdown of Hugo Richard on a race of a yard. The Stingers’ defense allowed them to break the ice before the end of the first half, when Laval was forced to concede a safety touchdown. After 30 minutes, it was 19-2 Red and Gold.

Laval wasted no time adding to his lead after the locker room. Starting on his 11th line for his first half-time attack, the Rouge et Or crossed the field, Hugo Richard putting the finishing touches on his second touchdown on an eight-yard run. This was the 29th major of his career, which allowed him to join Paul Correale of Queen’s (1995-1999) in fourth place in the history of the RSEQ.

After a safety touch, the Rouge et Or then took advantage of a superb interception of Émile Chênevert on 29 of the Stingers to score another major. This time, Richard threw the ball to Vincent Breton-Robert in the end zone to make 35-2 Laval. Chênevert achieved another blow of brilliance on the following sequence. This time, the defensive back brought his second interception of the match 37 yards farther for the touchdown that made 42-2 Laval. Philippe Lessard-Vézina added a touchdown on a 12-yard run before the end of the third quarter. Two more fourth quarter security touchdowns completed the game.

Next meeting

The Rouge et Or will tackle next week its biggest challenge so far this season, the visit of the Montreal Carabins on Sunday, October 7th. Remember that last September 8 in Montreal, the men of Glen Constantin won 12-7. Tickets for this meeting, which will start at 1 pm, are on sale at reservatech.net or 418 656-FOOT (3668).

Saskatchewan (3-2) 13  , Calgary (5-0) 33

CALGARY – The third-ranked University of Calgary Dinos clinched a playoff spot for the 12th straight season as they defeated the No. 6 University of Saskatchewan Huskies 33-13 Saturday afternoon at McMahon Stadium.

The Dinos improve to 5-0 on the season heading into the bye week, while Saskatchewan falls to 3-2 – with both of those losses coming at the hands of Calgary.

Calgary quarterback Adam Sinagra overcame a slow start to throw for 432 yards and four touchdowns on the day while the Calgary defence allowed just three points in the first half and held Saskatchewan to just one touchdown.

“It was a tough battle, like we knew it would be,” said Dinos Head Coach Wayne Harris. “We need to be a little bit sharper, a little crisper, but anytime you’re over 500 yards of offence you’ve had a good day. In that first half we only gave up three points – bent a little bit but made some good defensive stands and they made some great plays down by the goal line. The defence stood in tall all day, and I was pleased with their effort.”

Two promising Saskatchewan drives were snuffed out in the first quarter by turnovers. Calgary’s Deane Leonard intercepting Kyle Siemens inside the 10-yard line on the Huskies’ first drive; then, after a missed 43-yard field goal try by Sean Stenger, Grant McDonald popped the ball out of Tyler Chow’s grasp and Blake Gau jumped on it to give the Dinos great field position. One play later, Sinagra found Jalen Philpot for a 40-yard touchdown to give the Dinos a 6-0 lead after a bad snap on the convert.

Saskatchewan got on the board early in the second with a 17-yard field goal, and the Dinos offence went to work from there. Calgary scored on three of its next four drives – a 35-yard touchdown to Justin Julien, a 13-yard Niko DiFonte field goal, and a 26-yard Hunter Karl TD grab – to take a 23-3 lead into the break.

The Huskies scored the only points of the third quarter on a 39-yard Stenger field goal and a one-yard Mason Nyhus touchdown plunge, bringing the game within 10 points as the game moved into the fourth quarter. The game turned on the next Calgary drive, though: after being forced into a punting situation, the Dinos kept possession of the ball on a roughing the kicker call and, again, made Saskatchewan pay for the error right away. This time, it was Sinagra finding Alex Basilis for a 53-yard touchdown on the very next play, snuffing out any momentum the Huskies had built and re-establishing their comfortable lead.

Siemens went to the air often, completing 21 of 40 passes for 297 yards and one interception. Jesse Kuntz was his top target with six catches for 87 yards, while Carter Dahl yad 93 receiving yards on just three receptions.

For the Dinos, Basilis and Dallas Boath each had five catches for 116 and 55 yards, respectively, while Karl and Julien each had four receptions on the day. Nick Statz led the way defensively with eight tackles, followed closely by Sterling Taylor IV with 6.5.

Neither team was able to establish much on the ground, with Saskatchewan picking up just 97 rushing yards and the Dinos 87.

The two teams join the rest of Canada West in the Thanksgiving bye next week before returning to action Friday, Oct. 12 when the Huskies visit UBC while the Dinos host Manitoba.

Regina (3-2) 32 , Manitoba (2-3) 31

Career U SPORTS records don’t come around too often, and Regina quarterback Noah Picton achieved his in style on Saturday afternoon. His 35-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Borsa in the first overtime gave him the record for most career passing yards, while also giving the Rams a game-winning touchdown over the Manitoba Bisons.

With 296 yards passing in the win, in front of 1,291 at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, fifth-year Picton passed former Sherbrooke QB Jérémi Roch and now has 11,497 career passing yards — a new hallmark for U SPORTS football.

The win also improves Regina to 3-2, while Manitoba loses their Homecoming Game and falls to 2-3.

Picton’s throw to Borsa was a momentum-stealer for Regina, as the Bisons made it three straight weeks with a flurry of scoring in the fourth quarter. After a relatively tame first half — ending in the Rams leading 11-6, then opening that lead to 25-8 with 7:13 left in the fourth — the Bisons finally found pay dirt.

With just under five minutes left, Bisons quarterback Des Catellier found Shai Ross with a looping pass, getting the Herd within ten. After some a pair of strong defensive stands from Manitoba, the Bisons got the ball back with two minutes left.

“I was really proud of the defence,” said Bisons linebacker Brody Williams. “We game plan against [Picton] all the time… You have to game plan against that guy, he played really well today too.”

Then, with just 48 seconds left, Catellier found Macho Bockru for a 37-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 25. Catellier would finish 22-for-35, with 341 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.

Though the Bisons had a late opportunity to finish things off with a near-runback by Marcel Arruda-Welch, the game went to overtime.

Regina opened with possession, quickly scoring on the Picton pass to Borsa. Picton would finish 20-for-30, with 296 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. In addition to his game-winning receiving TD, Borsa led all players in rushing yards, running 16 times for 128 yards and one touchdown.

Responding, Manitoba worked the ball down to the 16-yard line, when Catellier found Shai Ross for his second touchdown reception of the game. Along with his scores, Ross would finish with 62 yards on five catches.

“I had a short route and the guy was playing the sticks so I converted it to a fade. Des threw a great ball,” said Ross.

A contentious decision followed, as Manitoba opted to try to win the game with a two-point convert. Set up at the five, Catellier’s pass was knocked down at the line, giving the game its final score.

The narrow loss is another heart-breaker for Manitoba, who have the best point differential of the teams in the bottom half of the Canada West conference (+13). It’s also their second loss under two points at home this season.

Regina, meanwhile, gets a very important win for the standings. They improve to 3-2 (the Bisons fall to 2-3) and are tied with Saskatchewan (3-2) for second place in Canada West.

Still, there’s a lot of football to be played — as Dobie noted.

“Our guys are excited to go play Calgary, and they’re undefeated. I honestly don’t think our guys think Calgary’s better than them — they happen to be 5-0 and are for sure a good team, but so are we.”

Bison football will have a bye week before traveling to Calgary to play the Dinos. That game will be played Friday, October 12 at 8 p.m. and is available to watch on CanadaWest.tv.

Waterloo (3-3) 32 , York (2-4)

Game Recap: York Lions
The York Lions won a thrilling game in front of a full house at Alumni Field on Saturday against the visiting Waterloo Warriors by a final score of 34-32. The game was full of momentum changes and wasn’t decided until the final seconds when Lions rookie Matt Dean blocked a field goal attempt by Warriors kicker Caleb Girard to seal the win and send the Homecoming game crowd into a frenzy.

“Our kids deserved that win,” said Lions head coach Warren Craney. “They played really well, Waterloo is an incredible football team and are really dangerous on offence. I thought our defence played really well and our offense put some points on the board. And at the end we a had first-year kid Matt Dean step up and block that field goal and it was just a tremendous game. I couldn’t be more proud of these young men.”

The Lions got off to a good start to open the game as a 34-yard touchdown run by quarterback Brett Hunchak gave the home team an early 7-0 lead. After a Dante Mastrogiuseppe rouge point made it 8-0, the Warriors responded with an impressive 11-play 75-yard drive to pull within one. Waterloo quarterback Tre Ford found Gordon Lam in the end zone on a 25-yard pass to put the first points on the board for the visiting team.

On the Lions next drive Hunchak and wide receiver Eric Kimmerly put on a display as they first hooked up on a key second and long pass that went for 20 yards and a first down, and a few plays later on a 59-yard heave that went for touchdown to make the score 15-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Lions extended their early in the second quarter, when Hunchak found sophomore receiver Luther Hakunavanhu in the end zone on a seven-yard touchdown strike. The fourth-year quarterback followed that with a two-point conversion pass to an open Kimmerly to make the score 23-7.

York’s defense was on point throughout the first half, coming up with a number of big plays to keep the Waterloo offence in check. Ford, who led the OUA in passing yards and touchdown passes coming into the weekend, was under pressure for much of the first half with Lions defensive end Rossini Sandjong-Djabome leading the way. At one point Sandjong-Djabome had three consecutive plays where he tackled Warriors in the backfield for a loss, the biggest play coming when he chased down Ford for a 20-yard loss on a sack.

The Warriors offense found their footing near the end of the first-half with Ford finding Lam on a 39-yard pass and Tyler Ternowski a few plays later in the end zone on a 34-yard pass.

The Lions took a 26-14 lead into halftime but the Warriors came out strong with a field goal on their first drive, and pulled within two points later in the third quarter on a Dion Pellerin three-yard touchdown rush. The Lions offense stalled in the third quarter as the Warrior’s looked to have the momentum heading into the final frame. Ford looked dangerous throughout the second-half and put the Warriors in front early in the fourth quarter with his second touchdown pass of the game to Lam to give them a 31-26 lead.

Down but not out, the Lions bounced back with a nine play 89-yard drive highlighted by big plays from tight end Nikola Kalinic and running back Kayden Johnson. Kalinic caught passes on back-to-back plays to start the drive and Johnson ran over the Warriors defence for 40 yards rushing on the drive to put the Lions deep in Waterloo territory. Hunchak capped the drive by finding his brother Colton Hunchak on a five-yard touchdown pass to put the Lions back on top. A two-point conversion on a Hunchak pass to Johnson put the Lions ahead 34-31 with seven minutes left.

A missed Waterloo field goal gave them a single point with five minutes left to make the score 34-32. The Lions had the ball with a just over a minute left in the game but were forced to punt giving the visitors one last chance at victory. Ford led the Warriors down the field on a 40-yard pass to Lam putting them in field goal range. With ten seconds a low snap delayed Girard for a half a second in getting the field goal attempt off and that was all the Dean needed to reach up and block the potential game winning kick and seal the victory.

Hunchak threw for 292 yards on the game and three touchdown passes while also rushing for 81 yards. Johnson had his biggest game of the season netting 85 yards on 11 rushes, and Kimmerly was the top receiver with 97 yards on four catches.

Fifth-year senior Rees Paterson had a huge game on defence for the Lions, leading the team with 7.5 tackles and breaking up two passes in the second half. Defensive back Jacob Janke, Sandjong-Djabome and linebacker Ian Lawrence all had strong games as well with six tackles each.

With the win the Lions move to 2-4 on the season while the Warriors drop to 3-3. The Lions have a bye next week before returning to action at home on Friday, Oct. 12 against the Carleton Ravens. Kick is set for 1pm at Alumni Field.

Source: usports.ca

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