(PHOTO BY JOHN LUKCA: Snapper Anthony Lukca
(left), holder Taylor Kuprowski (middle) and
kicker Austin Anderson posing as The Holy Trinity
after the final play of McGill's 21-19 win at Bishop's)
LENNOXVILLE, Que -- Sophomore kicker Austin Anderson of Canmore, Alta., went 4-for-4 in field goals
and nailed a 28-yarder in wet, slippery conditions, with 41 seconds
remaining as visiting McGill edged Bishop's 21-19 in Quebec
University Football League action at Lennoxville, Saturday.
McGill improved to 3-2 and Bishop's dropped to 1-4 as a
rain-soaked Homecoming crowd of 2,570 witnessed a game that
featured four lead changes, with both teams having chances to win
in the last three minutes.
Anderson, the son of former NFL legendary kicker Gary
Anderson, accounted for 13 of McGill's 21 points. He was
also successful from distances of 25, 23 and 43 yards.
"They tried to ice me by calling a time out but that didn't
bother me," said Anderson, who is now 10-for-10 in field goals on
the season and 15-for-15 lifetime in a McGill jersey. "I am very
focussed on going through my routine in those situations and just
envisioned a good snap (from Anthony
Lukca, a good pin (from holder
Taylor Kuprowski) and then I
imagined the ball going through the uprights. I treated it the same
way as any other kick."
Lukca, a two-time all-star from St. Laurent, Que., who missed
the previous two contests with a hyper-extended elbow, said "I told
the guys in the huddle that we were going to run the play like we
do every day in practice."
"All I could think about was "Don't drop it. Just catch the ball
and get it down for the pin'," said Kuprowski, a sophomore running
back from Kanata, Ont., who caught the slick ball against his
right knee and had to make an adjustment before placing it on the
kicking tee.
Josh Maveety, the Bishop's kicker, missed all
three of his attempts from distances of 31, 23 and 32 yards,
respectively, but came away with single points on two
occasions.
Montreal native Andrew Hamilton scored the only
touchdown for McGill, on a two-yard run in the first quarter. He
rushed 19 times for 103 yards, his fourth consecutive outing
reaching the 100-yard rushing barrier this season.
After McGill conceded a safety touch to even the score at 18-18
with seven minutes remaining, a 10-play Gaiter drive, aided by a
pair of 15-yard Redmen penalties. put them on the McGill five-yard
line. However, a seldom called offensive pass interference
infraction sent the Gaiters backwards, eventually forcing them into
a field-goal attempt. Maveety's 32-yard try sailed wide
for a rouge to give the Gaiters a precarious 19-18 lead with 2:18
left on the clock.
McGill rookie quarterback Jonathan Collin then
took the ball at the 35-yard line, went 5-for-6 passing as he drove
the Redmen 54 yards in eight plays, setting up Anderson's
last-minute heroics.
Collin completed 28 of 48 pass attempts for 243 yards and one
interception. Nine different receivers caught balls for McGill, led
by eight receptions for 61 yards by senior Charles-Antoine
Sinotte, who has now caught at least one pass in 26
consecutive games, dating back to 2006. The six-foot, 185-pound
wide-receiver from Trois-Rivieres, Que., has 180 career receptions
and now sits fifth among the CIS all-time reception leaders. The
national record is 194 established last year by then teammate
Erik Galas.
Sinotte, who also filled in as a punter for the first time in
his four seasons, averaged 30.9 yards on eight kicks and managed to
angle the ball such that the Gaiters stellar return star
Steven Turner could only muster 12 yards on a pair
of returns.
"We needed to make some changes on special teams and it worked
out well," said McGill head coach Sonny Wolfe.
"One of those was to let Sinotte handle the punting chores, which
frees up Anderson so that he could focus on what he does best and
that's kicking field goals. And he couldn't have performed any
better than he did out there today."
For Bishop's, Tim Cronk of Kingston, Ont.,
scored his first career touchdown on a 37-yard shovel pass in the
first quarter, while quarterback Jesse Andrews of
Pickering, Ont., found the end zone on an eight-yard run in the
second. A safety touch rounded out the scoring.
McGill recorded 25 first downs to the Gaiters' 24, while
Bishop's outgained McGill 386 to 360 in net yards. Bishop's
committed two turnovers, including one on downs, to only one by
McGill. The lone Redmen interception was an errant pass picked off
in the endzone by cornerback Greg Landry, a North
Vancouver native who was celebrating his 22nd birthday and finished
the day with four solo tackles.
The teams combined for 33 penalties, with McGill being assessed
16 infractions for 160 yards, while the Gaiters were whistled down
17 times for 170 yards.
For Bishop's, Andrews returned to form, passing 12-for-23 for
236 yards with one touchdown pass and a TD run. Matt
Burke led the Gaiters' ground attack, with 18 carries for
84 yards, while Andrews ran eight times for 47 yards. Turner was
the Gaiters' leading receiver, with three catches for 71 yards.
Bishop's (1-4) and McGill (3-2) are both off next week, as the
QUFL has a league-wide bye. The Gaiters return to action on Oct.
17, when they will face the St. FX X-Men (4-0) in Antigonish, N.S.
The Redmen will host the Saint Mary's Huskies (3-1) on the same day
in the McGill Homecoming game.
REDMEN RAP: The Gaiters lead the all-time series 39-37-1 between
the long-time rivals but the loss snaps a three-game winning streak
in the series ... Ben Thompson led the Redmen
defence with eight solo tackles and an assisted tackle. He also had
one QB sack, as did Cedric Bishop, who end up with
4.5 tackles... Another defensive stalwart for McGill was
Patrick Bourgon of Point au Chene, Que., who
registered six solo tackles.
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
514-398-7012
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
McG - Safety Maveety
concedes 1:30
McG - TD Hamilton 2 run (Anderson convert) 11:04
Bish - Cronk 37 pass from Andrews (Maveety convert) 12:38
Second Quarter
Bish - Single Maveety 49
(punt) 4:03
Bish - Single Maveety 44 (MFG) 8:15
Bish - TD Andrews 8 run (Maveety convert) 10:19
McG - FG Anderson 25 13:13
Third Quarter
McG - FG Anderson (23)
2:10
McG - FG Anderson (43) 7:41
Fourth Quarter
Bish - Safety Sinotte
concedes 8:00
Bish - Single Maveety 45 (punt) 12:42
McG - FG Anderson (28) 14:19
SCORING BY QUARTER:
McGill.............. 9 3 6 3 -
21
Bishop's............ 7 9 0 3 - 19
Attendance at Lennoxville, Que. - 2,570
YARDSTICKS
McG Bish
First downs...................
25 23
Yards Rushing.................
120 189
Yards passing.................
243 236
Total offence.................
363 425
Team losses...................
3 39
Net offence...................
360 386
Passes made-tried............. 28-48
12-23
Returns-yards.................
7-58 4-86
Intercepts-yards by..........
1-1 1-10
Fumbles-Lost..................
0-0 0-0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........
2-18 0-0
Punts-average.................
8-31 7-35
Penalties-Yards............... 16-160
17-170
Possession Time...............
28:38 31:22
Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team
losses such as yards lost on broken plays.
RUSHING: McG - Hamilton 19-103, Collin 1-10,
Kuprowski 2-7; Bish - Burke 18-84, Andrews 8-47, Jean-Baptiste
6-24, Turner 3-19, Cronk 1-9, Guarna 2-6.
RECEIVING: McG - Sinotte 8-61, Aubry 7-57,
Fortin 4-39, Mikelberg 3-29, Lafreniere-Dupont 2-23, Dodd 1-16,
Chitayat 1-9, Hamilton 1-6, Kuprowski 1-3; Bish-S. Turner 3-71,
Mongeau 3-49, D. White 2-33, Gore 2-25; Cronk 1-37; Soucy 1-21.
PASSING: McG - Collin 28-48, 243 yds, 0 TD, 1
int; Bish - Andrews 12-23-236-1-1.
For the
game's full stats, click here.
