Box Score
MONTREAL – Freshman quarterback Travis Eman of Brampton, Ont., rushed for a pair of touchdowns as visiting Bishop's hung on for a 17-13 victory over McGill University in what was billed as a Thanksgiving Thursday "Turkey Bowl", featuring a pair of winless football teams at Molson Stadium.
 
It was the first win of the season for the Gaiters (1-4) and the first game for the Redmen (0-5) under newly appointed co-coaches Patrick Boies and Ronald Hilaire, the respective offensive and defensive coordinators who were appointed in charge of the helm earlier in the week in the wake of the recent resignation of head coach Clint Uttley.

A tough McGill defence limited the Gaiters to only a 153 yards of net offence, the lowest total by a winning team in the RSEQ conference since Sept. 17, 2011 when the Montreal Carabins had 142 in an 11-10 victory over visiting Saint Mary's.

Eman, one of three Bishop's pivots to see the field, passed for only nine yards, started the game but was rotated in and our with Shane McDonald and Alex Bouffard. Eman completed just two of eight  attempts with one interception.  But it was his ability to scramble that made the difference as he rushed seven times for 31 yards, scoring on a six-yard run just 18 seconds into the second quarter to put the Gaiters ahead 7-3. He rallied the troops again at 2:18 of the third stanza to give Bishop's a 17-10 lead on a one-yard TD plunge.

The injury-plagued Redmen -- missing their top starters at quarterback, running back and receiver -- featured a 48-man dresslist that included a whopping 28 players in their first year with the team, including a school record 23 true freshmen. The young lineup could only get inside the red zone once and committed five turnovers while being penalized 18 times for 158 yards of real estate. By contrast, Bishop's had four turnovers and nine infractions for 100 yards.

McGill held a 20-13 edge in first downs, a 300-153 advantage in total yards and a 32:07 to 27:53 margin in time of possession.

Montrealer Raphael Casey was one of few bright spots for McGill offensively. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound mathematics sophomore from St. Hubert, Que., led the team with 73 rushing yards on 17 carries, including a five-yard TD run which put his troops ahead 10-7 at 10:31 of the thrid quarter. Casey also caught two passes for eight yards.

His scoring play was immediately preceded by a spectacular 26-yard diving catch on a third-down gamble by senior Jean-Philippe Paquette, who snared four balls for 39 yards in the contest. Paquette, a 5-foot-5, 154-pound speedster from Trois-Rivieres, Que., was the only player to reach the century mark in all-purpose yards, marking the fourth time in five games that a member of the Redmen had reach that lofty mark. He also collected 50 on five punt returns and added a 15-yard kickoff return.

Rounding out the scoring was a pair of field-goals from Redmen place-kicker Nils Jonkmans, from 37 and 28 yards, respectively, and a 30-yarder from Vincent Dube of the Gaiters.

A voracious McGill defence racked up 11 tackles for loss, including seven quarterback sacks, a pair of interceptions and one knockdown. Leading the way was rookie Karl Forgues, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound weakside linebacker from Repentigny, Que., who registered a game-high 10 solo tackles, including a sack.

McGill quarterback Joel Houle, a freshman starting for the third consecutive week in the wake of a concussion suffered by starter Dallon Kuprowski, found a whopping 10 different receivers. Houle completed 23 of 41 attempts for 214 yards and a pair of interceptions. He also rushed five times for 24 yards.

The Redmen will look for their first win against Sherbrooke (2-3) in the McGill Homecoming game on Oct. 18, while Bishop's plays at Laval (5-0) on Oct. 19.
 
REDMEN RAP: Aside from Forgues, other McGill defenders to register sacks included Devon Stewart (2), Maxime Chaput-Dupuy (1.5), Ricard Lubin (1.5) and Carl Laverdiere (1)... The team's two interceptions were made by defensive halfbacks Carl-David Erius and Simon Lamontagne...Bishop's has won three straight head-to-head meetings with McGill and now lead the all-time series between the two rivals 45-39-1 dating all the way back to their first rendez-vous in 1885.

(COMPLETE STATS POSTED IN BOXSCORE LINK ABOVE)
 

Pos	RSEQ STANDINGS (updated)	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PTS
1	Laval	5	5	0	257	48	10
2	Concordia	5	4	1	174	83	8
3	Montréal	5	4	1	166	80	8
4	Sherbrooke	5	2	3	130	125	4
5	Bishop's	5	1	4	57	177	2
6	McGill	5	0	5	61	214	0

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgill athletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca