MONTREAL -- Jean-Christophe Bourque-St.Hilaire passed for one touchdown and ran for another to spark a fourth quarter comeback as the visiting Sherbrooke Vert & Or stole victory from the jaws of defeat and knocked off McGill 20-11 in a must-win CIS football game at Percival Molson Stadium, Saturday.

The victory evened their record at 2-2 and kept their playoff hopes alive midway through the RSEQ conference schedule. A McGill win would have all but eliminated Sherbrooke however the Redmen coughed up the ball twice down the stretch and that proved to be the difference. Sherbrooke, which lost 19-18 at home to McGill two weeks ago, now holds the tie-breaker on point-differential, should the teams finished tied in the standings.

McGill, which dropped to 2-2, had the edge on most of the key statistical categores, except on the scoreboard. They led 7-0 after the opening quarter, 10-4 at halftime and 11-4 after three but Sherbrooke had a 16-0 advantage in the final stanza. Six of their 20 points came on safety touches conceded in the endzone by McGill. The Redmen generated 16 first downs and 230 net yards, compared to Sherbrooke, which tallied 14 and 204, respectively.

"It was a must-win game for Sherbrooke and they did what they had to do in the fourth quarter and we came out flat," said disappointed McGill head coach Ronald Hilaire, who was counting on a victory to all but assure the Redmen of a playoff berth. "We limited them to only two first downs and 22 net yards in the first half and that was pretty impressive, especially from the young group that we had on the field. But we had a lot of opportunities offensively and couldn't finish our drives. Havng a six-point lead at halftime was not enough against a team that was desperate for a win (to salvage their playoff hopes)."

Bourque-St.Hilaire, a veteran who was making his first career start, hooked up with receiver Frederick Caron for a 43-yard touchdown toss to give the visitors their first lead (13-11) with 9:49 remaining in the game. The fifth-year pivot from St. Georges de Beauce, Que., then dove into the endzone on a one-yard quarterback-keeper with 2:44 left on the clock. He finished the contest with 13-for-22 passing stats for 162 yards and no interceptions. He also rushed three times for 14 yards.

Despite Sherbrooke's fourth-quarter rally, the Redmen were in position to come back but back-up quarterback Matthew Mannarino threw a pair of interceptions in the final two minutes, one by defensive back Keith Sanscartier at midfield and the other by linebacker Alexandre Chevrier in the endzone. Mannarino, a sophomore who replaced ineffective freshman starter Frederic Paquette-Perrault early in the fourth quarter, completed six of 14 passes for 110 yards. Paquette-Perrault, who made his third career start in place of injured southpaw Nicolas English, was 10-for-19 for 139 yards,

Receiver Louis Brouillette, a fifth-year engineering senior from Trois-Rivieres, Que., accounted for McGill's lone TD. He scored on a five-yard run midway through the opening quarter to give McGill a 7-0 lead. Freshmen kicker Findlay Brown accounted for the remainder of McGill's scoring with a 19-yard field goal that put the Redmen ahead 10-2 in the second, a 65-yard punt single in the third and a conversion.

Sherbrooke (2-2) and McGill (2-2) are now in a three-way tie with Concordia (2-2) for the last two playoff spots. The Vert & Or will host the No.1-ranked Montreal Carabins (4-0) on Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. They then close out the schedule with games against Concordia, Montreal and Laval.

McGill plays at Laval (3-1) on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m., then finishes with Bishop's, Concordia and Montreal.

REDMEN RAP: Three McGill players went over the century mark in all-purpose yards during the contest....Return specialist Pier-Olivier Greneier-Gachet collected a game-high 111 return yards, with 79 on punts and 32 on kickoffs... He was also credited with a fumble recovery on a ball that he fumbled out of bounds... R Joel Soucy had 104 yards and R Remi Bertellin had 103 yards on four catches... Rookie RB Donavan Martel, who also went down in the exhibition game against Queen's, returned to the active roster and rushed for a game-high 42 yards on nine carries...LB Maxime Rouyer led the McGill defence with six total tackles, five of them solos... DB Charles-William Tremblay finished with 4.5 tackles -- including the team's only QB sack -- and contributed a knockdown... Five legendary figures from McGill are among the latest crop of inductees headed for the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony slated for Sept. 28, 2016. Heading the list of laureates are Jean-Philippe Darche and Kim St-Pierre. Darche, was an All-Canadian linebacker with the University's football Redmen and went on to a lengthy pro career in the CFL and NFL. St-Pierre, an All-Canadian goaltender with the hockey Martlets, was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and had an extensive career with the Canadian national team. Rounding out the McGillians are track and football star Percival Molson and swimmer George Vernot, both former Olympians, as well as legendary coach Frank Shaughnessy, Sr. All five were previously inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame.

Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012