[McGill quarterback Frederic Paquette-Perrault; PHOTO COURTESY U.SHERBROOKE]

SHERBROOKE -- Findlay Brown of Winnipeg, Man., kicked three field-goals, including the winning tally on a 15-yarder with 26 seconds remaining as the visiting McGill Redmen rallied for an 18-16 victory over Sherbrooke before 3,875 on Saturday.

It was only McGill's third lifetime victory in 10 road games at Sherbrooke but their second straight, including last year's 19-18 nail-biter on Sept. 10, 2016.

Brown, a 19-year-old management sophomore, also connected on distances of 39 and 35 yards, respectively, to give his side 3-0 and 8-0 leads in the first and second quarters. The 5-foot-11, 188-pound kicker added a conversion to account for 10 of McGill's 18 points. He also averaged 39.0 yards on seven punts and 49.2 yards on five kickoffs.

"We outplayed them (and appeared to be in control) but performed very badly in the second half," said a relieved Ronald Hilaire, head coach and defensive coordinator at McGill. "It was a combination of a comedy of errors that put us in trouble but we kept our composure and came up with a big  drive at the end.

"Brown had a huge night, not only on field goals but in his other kicking duties. That was an area where he struggled last year. He'd go 4-for-4 on field-goals but lacked consistency in other aspects of the kicking game. I'm very proud of his development and maturity. He worked hard in the off-season and came back to camp this year with more power in his (kicking) leg "

McGill led 5-0 after the opening quarter, 15-2 at halftime and 15-4 after three. But in the final stanza, the Vert & Or took advantage of a plethora of McGill miscues and penalties to take a 16-15 lead on a 37-yard field-goal by Pierre-Antoine D'Astous with 4:52 remaining.

The come-from-behind drive began on McGill's own 40-yard line with 82 seconds left on the game clock.

Sophomore quarterback Frederic Paquette-Perrault hooked up with Jeremy Sauvageau for 21 yards to the Sherbrooke 31. An incompletion, followed by a roughing-the-passer penalty moved the ball to the Sherbrooke 16. Back-to-back runs by Daniel Adesegun brought the ball to the eight-yard line to set up the winning kick.

Sherbrooke's ensuing drive started on their own 49 but that was snuffed out immediately when back-up quarterback Conor Sinclair was intercepted by sophomore cornerback Olivier Therrien at the McGill 37. Sinclair, who entered the game in the third stanza, was 6--of-11 for 63 yards and one TD. He relieved ineffective starter Alex Jacob-Michaud, who was 5-of-12 for 28 yards and one interception.

Paquette-Perrault completed 19 of 36 for 329 yards, one pick and a 49-yard TD toss to Sauvageau that put the Redmen ahead 15-2 late in the first quarter.

Savageau, a finance sophomore from St. Augustin de Desmaures, Que., snared a game-high seven receptions for 166 yards.

The game featured a whopping 25 penalties for 221 yards of real estate, with Sherbrooke being flagged 14 times for 116 yards.

McGill, which had a 16-12 advantage in first downs, generated 281 yards of net offence, compared to Sherbrooke's 219. The Vert & Or committed six turnovers (3 lost fumbles, 2 INTs and one on downs). The Redmen also had six, with four of them on downs, one on a pick and one via fumble.

McGill, which improved to 1-1 in the RSEQ conference, will play at Concordia (1-1) next Saturday (Sept. 16) at 2 p.m. Sherbrooke, which dropped to 0-3, is now in danger of missing the playoffs in the five-team Quebec league after opening their campaign with losses to Laval, Concordia and McGill . The Vert & Or have a bye next week before traveling to Montreal to confront the No.2-ranked Carabins (2-0) on Sept. 22.

REDMEN RAP: Leading the Redmen defence was junior DL Simon Aubin-Lavoie with six total tackles, including five solos, one of them a QB sack... Sophomore DB Tristan Fleury was credited with five solo tackles (one for loss) and an interception... HB Vincent Dethier had 3.5 tackles and a fumble recovery for 17 yards.  The Redmen 48-man dress-list included 17 freshman, 17 sophomores, eight juniors and six seniors... McGill made eight line-up changes from last week, many of them due to injuries, including DL Andrew Seinet-Spaulding, the team MVP from last year who went down late in the first half against Laval in Week 1 but is a possible returnee for the coming week.

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LINK TO COMPLETE STATS
 

                        Football Universitaire RSEQ 2017
              McGill vs Sherbrooke (2017-09-09 at Sherbrooke, Qc)

                                    MCG      SHE

FIRST DOWNS...................       16       12
  Rushing.....................        2        6
  Passing.....................       12        5
  Penalty.....................        2        1
NET YARDS RUSHING.............      -32      132
  Rushing Attempts............       22       32
  Average Per Rush............     -1.5      4.1
  Rushing Touchdowns..........        0        0
  Yards Gained Rushing........       56      154
  Yards Lost Rushing..........       88       22
NET YARDS PASSING.............      329       91
  Completions-Attempts-Int....  19-36-1  11-23-2
  Average Per Attempt.........      9.1      4.0
  Average Per Completion......     17.3      8.3
  Passing Touchdowns..........        1        1
TEAM LOSSES...................      -16       -4
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS...........      281      219
  Total offense plays.........       60       57
  Average Gain Per Play.......      4.7      3.8
Fumbles: Number-Lost..........      2-1      4-3
Penalties: Number-Yards.......   11-105   14-116
PUNTS-YARDS...................    9-358   10-451
  Average Yards Per Punt......     39.8     45.1
  Net Yards Per Punt..........     35.1     39.6
  Inside 20...................        2        3
  50+ Yards...................        0        2
  Touchbacks..................        0        0
  Fair catch..................        0        0
KICKOFFS-YARDS................    5-246     2-94
  Average Yards Per Kickoff...     49.2     47.0
  Net Yards Per Kickoff.......     32.8     37.0
  Touchbacks..................        0        0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD.  10-55-0   9-42-0
  Average Per Return..........      5.5      4.7
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD   1-20-0   5-82-0
  Average Per Return..........     20.0     16.4
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD..    2-0-0    1-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD.   1-17-0    0-0-0
Possession Time...............    31:19    27:45
  1st Quarter.................     8:22     6:38
  2nd Quarter.................     7:49     7:11
  3rd Quarter.................     8:39     6:21
  4th Quarter.................     6:29     7:35
Third-Down Conversions........   0 of 4   1 of 2
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-1      1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards........      2-4     2-16
PAT Kicks.....................      1-1      1-1
Field Goals...................      3-3      1-2

2017 RSEQ FOOTBALL STANDINGS
(updated after Week 3 games)
 

Pos	TEAM	GP	W	L	PF	PA	PCTG	PTS
1	Montréal	2	2	0	58	35	1.000	4
2	Laval	3	2	1	106	40	0.667	4
3	Concordia	2	1	1	42	59	0.500	2
4	McGill	2	1	1	32	66	0.500	2
5	Sherbrooke	3	0	3	43	81	0.000	0

 

McGill - Sherbrooke Football Series
DATE	YEAR	RESULT	MCGILL	SHERB	VENUE
4-Oct	2003	W	61	0	Molson Stadium
10-Sep	2004	W	17	0	Molson Stadium
25-Sep	2004	W	42	10	Stade de Sherbrooke
1-Oct	2005	L	33	42	Molson Stadium
14-Oct	2006	W	33	14	Molson Stadium
29-Sep	2007	L	7	42	Stade de Sherbrooke
27-Oct	2007	L	10	28	Molson Stadium
6-Sep	2008	L	17	45	Stade de Sherbrooke
11-Sep	2009	W	29	11	Molson Stadium
2-Oct	2010	L	8	34	Molson Stadium
30-Oct	2010	L	8	43	Stade de Sherbrooke
9-Sep	2011	L	13	39	Molson Stadium
7-Sep	2012	L	14	46	Molson Stadium
27-Oct	2012	L	17	30	Stade de Sherbrooke
20-Sep	2013	L	26	45	Molson Stadium
6-Sep	2014	L	21	43	Stade de Sherbrooke
18-Oct	2014	L	0	45	Molson Stadium
17-Oct	2015	L	10	45	Stade de Sherbrooke
10-Sep	2016	W	19	18	Stade de Sherbrooke
24-Sep	2016	L	11	20	Molson Stadium
9-Sep	2017	W	18	16	Stade de Sherbrooke
	OVERALL:	7-15	414	616
	HOME:	4-8	255	324
	AWAY:	3-7	159	292

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