MONTREAL -- Kurleigh Gittens Jr. of Ottawa racked up 141 reception yards, including an 81-yard TD catch as the visiting Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks broke away in the final quarter for a 33-9 victory over McGill in a U SPORTS football preseason rendezvous at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, Friday.

It marked the first-ever meeting between these teams and Laurier's second straight preseason game against a Quebec opponent. The 'Hawks lost 23-16 at Concordia last year.

WLU, which finished second in the OUA conference at 6-2 last year, never trailed in the game but need two long touchdowns in the final three minutes to lasso the victory.

The 'Hawks led 10-0 after the opening quarter but only 12-9 at halftime and 15-9 after three. With a 19-9 advantage late in the contest, Laurier finally broke it wide open on a Mario Pineda 65-yard interception return with 2:54 remaining, followed moments later by Kevin Wong's 72-yard TD run with 1:54 left on the clock.

Kicker Nathan Mesher added nine points on field goals of 39 and 23 yards, along with three conversions. McGill conceded three safety touches to round out the scoring for Laurier.

The Redmen, who finished last in the tough RSEQ conference last season with a 1-7 record, narrowed the gap to 12-2 with a safety at 12:45 of the second quarter and made it 12-9 seconds later when all-Canadian receiver Jeremy Sauvageau hauled in a 10-yard TD toss from freshman Jacob Samuels, capping a six-play, 60-yard drive.

Laurier's three long scoring plays gave them a decided advantage in the statistics department. They amassed 518 yards of net offence and 21 first downs, compared to 124 and 12, respectively, by the Redmen.

Sophomore Dimitrios Sinodinos started at quarterback for McGill in place of junior Frederic Paquette-Perrault, who was sidelined earlier this week with health issues. But Sinodinos, a Vanier College product who hails from Laval, Que., was shaken up just two plays into his first drive on a QB sack by Robbie Smith, who took a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on the play. The 5-foot-10, 176-pound McGill pivot did not return.

His replacement, Jacob Samuels, a red-shirted sophomore from Vancouver, B.C., went 9-for-16 passing for 57 yards and one TD. Freshman Greg Segal of Westmount, Que., also saw some duty late in the game for the Redmen. He was 2-for-5 for 11 yards but threw a costly "pick-six".

Tristan Arndt, a junior from London, Ont., started for Laurier and passed for 142 yards, completing five of nine attempts for one TD and an interception. He was relieved midway through the second stanza by Jacob Spinella, who was also 5-for-9 passing for 79 yards with one pick. Sophomore Connor Carusello also some duty for WLU. He made two of six passing attempts for 21 yards and an interception.

Levondre Gordon was WLU's busiest running back with 10 carries for 64 yards. Donovan Martel, a third-year back from Montreal, led the Redmen with seven rushes for 64 yards.

Laurier will host the Ottawa Gee-Gees in their OUA league opener next Sunday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m.

McGill will now turn their attention to the official opening of its 118th season, with an away game against the Montreal Carabins, who finished second in the Quebec league last year with a 7-1 record. The cross-town rivals will play on Friday, Aug. 24 at Stade CEPSUM. McGill's home opener will be the following week against Sherbrooke on Sept. 1

REDMEN RAP: Laurier dressed 65 players in the game, while McGill suited up with 73... There is no limit for an exhibition game but regular season rules stipulate a maximum of 48 dressers... The three picks by McGill's ballhawks were attributed to Benjamin Carre, Guillaume Beland and Olivier Therrien... Antoine Mongeau led the Redmen defence with 5.5 tackles, including five solos. The junior from Laval, Que., was forced to wear No.19 instead of his usual No.20, after misplacing his jersey during a recent PR event... Another positive for McGill was the effectiveness of third-year kicker Findlay Brown. The 20-year-old native of Winnipeg averaged 39.3 yards on 10 punts and 56.3 on kickoffs. He made his only conversion attempt but did not get a chance to attempt a field-goal... Both teams had a pair of QB sacks, with McGill's being credited to junior linebacker Alexandre Pare of Neuville, Que., and freshman Dante Rienzo of Laval, Que.