MONTREAL --
Pearce Dumay, a junior from Montreal, scored two early touchdowns and racked up a career-high 119 yards on six receptions as McGill conquered Concordia 40-14 to open their 119th season with the annual Shaughnessy Cup rivalry game on a rare Friday matinee at Percival Molson Stadium. It was their first Shaughnessy victory since a 32-19 decision over Concordia on Sept. 6, 2013 as McGill improved to 23-27-1 in Cup history.
The final score marked McGill's highest offensive output in 25 games over a three-year span, dating back to a 43-9 home victory over Bishop's on Sept. 16, 2016. And it was the team's most points scored against the Stingers since a 43-41 loss, eight meetings ago, in 2015.
McGill, which amassed 485 yards compared to just 249 by Concordia, ended a four-game losing streak to the Stingers.
"It was nice to finally get my first Shaughnessy Cup win, a great first step for us this season," said
Ronald Hilaire, in his sixth campaign as head coach and defensive coordinator. "We came through on every facet (of our play). We wanted to start fast.. dominate on defence... be combative when they fought back and we accomplished all of those things today."
A voracious McGill defence forced seven turnovers and was credited with six quarterback sacks against the Stingers, led by six-foot, 292-pound senior defensive lineman
Andrew Seinet-Spaulding of Pierrefonds, Que., a relentless pursuer who has been described by some as a rhinoceros. The 21-year-old social work senior was in on six tackles, including 2.5 QB sacks, and had a forced fumble.
"We are part of that discussion (of being) the top defence in the league," proclaimed Hilaire. "We've improved significantly there over the past couple of years and are now finally getting some recognition for all that hard work. Then on offence, it is refreshing to see how our kids have paid attention to (offensive coordinator)
David Lessard, who implemented an intricate system last year. I think that it was a bit overwhelming for a young group last year but it is finally paying off."
The game featured a combined 39 penalties for 375 yards of real estate in a non-televised marathon that took three hours and four minutes play. McGill led 10-1 after the opening quarter, 22-4 at halftime and 29-11 after three. They took the final stanza 11-3.
Winning quarterback
Dimitrios Sinodinos completed 18 of 30 pass attempts for 290 yards, two TDs and a pair of interceptions. The 5-foot-10, 186-pound junior from Laval, Que., opened the scoring by connecting with Dumay for a 23-yard strike at 3:25 of the first quarter. He then hooked up with Dumay again for a 19-yard major at 3:35 of the second to put his troops ahead 19-1. Dumay, a 23-year-old physical education junior, also added one kickoff return for 42 yards and was credited with a rushing play for one yard.
McGill's ground game had a 151-56 advantage over Concordia. leading the way was senior tailback
Donavan Martel, who rushed 14 times for a career-high 135 yards and one TD. The team's other TD was scored by sophomore
Vince MacDonald on a 12-yard toss from junior pivot
Jacob Samuels, who entered the game on McGill's last drive.
Kicker
Findlay Brown rounded out the McGill scoring with 14 points overall, including a 3-for-4 performance on field-goals. The management senior from Winnipeg was good from distances of 42, nine and 38 yards but settled for a rouge on a missed 42-yard effort. He added four conversions and also averaged 41.0 yards on seven punts and 56.0 yards on six kickoffs.
Stingers quarterback
Adam Vance, who has now been sacked 10 times in two games, was 20-for-33 passing, for 235 yards and a pair of interceptions. He was picked off by
Antoine Mongeau and
Guillaume Beland,
The lone Concordia TD was tallied by return-specialist
Kevin Foster-Verdier, who collected 222 yards on special teams, including a 74-yard punt return for TD early in the third quarter, which narrowed the gap to 22-11. Rounding out the scoring for the visitors was place-kicker
Andrew Stevens, who collected eight points. He was 2-for-4 on field-goals, connecting on distances of 35 and 21 yards, but missing from 17 and 47.
In the RSEQ conference's other game on Friday, the No.3-ranked Montreal Carabins needed a late rally to defeat visiting Sherbrooke 18-9. McGill (1-0) will host the Carabins (2-0) in a battle of undefeated teams at Molson Stadium on Sept. 7 at 1 p.m., while winless Concordia (0-2) will host Laval (1-0) in the Shrine Bowl the same day.
GAME NOTES:
Vincent Dethier, a senior DB, led McGill defensively with 7.5 tackles, seven of them solos... Aside from his interception
Guillaume Beland also registered a blocked punt and one assisted tackles. He was one of two McGill players credited with a blocked punt, joining
Mathieu Soucy... Other key defensive plays included forced fumbles made by
Joshua Archibald and
Xavier Bilodeau, who also had 2.5 QB sacks and one of three fumble recoveries made by McGill. The others were credited to
Anthony Leclerc and
Antoine Mongeau... The Cup is named after legendary coach
Frank Shaughnessy, a McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee who introduced the forward pass to football in Canada during a 1921 McGill exhibition game vs. Syracuse at Molson Stadium. He lobbied for 10 years before the league formally adopted the forward pass in 1931. Shaughnessy was the first full-time head coach in Canadian university football and guided McGill for 17 years, including Yates Cup league championships in 1912, 1913 and 1919. Later, he coached at Loyola College, which eventually merged in 1974 with Sir George Williams University to form Concordia University... McGill improved to 38-46 in 84 lifetime meetings with the Stingers, including a 21-19 home-field record, since the rivalry began in 1975.
BOXSCORE
2019 RSEQ UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL STANDINGS (updated)
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
Office:
514-398-7012
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
