MONTREAL – Quarterback Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more but it was all in vain as his McGill Redbirds fell 37-30 in overtime to Concordia in a Homecoming thriller, Friday, which was also the 53rd annual Shaughnessy  Cup meeting.
 
The contest was played before 2,968 at Percival Molson Stadium. It was the second consecutive Shaughnessy Cup contest that needed overtime, following a script written by last year's 36-33 win for the Stingers.
 
The do-or-die contest clinched the fourth and final playoff berth for Concordia, which improved to 2-5 in the five-team RSEQ conference. McGill, which dropped to 1-6, was eliminated from post-season play.
 
The Redbirds jumped into an early two-touchdown lead and held a 14-7 advantage after the opening quarter. They led 15-10 at halftime and 15-13 after three. But the Stingers rallied to win the fourth quarter 17-15 to force overtime.
 
In the extra session, Concordia quarterback Olivier Roy found receiver Jacob Salvail in the endzone for a 21-yard TD toss on the team's third play. Salvail finished with a game-high 12 receptions for 141 yards.
 
Roy threw for 399 yards in the air, completing 29 of 41 for two TDs and one interception. He connected with receiver Adrien Guay for both scoring majors. Guay added another TD on a one-yard plunge. Roy also found Jaylan Greaves for a 33-yard TD toss.
 
In a high-octane offensive-minded game, the Stingers generated 27 first downs and 468 net yards, compared to McGill's 24 and 443, respectively.
 
What proved to be McGill's downfall was in the penalty count. The Redbirds conceded a whopping 204 yards of real estate on 21 penalties, compared to Concordia, which was flagged 13 times for 110. The costliest infraction for McGill was a roughing-the-kicker call on an attempted field goal with 5:26 remaining ion the fourth quarter. That play moved the ball from the McGill 18-yard line to the three and two plays later, Guay hit paydirt on a one-yard plunge to put the Stingers ahead 27-23.
 
Leading the offence for the Redbirds was Lantendresse-Regimbald, who posted a game-high 122 rushing yards on 11 carries. He completed 17 of 30 passing attempts for 278 yards, two TDs and one interception. The 20-year-old freshman leads the RSEQ in rushing, and ranks 12th in the nation,  with 549 yards on 61 carries for six TDs and a 9.0 rushing average. He is also fourth in the country with 261.4 passing yards per contest.
 
His favourite target was All-Canadian Darius Simmons who reached the century mark for the third time in five games this season, snaring six for 118 yards and one TD. Simmons leads the country with 120.2 reception yards per game.
 
McGill's other TD went to Antonio Gioffre, who ended up with five catches for 57 yards.
 
Completing the scoring for the Redbirds was place-kicker Antoine Couture with a half-dozen points on four conversions and a pair of rouges – one on a missed 35-yard field-goal, with the other on a 57-yard punt through the endzone.
 
Rounding out the scoring for Concordia was kicker Ali El Sehemawi, who had 11 points on four conversions, a pair of field-goals and a rouge. The Stingers also registered one safety touch.
 
McGill is 40-48 in 88 lifetime meetings with Concordia. The Stingers are 29-18 in 47 Shaughnessy Cup confrontations against McGill, which owns a 23-29-1 record in 53 Cup appearances (including a 5-0-1 mark against Loyola College). 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 against the NCAA's Syracuse Orangemen at Molson Stadium.

McGill will conclude its 143rd season of football on Saturday, Oct. 29 against the second-place Montreal Carabins (5-1) at the Centre Claude Robillard in a 2 p.m. start. Before that, however, the Carabins play at Sherbrooke (3-4) on Oct. 22.
 
The Stingers (2-5) will close out their schedule at home to division-leading Laval (6-1) on Oct 29 in a preview of a conference semifinal.
 
REDBIRDS RAP: Pacing the McGill defence was strong-side LB Darcy Jeannis with 7.5 tackles, two knockdowns, a forced fumble and a half-sack... CB Benjamin Labrosse had 6.5 tackles... CB Thomas Raphael, who had six assisted tackles, registered one interception, two knockdowns and a fumble recovery... Prior to the game, a dozen graduating seniors were recognized in a pregame ceremony. That group included WR Nicolas Baillargeon, WR Xavier Asselin, QB Gregory Segal, RB Jeremy Langevin, FB Simon Crevier, OL Alexandre Marcoux, OL Julian El-Hajj, DL Leo Tischhauser, DL Nicholas De Francisco-Paul, DL Nicholas McConnell, DB Tristan Fleury and LB Dimitrios Papanikolaou... Another pregame ceremony involved some alumni from two of McGill's greatest teams, the 1987 national championship squad that is celebrating the 35th anniversary of their achievement and the 2002 Dunsmore Cup league champs, which was celebrating a 20-year reunion.

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SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca