MONTREAL – Olivier Roy threw for five touchdowns, four of them caught by Ezechiel Tieide, as Concordia put a damper on McGill's Homecoming with a 40-23 victory to capture the 54th edition of the Shaughnessy Cup before 3,500 fans at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.
 
The Stingers generated 29 first downs and 441 yards of net offence, compared to McGill's 24 and 365, respectively. The Redbirds, however, were penalized a whopping season-high 22 times for 224 yards, compared to Concordia's 11 penalties for 111 yards.
 
The visitors led 14-7 after the first quarter, 28-7 at halftime and 40-7 after three before McGill's offence got untracked to win the final quarter 16-0.
 
Roy was 22-for-33 passing, for 328 yards and one interception. His other TD was a 30-yard toss to Jacob Salvail to put the Stingers ahead 28-7 late in the second quarter.
 
McGill touchdowns were scored by sophomore running back Brandon Ciccarello – on a 14-yard run late in the first quarter – senior wide receiver Darius Simmons – on a two-yard TD pass – and senior tailback Cedric Dabady, on a four-yard run for his first career TD.
 
Ciccarello was the leading rusher in the game with 65 yards on 10 carries. He leads the league in rushing with 491 yards on 78 carries for a 70.1 average. He ended up with 140 all-purpose yards, including 10 on one reception and 65 yards on three kickoff returns. Ciccarello continues to lead the RSEQ conference in all-purpose yards, averaging 151.6 per game.
 
Simmons, collected a game-high 91 receiving yards on six catches. He now has 491 yards on 45 catches for a league-leading reception average of 70.1 yards per game.
 
Redbirds quarterback Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald completed 20 of 32 passes for 294 yards, one TD and no interceptions. The sophomore pivot was sacked twice, compared to Roy, his Concordia counterpart, who was not sacked.
 
The result clinched third place for Concordia (4-3) in the five-team RSEQ conference, while McGill (1-6) remains in the fourth heading into next Saturday's critical matchup at Sherbrooke (0-7), a game that will decide the final playoff berth. That game is slated for a 1 p.m. kickoff and will be televised nationally by TVA Sports, the French-language cable network. McGill, which defeated Sherbrooke 26-14 in the season opener at Molson Stadium, can clinch with a win or a loss by fewer than 12 points, based on the head-to-head tie-breaker. If the Vert & Or win by exactly 12, they will have to pull out a slide rule to figure out who makes the post season.
 
REDBIRDS RAP: SAM linebacker Ryan McNally paced the defence with 6.5 tackles, including six solos… CB Chris Kongbo had the lone interception, McGill's fourth of the season, and now shares the team lead with three other players at one pick apiece… The ceremonial kickoff was performed by Dr. Robin Belanger, an all-star defensive back on McGill's 1987 national championship team, who was inducted earlier in the day to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame… McGill's 1969 football team, which won the Yates Cup league championship, was also inducted to the pantheon. The group was introduced at halftime… As part of Seniors Day, head coach Ronald Hilaire paid tribute to 16 graduating seniors in a pre-game ceremony… That group included 10 players on offence: QB Mathieu Boudreau, WR Josh Campbell, RB Zacharie Magnan, K Antoine Couture, TE Gabriel Faucher, TE Cedric Vaillancourt, OL Michael Vlahogiannis, OL Dante Rienzo, OL Klaus Calixte and OL Alexandre Marcoux. Those expected to graduate on defence included DL Jacob Lavoie, DL Jonathan Wilding, DL Nassib Hassouna, Jr., LB Aidan Licoppe, DB Hubert Charest and DB Charles Cossette.
 
BOXSCORE
 
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca