MONTREAL – Brandon Ciccarello amassed a game-high 177 all-purpose yards and Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald rushed for his nation-leading seventh touchdown but it was all in vain as McGill fell 36-14 to the No.2 ranked Montreal Carabins in RSEQ football at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.

Jonathan Senecal, the Carabins quarterback rushed for a pair of touchdowns and threw for another.  He was 19-for-27 passing, for 316 yards and one interception. The double threat also rushed six times for 74 yards. His primary target was Carl Chabot, who hauled in six catches for 101 yards, to go along with five carries for 33 yards and one TD.

McGill (1-5) surprised the undefeated Carabins (6-0) by leading 6-0 after one quarter and  taking a 13-0 advantage in the early stages of the second quarter. But UdeM roared back to hold a 19-14 lead by halftime. The visitors added three points in the third and 14 more in the final stanza.

The Carabins generated 23 first downs and 470 net yards, compared to 19 and 304 for McGill, respectively.

Ciccarello, a fleet-footed, 5-foot-9, 188-pound running back from Kirkland, Que., rushed for 118 yards on 17 carries and added 59 more on four kickoff returns. The 20-year-old management sophomore leads the league in both rushing (426) and all-purpose yards (921), averaging 71.0 and 153.5 per game, respectively.

Latendresse-Regimbald, a physical education sophomore from Montreal, completed 15 of 25 passing attempts for 148 yards and one interception. He added 40 yards on seven carries, including a smash-mouth six-yard TD run through a pair of heat-seeking linebackers that put his troops ahead 13-0 just 46 seconds into the second quarter.

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was kicker Antoine Couture with eight points, including field-goals of 19 and 45 yards, a 57-yard rouge and one conversion. He also missed a 37-yard field-goal attempt. Couture averaged 42.2 yards on five punts and 55.0 yards on two kickoffs.

The other TD scorer for UdeM was Simon Larose who put the game out of reach mid-way through the final stanza with a 28-yard pass-and-run play that gave his mates a 29-14 lead.

Carabins kicker Philippe Boyer added 10 points, converting all four TDs and nailing field-goals of 42 and 16 yards.

Montreal will put its six-game win streak to a good test next week when hosting Laval (4-1) on Oct. 14 at 2 pm. The Rouge et Or wll be out to avenge a 31-14 loss in Quebec City to the Carabins in the highly-anticipated rematch.

The Redbirds were penalized seven times for 70 yards, compared to Montreal, the least penalized team in the nation, with four for 35 yards. The Carabins won the turnover battle 3-1.

McGill will enter their second bye week of the season in preparation for the Homecoming Game for the 54th Shaughnessy Cup against Concordia (2-2) on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. Earlier that day, former all-star defensive back Robin Belanger will be inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame luncheon. A limited number of tickets for that event are still available.
 
REDBIRDS RAP: Ryan McNally had McGill's lone interception, which he returned 43 yards to set up the team's TD... LB Aidan Licoppe registered one QB sack... MLB Ilan Barbaras and DB Jahnai-Taj Copeland-Lewis led the McGill defence in total tackles with 3.5 each.

BOXSCORE
 
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca