MONTREAL – Jayden Kerr rushed for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns as visiting Queen's cruised to a 33-10 victory over the McGill Redbirds in preseason football at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.
 
Queen's leads the all-time head-to-head series with a 103-75-5 record overall, in a long-standing rivalry with McGill dating back to the first confrontation in 1886.
 
The Gaels won each quarter, leading 7-0 after the first, 12-0 at halftime and 26-7 after three. 

The game featured a familiar name with senior running back Anthony Soles suiting up for Queen's on the field for the first time where his father, the late Michael Soles, had a Hall of Fame career for McGill. Anthony, who wore the same jersey number (22) as the patriarch of the family, scampered six times for 34 yards and opened the scored with a nifty 17-yard TD scamper at 4:31 of the first stanza.

The visitors had one other scoring major, a 26-yard pass-and-run from quarterback Anthony Lio to receiver Quinten George.

McGill's lone TD was tallied by freshman Abdala Traore, who hauled in a 46-yard toss from Mathieu Boudreau that narrowed the gap to 12-7 early in the third quarter. Traore,  a 6-foot-5, 208-pound wide receiver from Montreal, led all McGill receivers with 72 yards on three catches.

Rounding out the scoring for McGill was punter Antoine Couture, who converted the TD and place-kicker Abdullah Qasem, who made a 21-yard field-goal.

A safety touch and a trio of kickers – Tyler Mullan (5 pts), Oliver Griffiths (1) and Aayden Callan (1) – completed the scoring for the Gaels.
 
Both sides utilized three quarterbacks. For McGill, sophomore Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald, the nation's rookie of the year last season, started and was 6-for-8 passing for 48 yards and one interception. He was relieved midway through the second stanza by the aforementioned  Boudreau, a third-year southpaw who went 7-for-12 passing for 117 yards, one TD and one pick. Freshman Hugues Picard played the final quarter and was 4-for-7 passing for 66 yards. Picard also carried twice for 43 yards.

For the Gaels, veteran Alex Vreeken started and went 6-for-8 passing with 61 yards. He gave way to sophomore Russell Weir, who was 6-for-12 for 104 yards. Freshman Anthony Lio mopped up in the final stanza and was 3-for-6 for 59 yards and one TD.
 
Queen's generated 27 first downs and 471 net yards, compared to 17 and 363, respectively, by McGill. Perhaps the most lopsided statistic was the penalty distribution, with McGill being assessed a dozen infractions for 91 yards, compared to Queen's, which was flagged only three times for 43 yards.  The Redbirds committed five turnovers, including a pair of interceptions and one fumble, while Queen's had just one, on a fumble.

The Gaels dressed 85 players, some 32 over the limit allowed in a regular season game, compared to 71 by McGill.
 
Queen's is coming off a 7-1 second-place finish in the OUA last season, while the Redbirds are looking to bounce back from 1-7 mark in the RSEQ conference. Both teams begin regular season play on Aug. 26. McGill opens on the road against the Montreal Carabins in a 1 p.m. kickoff on the newly-refurbished artificial surface at Stade CEPSUM. The Gaels will host Laurier in a 3 pm start at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont., site of this year's Vanier Cup national championship game.

REDBIRDS RAP: McGill sophomore Brandon Ciccarello led all players with 141 all-purpose yards, including 44 on four carries, 14 on one reception, 59 on three kickoff returns and 24 on three punt returns...  Gregoire Couture paced McGill's defence with 4.5 tackles, while Charles Cossette, Philippe Trudel and Alex-Antoine Mayer were credited with four apiece... Cossette and Mayer each had one QB sack.
 
BOXSCORE


SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
WEBSITE:www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca