MONTREAL – Receiver
Olivier Cool hauled in three touchdown tosses as No. 3 ranked-Laval defeated McGill 45-12 in RSEQ university football before 1,246 at Percival Molson Stadium, Saturday.
It was a third straight win for the undefeated Rouge et Or, who improved to 3-0 atop the RSEQ standings. McGill dropped to 1-2.
Laval opened with a rare opening kickoff scoring play, when
Felipe Forteza hammered a 71-yard boot that was conceded in the endzone. The visitors never looked back, leading 15-0 after the first quarter, 30-10 at halftime and 38-10 after three. Laval had a 25-12 edge in first downs and racked up 461 yards of net offence, compared 193 by the Redbirds.
Cool, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound sophomore from Terrebonne, Que., now leads the nation with six TDs in three games. He had a game-high nine receptions for 121 yards, including TDs of 25, 13 and 17 yards from Laval quarterback
Arnaud Desjardins, who completed 19 of 23 for 286 yards.
Running back
Angel Vital registered Laval's only other major with a 27-yard breakaway run up the middle to finish with a game-high 83 rushing yards on eight carries.
Rounding out the scoring for the Rouge et Or was Forteza with nine points. He converted all six touchdowns and racked up three rouges, two of them on kickoffs.
McGill broke the shutout bid early in the second quarter when rookie place-kicker
Mario Della Fraine nailed the only field-goal attempt in the game, from a distance of 38 yards. The other Redbirds scoring play was a 75-yard TD pass from quarterback
Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald to receiver
David Kabwe, his only catch of the day. The Redbirds were also awarded a safety touch late in the game when Laval's
Guillaume Cauchon fumbled a punt return into his endzone.
"ELR", who was sacked seven times, went 6-for-19 in the air, passing for 150 yards. He led McGill in rushing with 41 yards on nine carries and had a number of large gains nullified by penalties. The Redbirds were flagged 11 times for 85 yards of real estate, while Laval had seven for 75.
There were only two turnovers in the game, a fumble by each side.
Next week, the Redbirds (1-2) play at Concordia in a 1 p.m. kickoff at the Loyola campus. The Stingers are also 1-2 and have mirrored McGill's results to date, beginning with a 36-11 home loss to Laval (Aug. 24), followed by 19-15 victory at Sherbrooke (Aug. 30) and a 30-18 road setback to the Montreal Carabins (Sept. 14).
REDBIRDS RAP: Leading the McGill defence in tackles were defensive backs
Mathis Pilon (7.5) and
Jahnai-Taj Copeland-Lewis (7.0)... Copeland-Lewis was also credited with a fumble recovery... Rookie LB
Philippe Bouthot had a solid outing with three solo tackles, including his first QB sack.
BOXSCORE
RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL:
514-983-7012
E-MAIL:
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
