QUEBEC CITY — Antony Dufour opened the game with a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown at the 13-second mark as the Laval Rouge et Or thumped the McGill Redmen 61-9 in Canadian Interuniversity Sport football action Sunday. Laval scored on ther first three possessions, two of them on turnovers and jumped into a 21-0 lead by the time the game was two minutes old.
It marked Laval's 24th consecutive victory over McGill since the Redmen last won in 2001.
Laval led 28-0 after the opening quarter, 33-9 at halftime and 47-9 after three.
Marc-Antoine Pivin had two catches for 95 yards receiving and two touchdowns for Laval (4-1), while Alexander Hovington and Marc-Olivier Simard each returned an interception for a touchdown.
Vincent Alarie-Tardif and quarterback Hugo Richard ran in TDs, and Dominic Levesque booted two field goals and seven extra points. Richard completed 20 of 27 passes for 290 yards and one TD.
Laval's defence recorded three safeties.The Rouge et Or racked up 490 net yards and 24 first downs, compared to McGill, which had 213 and 18, respectively.
Findlay Brown was good on all three of his field goal attempts for McGill, from distances of 16, 30 and 27 yards.
Redmen quarterback Frederic Paquette-Perrault completed 12 of 26 attempts for 194 yards and a pair of interceptions. Back-up Matthew Mannarino went 0-for-2 and was picked off once. The team's leading receiver was freshman Preston Bews with four catches for 95 yards. Nicholas Khandar led the Redmen rushing attack with 68 yards on 12 carries. Jean-Philippe Hudon led the McGill defence with 7.5 tackles, six of them solo. Vincent Dethier had McGill's lone QB sack.
The Redmen, who dropped to 2-3 and get a bye in next week's schedule, face a must-win game at Bishop's on Oct. 14.
