LENNOXVILLE, Que -- Freshman quarterback Frederic Paquette-Perrault passed for 465 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another TD as visiting McGill spanked Bishop's 37-14 in a rare Friday night RSEQ football affair at Coulter Field.

It was McGill's fourth straight win over the Gaiters and improved their lifetime series record to 43-45-1 in 89 games against BU since they first met way back in 1885. The result dropped Bishop's to 1-5 and officially eliminated them from post-season play. McGill, on the other hand, evened their record at 3-3 and moved into the driver's seat for a probable playoff berth in the six-team Quebec conference.

McGill generated 30 first downs and 575 yards of net offence compared to 11 and 108, respectively, by the Gaiters.The damage could've been much worse but the Redmen were penalized 14 times for 159 yards, while BU was flagged only five times for 52 yards. McGill led 15-0 after the opening quarter and 23-0 at the half before the Gaiters replied with a pair of TDs in the third stanza narrowing the gap to 23-14. But the visitors added two more majors in the final quarter.

Paquette-Perrault, a 6-foot-2, 212-pound accounting major, picked apart a porous defence, completing 37 of 48 pass attempts with no interceptions. It marked the seventh-best single-game completion total in Quebec university history and fell four completions shy of the conference record set by Sherbrooke's Jérémi Roch, who had 41 at Saint Mary's, Sept. 15, 2012. The McGill record is 39 by Matt Connell against Bishop's in 2008. It was also the 11th time in school history that a McGill quarterback had reached the 400-yard passing barrier, with Matt Connell accomplishing the feat eight times, along with Ryne Bondy and Pierre-Luc Dussault (once each).The Redmen single-game passing record is 557 yards by Matt Connell versus Concordia in 2007.

Preston Bews, a first-year McGill player who spent part of last season on the Saskatchewan Roughriders practice roster, led all receivers with 139 yards on 11 receptions. He opened the scoring with a 16-yard TD catch just three minutes after the opening kickoff, capping a six-play, 78-yard drive.

Four minutes later, co-captain Louis Brouillette hauled in a 17-yard pass to make it 14-0 with his second TD of the season. Trailing 23-0 at the intermission, Bishop's finally broke the goose-egg with a pair of touchdowns early in the third quarter. Alex Bouffard caught an 11-yard TD pass from Mathieu Demers at 2:49.

Then with McGill knocking at the Gaiters doorstep, Paquette-Perrault fumbled on a keeper-play that was recovered at the one-yard line by Arnaud Dandin, who raced the length of the field to score on a 104-yard fumble recovery at 6:37.

It was an otherwise ineffective outing for Demers, who was 6-for-18 passing for 79 yards, one TD and a pair of interceptions.

McGill rebounded in the final quarter when Paquette-Perrault scored on a two-yard keeper at 3:14. He then hooked up with freshman Jeremy Sauvageau for a five-yard TD pass at 9:30.

Rookie kicker Findlay Brown rounded out the scoring with 11 points for the Redmen. He was 2-for-4 on field-goal attempts, connecting from distances of 16 and 38 yards. He missed from 31 and 35, with the latter blocked. They were his first two misses of the season and he is now 12 for 14 in that department.

McGill (3-3) plays at Concordia on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. But before then, the Stingers (3-2) will play at Sherbrooke (2-3) on Saturday (Oct. 15) at 4 p.m. A Concordia victory over Sherbrooke, would all but clinch a playoff berth for McGill which has a two-point lead over fifth-place Sherbrooke. The Vert & Or would have to upset either Montreal (5-0) or Laval (4-1) in their final two games to tie the Redmen for the final playoff berth. After playing Concordia, the final game for McGill will be against the top-ranked Carabins as part of Homecoming Week on the McGill campus.

REDMEN RAP: Rookie RB Donavan Martel led all rushers with 80 yards on 12 carries... QB Nicolas English, who started for McGill in Week 1 but was injured in that game, finally returned to the lineup after missing five contests. He saw limited duty and went 1-for-2 passing for 16 yards... Rookie DB Pier-Olivier Grenier-Gachet collected 124 all-purpose yards, with 76 on six punt returns and 48 more on four kickoff returns... He was also credited with a pair of tackles... McGill had a 3-1 edge in QB sacks, with DL Ousmane Guindo collecting 1.5 sacks, along with LB Dane Wagner (1) and DL Andrew Seinet-Spaulding (0.5)... Guindo led the Redmen defence with five tackles... Wagner registered three tackles and a forced fumble... DB Vincent Dethier had two tackles and forced a fumble with a blocked punt... LB Eric Gracioppo and DB Olivier Therrien had one interception apiece.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012