MONTREAL – A pair of fumble return touchdowns in the third quarter keyed the No. 8 Montreal Carabins to a 37-7 victory over the Bishop's Gaiters in Quebec University Football League action today at Montreal. The 3,030 in attendance saw the Carabins take a 20-7 halftime lead, and put the game away on fumble returns by David Menard and Gregory Alexandre.
The Carabins had taken their 20-7 halftime lead on a 5-yard reception by Maxime Fournier-Rioux and a seven-yard run by Olivier Renière, a field goal and a single by Pierre-Paul Gélinas and a safety touch. The Gaiters responded with a field goal by Josh Maveety (Kingston, Ont.) and a pair of safety touches.
After another Gélinas single, Menard put the Carabins up 28-7 at 11:35 as he picked up a fumble on the Gaiters' 25-yard-line and rumbled in for the score. With two seconds left in the period, Alexandre put the game away as he stripped the Gaiters' Alex Rivet (Le Moyne, Que.) of the football. It popped into the air and into Alexandre's hands at the Bishop's 28-yard line.
A fourth-quarter safety touch rounded out the scoring for Montreal.
The game was a tense defensive struggle, but exploded with 10.7 seconds left in the first half as a fracas broke out near the Montreal bench. After a kick out of bounds, an altercation involving several players from both teams, along with at least one Montreal coach, broke out. In total, three people were ejected: the Gaiters' Elie Ngoyi, along with Garlins Duclervil and Frank Bruno from the Carabins. Bruno was not dressed for the Carabins, but was in the bench area at the time of the incident.
In total, the teams combined for 284 yards in penalties, with Bishop's taking 11 for 104, while Montreal was flagged 16 times for 180 yards. Montreal outgained the Gaiters 315 to 96, and made 16 first downs to the Gaiters' 10.
For the Gaiters, Jesse Andrews was 0-for-5 before leaving the game in the first quarter. Alex Rivet finished 8-for-15 for 97 yards. Defensively, the Gaiters were led by Jermaine Gabriel (Toronto, Ont.), who made six tackles, while Harrison Maloney made five.
For Montreal, Alex Nadeau-Piuze went 11-for-20 for 186 yards with a touchdown. His favourite receiver was Djems Kouamé, who caught 4 passes for 84 yards. Star running back Rotrand Sené was held to 63 yards on 18 carries.
The Gaiters (5-4) will be the No. 4 seed for the QUFL playoffs, their third playoff berth in the past four seasons. They will visit the top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or on Saturday in one QUFL semifinal. The game is set to kickoff at 1 p.m at the PEPS in Quebec City.
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NOTES: The Gaiters lead the all-time series 18-7 ... This is the Gaiters' second straight loss at CEPSUM ... Gaiters' kicker Josh Maveety scored three points, to finish with a team record 89 on the season ... Jesse Andrews finishes his career in 24th on the CIS all-time completions (490) and attempts (869) lists ... Harrison Maloney went over 100 career tackles today.