Photo credit McGill Athletics
MONTREAL - In a game filled with a plethora of big plays on special teams, Kris Robinson of Pickering, Ont., scored on a 62-yard punt return with less than three minutes remaining as Concordia rallied from a 15-point deficit and escaped with a 34-29 victory over McGill in the 42nd annual Shaughnessy Cup game before 5,346 at Molson Stadium, Friday.
It marked the 11th consecutive win for the Stingers over their cross-town rivals, dating back to McGill's last conquest in the 2002 Dunsmore Cup league championship game.
Cornerback Kyle Smith of Chateauguay, Que., made a crucial interception in the end zone as the clock ran out to snuff out a nine-play McGill drive to the Concordia one-yard line. The Stingers defence held strong as four of those plays came from inside the six-yard line in the final 20 seconds of the contest.
The result spoiled a school record-tying six field-goals by McGill place-kicker Austin Anderson, who accounted for 19 of McGill's 29 points. The five-foot-11, 180-pound native of Canmore, Alta., went 6-for-8, connecting on distances of 46, 27, 12, 48, 18 and 42 yards. He equaled the McGill single-game mark set by Glenn Miller in 1984. Anderson, the son of former NFL star kicker Gary Anderson, just missed making a 55-yarder and hit the upright on a 45-yard attempt. He improved his career numbers to 8-for-10 from 40 yards or more.
Equally impressive in a losing cause was return specialist Jeff Thompson who became the first McGill player to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown. He scampered 102 yards for the longest return in McGill history and finished the day with a Quebec conference single-game record 223 yards on four kickoff returns. The mark had been in the books since 1984 when John Larsen (Queen's) registered 168 in a game. Thompson was also credited with three tackles and a fumble recovery.
In a battle of the back-up quarterbacks, sophomore Terrance Morsink of Pierrefonds, Que., outshone Ryne Bondy, his McGill counterpart from Richmond Hill, Ont. Morsink, replacing the injured Rob Mackay, completed 24 of 42 passing attempts for 317 yards, a pair of TDs and two interceptions in his second career start. Bondy replaced injured Jonathan Collin and was making his third career start. He was good on 17 of 36 attempts for 205 yards and was picked off twice.
Concordia's Liam Mahoney led all receivers with nine catches for 122 yards and one TD. Teammate Edem Nyamadi registered the only other receiving major, on a three-yard toss from Morsink late in the second quarter, narrowing the gap to 18-10.
Michael Donnelly tallied the Stingers other TD. The third-year running back from Ottawa hit pay-dirt on a 15-yard run to knot the score at 27-27 of 11:13 of the final stanza.
For McGill, veteran Charles-Antoine Sinotte snared eight balls for 54 yards and upped his all-time CIS receptions record to 222 in 33 career contests. Rookie Justene Edwards caught three for 83. Taylor Kuprowski led all rushers with 82 yards on 17 carries.
Concordia, which prevailed despite committing six of the game's 10 turnovers, improved to 2-1 on the season and will host Bishop's on Sept. 25, while McGill (0-3) travel across town to play the Montreal Carabins in a night game on Sept. 24.
REDMEN RAP: The large crowd on hand was as a result of the University's third annual "Fill the Stadium" promotion... The two teams are now 34-34 lifetime in 68 meetings against each other and the Stingers hold a 19-17 advantage in head-to-head Shaughnessy Cup play... McGill is also 5-0-1 lifetime again The Cup is named after the late Frank Shaughnessy, a McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee who coached at both institutions... Defensively, Jean-David Mathieu led the Redmen with 5.5 tackles, six of them solo... Junior Matt Quigley and rookie Francis Bradette each had one interception... New punter Tomas Silva, a transfer from the Western Mustangs, continued to impress for the third straight outing, he averaged 45.5 yards over eight punts and now ranks second among league punters with a 41.8 average...Canadian Olympic gold medalist Charline Labonte performed the ceremonial kickoff... The McGill netminder was accompanied by Drew Love, executive director of athletics & recreation at McGill, plus Martlets head coach Peter Smith (an assistant coach with the Olympic squad), rearguard Gillian Ferrari, who previously won Olympic gold in Turin and has been recruited to patrol the Martlets blueline this year.
Source:
McGill Sports Info