Photo credit
| Bishop's | 17 | McGill | 13 | Final | Box Score |
| Source: Earl Zukerman, McGill Sports Info
MONTREAL – Freshman quarterback Travis Eman of Brampton, Ont., rushed for a pair of touchdowns as visiting Bishop's hung on for a 17-13 victory over McGill University in what was billed as a Thanksgiving Thursday "Turkey Bowl", featuring a pair of winless football teams at Molson Stadium. It was the first win of the season for the Gaiters (1-4) and the first game for the Redmen (0-5) under newly appointed co-coaches Patrick Boies and Ronald Hilaire, the respective offensive and defensive coordinators who were appointed in charge of the helm earlier in the week in the wake of the recent resignation of head coach Clint Uttley. A tough McGill defence limited the Gaiters to only a 153 yards of net offence, the lowest total by a winning team in the RSEQ conference since Sept. 17, 2011 when the Montreal Carabins had 142 in an 11-10 victory over visiting Saint Mary's. Eman, one of three Bishop's pivots to see the field, passed for only 31 yards, started and completed five of nine attempts with one interception. But it was his ability to scramble that made the difference as he rushed seven times for 31 yards, scoring on a six-yard run just 18 seconds into the second quarter to put the Gaiters ahead 7-3. He rallied the troops again at 2:18 of the third stanza to give Bishop's a 17-10 lead on a one-yard TD plunge. The Redmen -- missing their top starters at quarterback, running back and receiver -- featured a 48-man dresslist that included a whopping 28 players in their first year with the team, including a school record 23 true freshmen. The young lineup could only get inside the red zone once and committed six turnovers while being penalized 18 times for 158 yards of real estate. By contrast, Bishop's had four turnovers and nine infractions for 100 yards. McGill held a 20-13 edge in first downs, a 299-153 advantage in total yards and a 31:47 to 28:13 margin in time of possession. Montrealer Raphael Casey was one of few bright spots for McGill offensively. The 5-foot-8, 175-pound mathematics sophomore from St. Hubert, Que., led the team with 73 rushing yards on 17 carries, including a five-yard TD run which put his troops ahead 10-7 at 10:31 of the thrid quarter. Casey also caught two passes for eight yards. His scoring play was immediately preceded by a spectacular 26-yard diving catch on a third-down gamble by senior Jean-Philippe Paquette, who snared four balls for 39 yards. Paquette, a 5-foot-5, 154-pound speedster from Trois-Rivieres, Que., was the only player to reach the century mark in all-purpose yards, marking the fourth time in five games that a member of the Redmen had reach that lofty mark. He also collected 50 on five punt returns and added a 15-yard kickoff return. Rounding out the scoring was a pair of field-goals from Redmen place-kicker Nils Jonkmans, from 37 and 28 yards, respectively, and a 30-yarder from Vincent Dube of the Gaiters. A voracious McGill defence racked up 11 tackles for loss, including seven quarterback sacks, a pair of interceptions and one knockdown. Leading the way was rookie Karl Forgues, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound weakside linebacker from Repentigny, Que., who registered a game-high 10 solo tackles, including a sack. McGill quarterback Joel Houle, a freshman starting for the third consecutive week in the wake of a concussion suffered by starter Dallon Kuprowski, found a whopping 10 different receivers. Houle completed 23 of 41 attempts for 214 yards and a pair of interceptions. He also rushed five times for 24 yards. The Redmen will look for their first win against Sherbrooke (2-3) in the McGill Homecoming game on Oct. 18, while Bishop's plays at Laval (5-0) on Oct. 19. REDMEN RAP: Aside from Forgues, other McGill defenders to register sacks included Devon Stewart (2), Maxime Chaput-Dupuy (1.5), Ricard Lubin (1.5) and Carl Laverdiere (1)... The team's two interceptions were made by defensive halfbacks Carl-David Erius and Simon Lamontagne...Bishop's has won three straight head-to-head meetings with McGill and now lead the all-time series between the two rivals 45-39-1 dating all the way back to their first rendez-vous in 1885.
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| Laurier | 20 | Western | 61 | Final | Box Score | Recap |
Source: Tony von Richter, Western Sports Info
LONDON, Ont. – After taking their first lost of the season less than a week ago, the Western Mustangs bounced back with a 61–20 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks to secure their fifth win of the season on Thursday night at TD Stadium.
"Our guys came out. We controlled the line of scrimmage, we pounded the ball at them, Stevenson [Bone] made good decisions and you know what, it was good," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall.
With Will Finch, the Mustangs starting quarterback, sidelined due to injury, it wasn't clear which Mustangs offence was going to show up to play come game time.
But backup Stevenson Bone was fluid in his delivery of 35 first-half points — a half that was capped off by a 48-yard run. The play set up his own 20-yard rushing touchdown that gave his team a commanding 32 point-lead.
The Mustangs kept their foot on the pedal as they proceeded to put up another 26 points in the second half.
Despite a few mistakes, Bone showed his ability to move the chains, and manage the game for the Mustangs. Bone completed 19 of his 25 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 86 yards on seven carries and a rushing touchdown.
Bone, who hadn't started in a game as quarterback since high school, was overwhelmed by the result.
"I'm speechless. I'm so emotional right here but it was a tremendous game and tremendous effort by our whole team," said Bone.
Brian Marshall, Western's senior slot back, stood out as Bone's favourite target. Bone connected with Marshall eight times for 157 yards and a touchdown.
Overall, Greg Marshall said he was impressed by the young quarterback's performance.
"He's been good. To be honest I was surprised he missed some of those long ones because in practice he's been really, really good — and they were close. He threw a nice ball to Brian over here, he put the ball in really good spots," Greg Marshall said.
Thursday night's performance could serve as a wake up call for the other teams in Ontario University Athletics. Even without their starting quarterback, the Mustangs offence fired on all cylinders.
The Mustangs run game was hardnosed as the team ripped off 431 total yards on 49 carries. Garret Sanvido led the unit with 165 yards on 17 carries just two weeks after suffering a knee injury in Waterloo.
"I was just running the ball really. I don't know how many carries I got but it's a lot more then I've been getting this year," Sanvido said. "The more we have guys to play off — throw Yannick [Harou] in, throw [Alex] Taylor, and Adam Sinclair in — the healthier I can be in the long run."
Considering the Mustangs offence struggled to execute at times in last week's loss the Marauders, their performance against Laurier was night and day. The offence produced 720 total yards.
But even as the Mustangs offence soaked up the Thursday night spotlight, the defence did not go unnoticed. Matched up against the league's top rusher, the Mustangs defensive front contained the Golden Hawks running back, Dillon Campbell just long enough for their offence to put up an insurmountable lead.
Laurier's first touchdown didn't come until the start of the fourth quarter — a touchdown that was set up by a screen pass to Campbell. He managed 111 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown. Campbell has put up at least 100 yards rushing in all six games this season, and now owns Laurier's single-season rushing record with 1,132 yards so far this year.
The CIS' leading rusher also added five receptions for 87 yards receiving courtesy of quarterback, James Fracas, who posted 21 completions, 285 yards and one touchdown of his own.
However, everything seemed to go in Western's favour. The Mustangs turned a run of the mill Laurier punt into six points after the partially blocked kick was caught and returned by Mustangs safety, Trevor Lass as time expired in the third quarter.
In addition to the return, the Mustangs special teams contributed another 21 points on five field goals and six extra points from kicker, Zack Medeiros.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 5–1 on the season and get the next nine days off to rest and get healthy. With many key starters out of the lineup, Greg Marshall is looking forward to the time off.
"This week has been long. It was five days and it seemed like 50. I'm glad it's over and I'm glad we can re-group, rest up, get Jean Gab [Poulin], get Jesse McNair back — we're going to get some guys healthy next week," Marshall said.
The Mustangs travel to Guelph next Saturday to take on Gryphons. Game time is 1 p.m.