MONTREAL -- Olivier Roy passed for 299 yards and four touchdowns and Andrew Stevens made a 21-yard field-goal in overtime as Concordia rallied from a 22-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to nip McGill 36-33 in the 52nd Shaughnessy Cup football game before a sold-out crowd at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.

The result improved Concordia's record to 2-1, while McGill dropped to 1-2 in the RSEQ conference standings.

The 69 combined points total tied for the ninth-highest scoring confrontation between the cross-town rivals. Played before a COVID-capped maximum at 3,500 from advance ticket sales only, the result marked the third ever overtime meeting between the clubs and the first since a wild 53-52 McGill victory in 2013.

McGill led 9-2 after the opening stanza, 16-2 at halftime and 26-11 after three but the Redbirds self-destructed in the fourth quarter, taking 10 of 14 penalties called in the period. McGill scored a touchdown early in the fourth to take what appeared to be a safe 33-11 lead with 13:11 remaining in regulation. The Stingers refused to quit, however, as Roy passed for three of his four majors down the stretch run, capped by a two-yard TD toss to Jeremy Murphy to reduce the deficit to 33-31 with 30 seconds left on the clock. Roy then called his own number for the two-point conversion, a five-yard run up the middle, to force overtime.

McGill started the extra period at the Concordia 35-yard line but was driven back to midfield. On the next series, Concordia marched from the 35 to the 14, then Stevens connected for the winning kick. 

Buttressed by their late game heroics, Concordia finished with 26 first downs and 397 net yards, compared to McGill's 12 and 332, respectively. The Redbirds won the turnover battle 6-2 and had a 5-0 edge in quarterback sacks but were penalized 22 times for 174 yards. Concordia was flagged only 10 times for 70 yards.

Roy completed 18 of 29 passes and was intercepted once. He connected with four different receivers for touchdowns, beginning with a five-yard pass-and-run play to Jaylan Greaves, who narrowed the gap to 23-11 at 9:39 of the third quarter. In the final stanza, Roy hooked up with Olivier Morency for a six-yard TD reception to spark the comeback at 7:37. He then found Jacob Salvail in the end zone for a 35-yarder at 10:42, setting for the stage for the last-minute heroics.

The result spoiled a stellar performance by McGill running back Elijah Williams, who rushed 13 times for a game-high 94 yards and a touchdown. He also caught one pass for seven yards to go over the century plateau in all-purpose yards. Teammate Darius Simmons was the Redbirds leading receiver with 86 yards on five receptions, including a sensational 60-yard TD catch to open the scoring at 5:38 of the first quarter.

McGill quarterback Dimitrios Sinodinos was 14-for-25 passing, with 197 yards, a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. His second major was a surprise 20-yard strike to Simon Crevier on a 2nd-and-1 play, which put the Redbirds ahead 33-11 in the fourth stanza.

McGill's other TD was scored on a 39-yard fumble recovery by DL Josh Archibald, who was double-teamed for most of the game and held to 1.5 tackles.

Kicker Antoine Couture rounded out the individual scoring for McGill, which also registered a safety. He had seven points, going 4-for-4 on conversions and 1-for-3 on field-goal attempts. He made a 12-yarder to put the Redbirds ahead 26-11 on the last play of the third quarter but missed a 40-yard attempt in the first quarter and hit the upright on an 18-yard effort in the second quarter. Couture also averaged 40.0 yards on six punts and 53.0 yards on five kickoffs.

Stevens, the Stingers place-kicker, added three conversions to finish up with six points. Concordia was also credited with four points on a pair of safety touches conceded by McGill when they were pinned deep in their end of the field. He averaged 35.1 on seven punts and 54.8 on five kickoffs.

McGill is now 40-46 in 86 lifetime meetings with Concordia. The Stingers are 28-18 in 46 Shaughnessy Cup meetings against McGill, which owns a 23-28-1 record in 52 Cup appearances (including a 5-0-1 mark against Loyola College). The Cup is named after legendary coach Frank Shaughnessy, a McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee who introduced the forward pass to football in Canada during a 1921 McGill exhibition game against the NCAA's Syracuse Orangemen at Molson Stadium.

Next week, on Sept. 25, McGill (1-2) will make the short trek across Mt. Royal to take on Montreal in a televised affair on TVA Sports. Before then, the Carabins will put their 1-1 record on the line this Saturday (Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.) in Quebec City against Laval (2-1) and that will be the TVA Sports game of the week.

REDBIRDS RAP: McGill leads the nation with 10 QB sacks in three games... Five different Redbirds registered sacks against Concordia, including Nicholas DeFrancisco-Paul, Jonathan Wilding, Dimitrios Papanikolaou and his brother Costa Papanikolaou, as well as Nassib Hassouna, Jr., who also had one fumble recovery... LB Anthony Leclerc led all players with a game-high 7.5 tackles and was credited with a forced fumble... DB Ryan McNally, who had three solo tackles, made the game's only interception, which he returned for 39 yards... WR Pearce Dumay had a game-high 111 all-purpose yards, including 58 on a pair of carries, 23 on two receptions and 30 on seven punt returns.

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Off.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca