McGill’s 10-6 triumph over the Concordia Stingers in last Saturday’s Dunsmore Cup was the 23rd edition of the national quarterfinal game.
The Stingers have won three titles since the league’s founding in 1980. Their first one occured with their triumph in 1982, with Skip Rochette as head coach, who incidentally is now the defensive co-ordinator at McGill.
The other two triumphs came in 1993 and 1998, both wins coming with Pat Sheehan at the helm of the Concordia football program.
Sheehan now coaches in Kingston, Ontario at Queen’s University. The 1998 Maroon and Gold triumph in the Dunsmore Cup, a 17-12 double overtime victory over Laval, helped pave the way for a Stinger appearance in the national championship game, the Vanier Cup.
However, they fell short in the CIS title game, dropping a 24-17 decision to the Saskatchewan Huskies before 15,157 spectators at Toronto’s Skydome.
The Huskies, by the way, will be taking on McGill for the Mitchell bowl this Saturday.
Despite the fact that McGill and Concordia have now faced eachother 57 times in Canadian University Football play, it was the first time that the Montreal rivals took to the gridiron in a Dunsmore Cup game.
With the win, McGill now stands even with Concordia in terms of Dunsmore Cup victories, with both teams having three wins apiece.As far as Dunsmore Cup appearances go, Concordia now has four while McGill has six.
For McGill, it was their second consecutive appearance, following last year’s forfeit victory over Laval, which resulted from the Rouge et Or using an ineligible player.
McGill’s first Dunsmore Cup title came under Coach Charlie Baillie in 1987, en route to a Vanier Cup victory over a heavily favoured University of British Columbia.
