The Concordia Stingers’ football team’s second stringers got a chance to shine last Saturday as they wiped the winless Sherbrooke Vert et Or with a crushing win at Loyola Stadium. The Stingers’ offence, aided by backup quarterback Scott Syvret’s 257 passing yards, pushed past an impotent Vert et Or defence in order to grab a 41-0 victory.
The first quarter was rather uneventful as the Stingers came out with a very weak style of play.
The offensive line was not communicating and appeared to have trouble getting past a weak Vert et Or defence. Later on, Sherbrooke kept being pushed back further into their own zone, offering Concordia a 2-0 lead with a team safety.
The sluggish play finally gave way to an explosive offensive drive early in the second quarter. From his own 50-yard line, Syvret connected with tight end Parnell Adam for a clean 25-yard pass. In the following play, Syvret repeated the same feat, this time hooking up with Brad Remus for a 25-yard touchdown pass.
Soon after, kicker Warren Kean botched an easy 20-yard field goal but earned his team an extra point. However, less than five minutes later, defensive lineman Jon Chatterson intercepted the ball inside Sherbrooke’s red zone but tripped, and on his way down managed to pass off the ball to linebacker Mickey Donovan, who rumbled seven yards for an outstanding Stinger touchdown.
The half was set to end with a 17-0 Concordia lead, but Stinger running back Roch Labossiere was thinking otherwise.
In the final play of the half, Labossiere grabbed the ball and ran home from midfield, sending the teams in the locker room with a solid 24-0 Concordia lead.
The Vert et Or were ready for a comeback in the second half, but all their opportunities were taken away by the Stingers.
Six minutes into the quarter, Sherbrooke obtained its first opportunity when receiver Dominique Demers ran 30 yards into the end zone. The Vert et Or obtained an offside penalty on that play and what would have been their second major of the season was called back.
Sherbrooke attempted to reach their opponents’ end zone, but a pass by pivot Marc-Andre Tougas was broken up in the end zone by defensive back Elvis Martinez.
Despite allowing Sherbrooke a total of only 147 total yards, Concordia’s defence did not play its best.
“We came out flat, we didn’t play well off the start,” defensive-end Troy Cunningham said. “We came through when we needed to, but mainly we wanted to get some young guys in there. However, we didn’t play stellar at all.”
The Vert et Or quickly broke down, allowing Syvret to throw an outstanding 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver Carlton O’Brien.
Labossiere repeated his last-minute feat again in the final play of the quarter when he snagged the ball for a nine-yard run, ending the third with a 38-0 Stinger advantage.
Although Concordia’s level of play slowed down considerably in the fourth quarter, Sherbrooke was not able to obtain any opportunities as they had earlier in the game.
Early in the quarter, defensive back Alexandre Marcoux intercepted a pass by third-stringer pivot Mike Hyatt, but Sherbrooke was unable to capitalize. The Stingers attempted to drive deeper into their opponents’ zone, but could only get close enough for a field goal late in the quarter.
“We didn’t capitalize on a few opportunities, there was a period of time where we were making mental mistakes, myself included,” right guard Phil Salvail said. “It was a question of consistency. Sometimes we were marching down the field, but other times we kept making mental mistakes.”
The game returned to the sluggish pace it had been early on, allowing the Stingers to hold onto their 41-0 lead in order to end their regular season with a 7-1 record and a second-place standing in the QIFC.
Coach Gerry McGrath was happy with the outcome of the game, which allowed new players to gain experience and gave a break to his key athletes.
“Some of them [regular players] are nursing small injuries; if it was a playoff game today, obviously they would have played,” he said.
“I think we got some guys the rest they needed, and at the same time it made it an interesting football game.”
Syvret, who started in his first university game, was happy with the team’s performance. “I find I played okay, I didn’t go deep at all and tried to stick to my reads, so it worked out well since they left us a lot of open reads,” he said. “They [Vert et Or] were pretty weak, we didn’t get up that much on them. But still, I felt comfortable in the pocket; this was a great learning experience.”
The Stingers will be hosting the Universit
