The Concordia Stingers started their 2013-2014 season in a losing fashion with a lopsided 48-3 defeat to the Montreal Carabins in their home opener on Saturday.
The Carabins opened up the scoring after the Stingers allowed a safety around the sixth minute mark in the first quarter, shortly after Concordia quarterback Reid Quest fumbled the ball.
The Carabins took a 9-0 lead when Antoine Pruneau scored a touchdown on an 89-yard kickoff return at 5:29 of the first.
The Stingers couldn’t muster many points in the first quarter. Slotback Alexandre Hébert’s didn’t complete a pass, keeping Concordia off the board with 2:30 left.
Pruneau almost gave his team a 16-0 lead about 12 minutes into the second quarter, but a penalty cancelled the touchdown.
Soon after, running back Rotrand Sené was sent on a 58-yard run, but what seemed to be a leg injury to offensive lineman, Simon Légaré, caused a lengthy delay. After trainers examined him for a couple of minutes, he was taken off on a stretcher.
Quickly after play resumed, Sené scored a touchdown on the Stingers’ eight-yard line, giving the Carabins a 16-0 lead.
Things heated up after Stingers slotback Jamal Henry got pushed on a kick return play and a mini-brawl ensued between the 20 and 30 yard line, causing several penalties for both sides.
The Stingers gave up another safety with 8:40 left in the second, and went down 18-0. The Carabins widened their lead less than two minutes later with another touchdown, making it 25-0 for Montreal.
Concordia once again failed to score a point in the second quarter, and ended the half with a horse collar penalty, costing them 15 yards.
After sending receiver Mikhail Davidson on a 40-yard run two-and-a-half minutes into the second half, quarterback Pierre-Luc Varhegyi carried the ball over the touchdown line from the one-yard line, giving the Carabins a commanding 32-0 lead.
The Stingers finally got on the board with a field goal by Keegan Treloar at around the 30-yard line with 6:18 left.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the game was out of reach for the Stingers. Just over six minutes into the final frame, receiver Sean Thomas-Erlington sealed the deal for the Carabins with his touchdown, which put his team up 40-3.
After missing a 29-yard field goal attempt with 4:58 minutes left in the fourth quarter, running back Manuel Crisi-Lauzon scored the Carabins final touchdown with 2:36 left in the game.
Despite the loss, Stingers’ linebacker Max Caron and head coach Gerry McGrath said they liked what they saw from the rookies in their first Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) game.
“I’m happy with the way the kids played,” McGrath said, on the Stingers’ website. “They played hard until the end and never quit.”
“Obviously, when you lose a game like that, it’s tough, and there’s a lot that didn’t go our way today, but with a lot of guys starting in their first CIS game, [and] there were definitely a lot of good things to take away from this one,” Caron said. “There was a lot of guys who went out, it was their first CIS experience, they missed a couple of plays, but those are the things we’re going to correct. We just got to work them out and become a better team each week. It’s the first game of the season, and you’re going to have a lot of mistakes, you just got to shore up those mental mistakes and play better next week.”
