The Concordia Stingers said that people should watch out once they start playing a full 60 minutes and that’s exactly what happened in a dominating 49-14 win against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Saturday in front of 1,852 at Concordia Stadium.
The win, which moved the Stingers to eighth in the country, was by far the best game of the season with their defense dominating. The defense was led by Pat Donovan who put together another solid game racking up 11.5 tackles including two sacks and was named QUFL Defensive player of the week. Donovan is second in the country with 27 tackles. The Stingers also got great defensive play from Sammy Okpro who forced two fumbles, Junior Bishop who had 4.5 tackles (two for loss), a sack, a forced fumble and an interception and Nathan Agadzi who had two tackles.
“Each week we’ve been getting better as a team,” said Donovan, one of the Stinger’s captains. “The first drive we gave up a couple of big plays, but after that we really stepped up. It was a team performance today.”
Concordia allowed the Vert et Or to score on the game’s opening possession when Sherbrooke quarterback Marc-Andre Tougas found receiver Samuel Giguere twice, once for 47 yards on the game’s second play and again for 11 yards in the end zone for the touchdown. It was the only touchdown Sherbrooke would score, as well as their only lead of the ball game.
After Scott Syvret found Juan Scott in the end zone from nine yards out, the Stingers didn’t look back. Syvret finished the day with 323 yards and three touchdowns. He was taken out of the rainy conditions late in the third quarter.
On the very next Sherbrooke possession Sylvester Sarfo jumped in front of the Tougas pass and ran 46 yards to the end zone to give the Stingers their second touchdown in just over a minute.
With the Stingers up 22-10 late in the second quarter, Syvret found his favourite target so far this season, Dan Mott, who made a diving catch set for the highlight reel, as it made TSN’s Honour Roll that night. Amazingly, it was Mott’s first touchdown since Oct. 11, 2003 against the University of Montreal and his first touchdown reception with Syvret throwing. He leads Canadian Interuniversity Sport with 23 catches and 332 yards so far this season. The fifth-year veteran said it was a long time coming.
“It’s been a while,” said Mott about the almost two years between touchdown catches, “but it feels really good, I’ve been waiting a while to get back in there.”
He also said that Syvret and the receiving unit of Juan Scott, Nick Scissons, Blake Butler and Mike Renaud is responsible for the success he’s having this season. “A lot of credit goes to Scott [Syvret]. He’s distributing the ball to all five of us and is reading the field really well.”
“We take a lot of pride in our unit and that any guy any game can go out there and have a big gain or a big day,” Mott said.
The Stingers also enjoyed a good performance from kicker Warren Kean who was 4/5 on field goals missing only a 43 yard attempt early in the second half.
Concordia now goes on the road the next two weeks, playing in Lennoxville at Bishop’s University on Saturday, a game televised on RDS. They then go to face the top team in the country and their arch rival the Laval Rouge et Or on Oct. 2 before coming back home and facing the University of Montreal Carabins on Oct. 15 in the Shrine Bowl.
