Stingers offence heats up for Shaughnessy Cup

The Concordia Stingers football team added to their trophy case, thumping the winless McGill Redmen 58-30 in the 34th annual Shaughnessy Cup in front of 2,100 fans at Percival Molson Stadium.
Saturday’s win secured a playoff spot for the 5-2 Stingers, who rolled up 639 total offensive yards on a Redmen team that would like to erase the 2007 season from their record books.
Concordia opened the scoring in the first quarter when, on third and one, the Stingers opted to fake the punt attempt and direct-snapped to fullback Blair Yachetti who rumbled 52 yards for the first touchdown of the game.
McGill would respond at the end of the first quarter when quarterback Matt Connell connected with Erik Galas for a 62-yard touchdown pass to knot up the score at seven going into the second quarter.
Stingers quarterback Liam Mahoney wasted no time in responding to McGill’s scoring drive, first hooking up with Cory Watson for a 62-yard touchdown strike, followed by a three-yard touchdown pass to Nick Scissons. Going into the half the Stingers had a comfortable 14 point lead over their adversaries.
It was much of the same in the second half, with Mahoney finding Marc Champagnie in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass, followed by a 10-yard rushing touchdown from Mahoney and a one-yard rushing touchdown by Edem Nyamadi.
The Redmen would respond with a six-yard TD pass from Connell to Charles- Antoine Sinotte at the tail end of the third. However Stingers kicker Rene Paredes booted a 34-yard field goal to close out the quarter with a 45-14 stranglehold over their cross-town rivals.
With the score out of reach for the Redmen going into the fourth, McGill tried to make the game respectable. Matt Connell sent a 22-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bussandri to cut Concordia’s lead to 24.
Mahoney hooked up once again with Cory Watson, this time for a 48-yard touchdown pass. Watson would finish the game with five receptions, 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He would also add 88 yards for punt and kick returns to bring his all-purpose yard total to 246.
Rene Paredes would nail two more field goals in the fourth quarter, the first from 40 yards followed by a 27-yarder with 1:30 seconds remaining.
McGill would add a safety and another touchdown with Connell finding Bobby Mikelberg for a 29-yard touchdown pass.
Stingers head coach Gerry McGrath was pleased with the Stingers performance on Saturday and knew it was the right time for his team to turn up the volume.
“This was certainly our best game of the season, it was time for us to catch fire,” he said. “Playoffs are around the corner, we wanted to solidify a playoff spot and we wanted to make sure we were playing our best football come playoff time.”
“This game got the ball rolling,” said Stingers quarterback Liam Mahoney, who completed 12-of-16 passes for 262 yards and 4 touchdown passes. “It was really good to see a lot of points on the board, I think it will build confidence for next week.” Mahoney also rushed for 62 yards on eight carries with one rushing touchdown.
“A lot of the veterans are stepping up on offence and defence,” said defensive half-back Sammy Okpro, who finished the game with six tackles. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling against Laval next week.”
With a playoff spot locked, the Stingers have set their sights on the 7-0 defending National Champion, Laval Rouge et Or. Laval secured first place overall in the Quebec University Football League, defeating the Bishop’s Gaiters 50-15 on Sunday. Start time for the Stingers season finale is 1 p.m. at Loyola Field on Saturday, Oct. 27.