After a dominating win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men last weekend, Concordia’s men’s football team were on the road again to face the Bishop’s Gaiters at Coulter Field.
The Stingers were victorious against the Gaiters in their first meeting of the year and were looking to complete the season sweep. Both sides battled back and forth throughout Saturday afternoon, but the Stingers were unable to make a comeback and left Lennoxville defeated.
Concordia got off to a fast start by recording points on their first two drives. Following a touchback on their initial drive, the Stingers concluded their second drive with a touchdown by Matt Scheurwater. The 61-yard drive was highlighted by a 47-yard completion from quarterback Reid Quest to Shayne Stinson.
By the end of the first quarter Concordia was ahead 18-7 and seemed as if they were going to pull away. On paper, the Stinger’s offense had a big game. They rushed for 131 yards and threw for 263.
The turning point in the game came in the second quarter when the Stingers offense disappeared. Concordia’s offense scored zero points and struggled to get any consistent drives going. They had only three first downs in the second quarter, two of which were because of penalties on Bishop’s. The Stinger’s offence had four consecutive two-and-outs and went into halftime trailing Bishop’s 19-18.
After halftime, the Gaiters never trailed and continued to pound the Stinger’s defense behind running back Matthew Burke. Burke, a fourth year veteran, had a career-best afternoon and finished the game with 239 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Early into the final quarter, the Gaiters extended their lead to 35-18 and forced Concordia to try and come back. The Stinger’s were able to score 12 points in the fourth quarter, but the damage had already been done. Concordia’s inability to play a complete 60 minutes came back to haunt them, as their comeback fell short.
Even though it is only halfway through the regular season, Saturday’s loss to Bishop’s had serious playoff implications. Since the Gaiters outscored Concordia in their two games, if the two teams have the same record by the end of the season, Bishop’s will be ranked ahead of Concordia. Although it is too early to tell, if it does come down to head-to-head matchups, Saturday’s loss will be that much worse.
The Stingers look to bounce back against the Montréal Carabins at home on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
