Concordia Stingers vs. Montreal Carabins Men's Football
The Stingers drop their second game in a row, failing to win in the pouring rain against the Carabins
Things didn’t go quite as planned for the Concordia Stingers on Saturday, as they weren’t able to secure a win against the Montreal Carabins, losing the match 31-19. It was a long game of catch-up for the Stingers, as they only held the lead briefly in the first quarter of the grueling contest.
Stingers head coach Brad Collinson had high praise for his team after the game despite the loss.
“The kids just showed some heart, they didn’t give up, they didn’t let the weather bother them, they just played,” Collinson said.
It was evident from the opening kickoff that this wasn’t going to be a standard football game, as the heavy rain and wind made it extremely difficult to execute plays normally. Montreal kicked the game off with an early touchdown throw, as Carabins quarterback Jonathan Sénécal threw a 59 yard bomb to wideout Hassan Dosso. Concordia did a great job in response, as fan-favourite wide receiver Jaylan Greaves made a spectacular running catch for 72 yards. The drive was capped off with a touchdown from Jacob Salvail, who beat his defender on a gorgeous out route.
A Concordia safety gave the Stingers their first, and ultimately their only lead of the game. This newfound window of momentum was quickly slammed shut, after Stingers star quarterback Olivier Roy threw an interception which set up a field goal for Montreal, giving the visiting team a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Carabins started the second quarter off hot, driving down the field and finishing off with a touchdown score from running back Bertrand Beaulieu. The cherry on top for Montreal was the single point touchback they received during the ensuing kickoff.
At this point in the game, the rain became a real problem and made it incredibly difficult for both sides to secure the ball. A series of turnovers in close proximity in the second quarter summed it up best, as a Concordia interception was followed by a turnover on downs, which was quickly followed by a Montreal fumble.
This set up a quarterback sneak touchdown from Stingers backup Adrien Guay. After this score, both offences struggled greatly with advancing the ball. An ugly quarter ended with a Montreal safety, putting the Carabins up by four points and leading 20-16 to end the half.
Montreal received the second half kickoff just as the weather appeared to be calming down, and did a tremendous job capitalizing on the opportunity with their offence. A long and demanding drive was finished with Bertrand trucking his way into the Stingers’ endzone for another touchdown. He was the star of this game, finishing with 158 yards and two touchdowns.
A field goal in the fourth quarter gave Concordia brief hope, but a single point touchback and a Montreal field goal put the game out of reach for the Stingers.
The Stingers will look to snap their two game losing streak on Oct. 23, when the rival McGill Redbirds visit their home field.
The Stingers display their character as they edge out longtime rivals McGill Redbirds in overtime
One week after a historic win against the Université de Montréal, the Stingers overcame adversity to win the 52nd edition of the Shaughnessy Cup against the McGill Redbirds — despite being down 33-11 at one point in front of a sellout crowd of 3500 at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.
In the first half, a fumble and an interception resulted in two early touchdowns for McGill. Stingers head coach Brad Collinson said that despite the win, the team needs to improve in the early stages of games.
“Getting off to a good start is something we are constantly talking about,” Collinson said. “We’ve had two short weeks to prepare for these last two games, now with a full week to get ready [for Sherbrooke] we’re going to hammer it through and make sure the players understand.”
The Stingers’ offence struggled early largely due to constant pressure coming from the Redbirds’ defensive front that managed to sack Stingers quarterback Olivier Roy five times throughout the game.
Concordia trailed 16-2 at the half and continued to struggle into the third quarter. The Stingers could not move the ball and a 39-yard scoop and score from the Redbirds put McGill in front 23-4.
The Stingers hoist the Shaughnessy Cup in front of their visiting fans
But the tide of the game turned after a 50-yard touchdown grab by Stingers’ receiver Jaylan Greaves capped off a 94-yard Concordia drive to end the quarter.
McGill answered with another touchdown, but these would be the last points they would score. Down 33-11 with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Roy and his offence changed gears, scoring three touchdowns on consecutive drives to tie the game.
The first came off a 6-yard grab by Olivier Morency that followed two dropped passes by veteran receiver Jeremy Murphy in the endzone.
The next touchdown came on a skillful play by Roy who ran from sideline to sideline to avoid defenders and launched a 35-yard bomb to Jacob Salvail.
After big stops by their defence, the Stingers got the ball back — down eight points with 2:36 to go in the 4th quarter. Murphy was able to redeem himself with two huge catches on this drive, including the touchdown that set them up to tie the game. Roy took care of the two-point conversion himself and ran up the middle to force an overtime.
Following the game, Murphy said he was confident he would get an opportunity to bounce back.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Murphy said. “So I know there’s always going to be another chance for me to make a play. My guys trusted me, and I trusted my guys. I wasn’t worried about it.”
The Redbirds started off with the ball in extra time but were unable to score.
The Stingers got the ball back and completed another incredible comeback. Morency picked up a first down on a 20-yard rush that set up fifth-year kicker Andrew Stevens in perfect field position to seal the game. The veteran did not miss his opportunity and nailed a 21-yard field goal through the uprights.
After another emotional rollercoaster of a game, Murphy summed up his thoughts on the team’s latest comeback victory.
“If we could start off our games like this, we’re looking pretty good,” Murphy said.
The Stingers will look to start strong and extend their win streak at home next week against the Sherbrooke Vert & Or.
Concordia make costly mistakes in their season opener loss to Laval
The Concordia Stingers drop their season opener to the Laval Rouge et Or, 672 days after the two teams last met in the semifinals of the RSEQ playoffs in 2019.
Concordia started the game with possession but turned the ball over on their first play of the game. Olivier Roy, the Stingers’ quarterback, threw on first down into heavy coverage. The play-action was read beautifully by the Rouge et Or, who intercepted the pass and found themselves with great field position less than a minute into the match.
After the game, Roy admitted he was disappointed about the interception considering it was his first play as Concordia’s starting quarterback, but didn’t let it affect his focus and future approach to the game.
“We always say it’s important to have short term memory,” Roy said. “Whether it’s a good play or a bad play, as a team we just have to move on to the next.”
Laval was able to seize control early with their defence, and never took their foot off the gas. The Rouge et Or established their passing game early and often, which opened up their running options as the match progressed. The game was blown wide open in the second quarter, and went into halftime with Laval leading 17-2.
Laval’s potent offence was led by their second-year quarterback Thomas Bolduc, who finished the game with 267 yards and threw two touchdowns passes. Meanwhile, Roy threw for 216 yards with 19 completions but tallied a pair of costly interceptions. He said the loss on Saturday boiled down to a lack of execution.
“We haven’t played in about two years but we had a good training camp,” Roy said. “There are no excuses, we just need to be better and learn from this loss.”
Bolduc threw questionable balls into coverage a couple of times throughout the day, but Concordia failed to pull in some easy interceptions that could have turned the tides in their favour.
A 72-yard touchdown run by Laval’s Philippe Lessard-Vézina with less than a minute to go in the game padded the Rouge et Or’s rushing totals to 186 yards, as opposed to the Stingers’ 78 yards on the ground.
Roy said the atmosphere at the game felt normal despite the newly imposed rules and regulations.
“I know the crowd was less than usual but I honestly didn’t notice,” Roy said. “I think the fans were excited for the game so the energy was great and the crowd was loud.”
The Stingers’ next matchup will be against the Montreal Carabins at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10.
The Stingers football team’s season came to a close on Nov. 2 after a 40-8 RSEQ semi-finals loss to the Laval Rouge et Or.
It was a roller-coaster season for the team, who finished their regular season with a record of 2-6, but managed to squeeze into the playoffs. The team saw career-years from players like quarterback Adam Vance, wide receiver James Tyrrell and defensive back Khadeem Pierre. With those efforts Stingers managed to push perennially strong teams like the Université de Montreal Carabins to the edge in two close games. In those games, the team showed glimpses of a team that could be potential usurpers of what has been a historically top-heavy division.
On the other hand, this was the same team that gave up a 74-point shutout to Laval and got blown out by (an admittedly better) McGill squad. The rushing game struggled to find any footing until their playoff game, and the defense struggled at times to stop drives. The team had its issues, but some of the players were so exciting, that even in the losses, there were usually bright spots to look at.
With the 2019 football season having been wrapped for a couple of weeks now, it felt like a good time to sit down and look back on the season with second-year head coach Brad Collinson for a Q&A.
The team finished 2-6, but made the playoffs, what was your overall feeling about this season?
Overall, we took a step in the right direction. Are we there yet? No, far from it. But it’s a good step. We may have the same record as last year, but the culture and the atmosphere here is completely different than a year ago. One of our goals was to make playoffs and we attained that goal. Now the next goal is to win a playoff game. From there we’ll add another goal, then another. It’s a process, and like I’ve said from the beginning, we’re not going to skip any steps. It’s going to be one step at a time, but I think we took that first step.
Were there any players that stood out to you this season?
Jeremy Murphy as a rookie. I knew he was good. Did I expect him to have the year that he had? We always hope, but you never know. He stepped up. [Vance] and [Tyrrell] on offense, those guys had career-years. Being in your fifth year, it’s not ideal to have a change in offense, but those guys bought into what we’re trying to do and they reaped the benefits of it with their play.
Defensively, I was impressed with Derek Achaempong. As a young [defender], he improved every single day and near the end of the season, he was making plays you would expect out of a fourth or fifth year guy and he’s a second year. The future’s bright there. Overall the atmosphere and the way the kids bought into what we’re trying to do, that’s the biggest point I’m trying to come back to is we asked a lot from them, and a lot jumped in blind and weren’t too sure what to do. Some of the guys before we even had our coordinators and our coaches settled. To see them flourish underneath the new leadership has been great.
With the season over, do you have a favourite play from the season?
The win against Sherbrooke at home with that last second field goal was pretty special. I come back to the fade that Adam [Vance] threw to James [Tyrrell] against Montreal to put us in scoring position, that’s a pretty special play.
A lot of U Sports firsts for some of these kids. Jeremy Murphy’s first touchdown, Mancini’s first touchdown last week, Khadeem Pierre’s interceptions for touchdowns. Those were all special plays that I remember from this year.
Based on what you saw this year, are there any game plan tweaks you’re looking to make for next year?
We’re always looking to get better. We’re definitely going to sit down and re-look at our off-season training to make sure it’s on point with what we’re trying to accomplish. Strategy-wise, offense, defense, we’re going to review the film and see what it’s all about and see where we have to improve. But I think our schemes were pretty good. We always have to adapt, though, because teams are going to be watching our film now.
How are you hoping to replace the seniors class this year, with guys like Vance, Tyrrell, Jersey Henry and Sam Brodrique all graduating?
It’s always been a next man up mentality. You can’t replace those guys. They’re fifth year guys that bring a lot to the table. You just hope that the guys under them, that they’ve left a good footprint for them to step into by their actions and how they prepare. I actually thought those young guys took those steps and realized that’s the way you have to handle yourself as a university athlete. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and look at who we have and try to put out the best product possible. With recruiting, we’ll really define what we’re trying to do. Who’s going to be playing where, we don’t know yet. We’re trying to find better players each and every year.
Obviously, the team went through some losing streaks during the season, how do you keep players motivated and on track despite those stretches when things aren’t translating on the field?
It’s not hard to motivate these kids. It’s not a very long season, they put a lot of work into it, they know what they’re here for, they’re here to compete. They knew what they signed up for playing in the RSEQ.
It took some time for us to even score our first touchdown. It finally happened against Sherbrooke [in week five]. But the kids never gave up. We were gaining yards, we just weren’t finishing. Victories come, and it’s hard. We play in a very tough league. The RSEQ is probably the toughest in the country. We have perennial champions Laval, and Montreal is no slouch. McGill also took a big step forward this year. You saw it this year. Each and every week, there was a lot more parity. Every week you could win. When you play close games against Montreal, and get some victories against Sherbrooke, and the second game against McGill, we should have won that game.
What are some of those steps needed to close the gap between Concordia and Laval and UDEM?
It’s going to be recruiting. Our recruiting this year is going to be huge. There’s a buzz about us, sorry for the pun. I think that Concordia is an option for people now, especially in Quebec in the Cegeps compared to years past. We’ve worked hard on that.
We’ve seen every Cegep play at least once this year. I don’t think any other team in the country has done that. Especially in our conference, there’s nobody who’s done that. We went to every single spring camp this year, of the 30 Cegeps that play football, we were at every single one. I think we’ve checked some things that we wanted to do and establish some relationships in those Cegeps. It’s going to start paying off slowly but surely with some commitments coming up hopefully soon. The name of the game is recruiting.
What do you think you’re doing to separate Concordia from the other schools in this division?
It starts with recruiting and creating those relationships that we didn’t have before. We’re a great institution here, offer a lot of great academic programs that some other schools don’t. Being that option, and going after some French-Canadian kids is huge for us. There’s some very good football being played in french Cegeps, as well as english, but there’s only three [english Cegeps]. The other 27 are french. We have to create those relationships and that’s where we want to differentiate ourselves.
With Adam Vance graduating this year, do you think Olivier Roy will takeover that starting quarterback job?
It’s going to be an open competition. We have some other guys that are here as well. We’re recruiting guys as well. We’ll let it play itself out once camp starts and depending on who comes in January. For a start tomorrow though, Olivier would have the heads up on everybody.
I think the future’s bright. We weren’t too sure about that position but with him he’s shown us some good things.
Looking forward to next season, what’s one challenge you’re looking to overcome, and what’s something you’re looking forward to?
Replacing those guys that we talked about before is going to be a challenge. What I’m looking forward to is to see the progression of where we’re at. I think we have a good locker room, we have some kids that are excited about the off-season. I think it’s going to be a good year.
Feature photo by Mackenzie Lad, accompanying photos by Laurence BD
The Concordia Stingers football team conceded their worst result of the year, getting shutout by the Laval Rouge et Or in a 74-0 loss.
“Pretty simple, we need to play better,” said Stingers head coach Brad Collinson in an email to The Concordian. “This was not our best game in all [three] facets offense/defense/special teams. Credit to Laval and their game plan. They were coming off a bye week and they clearly studied us. We had a good plan but didn’t execute it to the level that we needed.”
The team struggled at every aspect of the game. Under center, Adam Vance went 8/20 for only 57 yards and an interception against the divisions top pass defense. It was a difficult game for the usually explosive QB, who was sacked four times. Sam Nadon led the receivers with 20 yards on three catches, and Kevin Foster racked up 52 rushing yards on 7 attempts. Foster collected 152 total yards thanks to his work on the kick return. So far this year, the team has only scored 77 points, the least in the division.
“We need to go back and just coach up our kids,” said Collinson. “We have a good group of coaches that are proud people and I know that this loss will only fuel us to work harder.”
The Stingers defense was left out to dry, facing wave after wave of Rouge et Or offense. Derek Achaempong and Willaim Benoit led the team with 6.5 tackles apiece. The team has allowed 146 points, the most in the division at the time of publication.
Laval rookie QB Thomas Bolduc threw for 252 yards, going 23/30 with three TDs. Concordia’s division worst rush defense continued to struggle, unfortunately this week they were up against the divisions best rushers, giving up 286 yards on 38 attempts and allowing four touchdowns.
“The whole team needs to step up,” said Collinson. “That’s the great thing about football. Everyone needs to do their 1/12th for us to be successful. Not one player is going to make a difference we need everyone playing to their level and doing their job each and every play.”
With only two games remaining in the season, the Stingers are currently tied for last place in the RSEQ with the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, their opponent next week. It hasn’t been an ideal season as of yet, but with the volatility we’ve seen in this division, playoffs still aren’t out of the question. If the team can win the next two games, it’s not unreasonable to hope for that elusive playoff spot.
“I hope that we can grow as a team and look ourselves in the mirror and be honest with ourselves,” said Collinson. “That was not the Concordia Stingers that we saw last week and we need to play on a more consistent level.”
Concordia will take on Sherbrooke on October 12th in Sherbrooke. Their last game of the season will be at home against McGill.
One of the major changes that the Concordia Stingers football team made after last season was hiring former St-Jean Géants head coach, Alex Surprenant, as offensive coordinator.
Fast-forward to the present, and Surprenant now has two games under his belt as the Stingers offensive coordinator. Those games may not have gone the way the team would have liked, starting out with two losses, but Surprenant knows that this is a young team trying to rebuild their program.
Head coach Brad Collinson and Surprenant put an emphasis on recruiting fast and local players on the offensive side of the ball during the off-season to play in Surprenant’s Run-Pass option, or RPO, system.
“If you want to win [long term] it really depends on your recruiting class,” said Surprenant. “Coach Brad also put together a great coaching staff. The football world is a little community where everyone knows everyone and he surrounded me with a great staff.”
The RPO system is something relatively new to the Canadian football world. It’s a tough system to implement, as there are only three downs as opposed to the American game, where there are four downs where it’s a lot easier to use it in.
“The biggest adjustment is that it’s three downs here instead of four like in CEGEP,” Surprenant said. “But at the end of the day, it’s still football so it’s not that difficult to adapt.”
Stingers offensive coordinator Alex Surprenant was hired back in February 2019. Photo by Laurence BD
Another major change to the offence is that they also use a no-huddle system. That means that quarterback Adam Vance gets the signal from the sideline and yells it to the rest of the team from the line of scrimmage without going into a huddle. This allows the offence to move at a faster pace.
“My inspiration comes from the [Kansas City] Chiefs, [New England] Patriots, and the Oregon Ducks from back in the day,” said Surprenant. “Those offences are the best at getting to the line quickly and using their speed.”
The players aren’t the only ones excited about the new offence. Collinson says he was also very excited to see the system that Surprenant put into place during training camp.
“Any time you put in something new, you get excited and want to learn it,” said Collinson. “There’s a lot of diversity in what we’re doing too, like RPO and zone-read options. Alex ran a really good offence at the CEGEP level and we’re seeing some of it here.”
The first two games of the season proved to be tough ones for the offence for many different reasons. But that is to be expected with a young team trying to find its identity. However, these are not excuses for the coaching staff.
Against Les Carabins de l’Université de Montréal, there were multiple missed opportunities by the Stingers to advance the ball down the field due to penalties and dropped passes that would have extended the Stingers offence’s time on the field.
“If we played our best game and lost 10-3, we would have been happy,” said Surprenant. “But after watching film, we’re not happy. We had a lot of missed opportunities at the end of the game that would have given our team a way better chance at winning.”
Whatever the reason may be for the dropped passes in that game, the Stingers could revisit what worked well for them. They moved quickly in their no-huddle offence and kept the Carabins, a top three team in the country, on their heels for a lot of the game whenever they got into an offensive rhythm.
However, this past week against McGill, their game plan got away from them. It started off with a four play offensive drive that ended in an Andrew Stevens punt. McGill caught the Stingers flat footed on defense and drove 82 yards in just three plays and never looked back.
A big part of any offence is the offensive line. Vance and his running backs can only do their jobs if the offensive line gives them the time to make plays. In the first quarter, starting left tackle Damien Constantin went down with an injury and did not return.
For right-handed quarterbacks, such as Vance, the left tackle is the most important position on the line as that position protects the quarterback’s blindside.
“It’s tough to overcome,” said Vance after Friday’s loss. “We don’t have a lot of depth [at the position]. It’s a really big blow.”
The Stingers found a bit of a rhythm in the second half but not enough to mount a comeback, as it was too little too late.
“We came [to McGill] and thought they’d roll over, but last time I checked we haven’t won a game in something like 300 days so we can’t be thinking like that,” Vance said.
The Stingers still have six more games this season to right their wrongs and get the offence on track. It is hard to temper expectations after such a strong effort in their first game against the Carabins, but they are still a very young team with a lot to learn, according to Surprenant.
“Coach Brad told the guys, ‘we need to learn how to win. You’re not born a winner and nothing is given.’ It’s a hard process but we know we will get to where we want to be,” said Surprenant.
The Concordia Stingers drop their second game in a row, losing to McGill in the 51st Shaughnessy Cup by a score of 40-14.
McGill was led to victory off the backs of receiver Pearce Dumay, who made six catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and running-back Donavan Martel who gained 135 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts.
Adam Vance and the rest of the Stingers offence had a tough start to the game, throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball in the first half.
“We came here with the wrong mindset,” said Vance, the Stingers’ quarterback. “We were really happy with the way we played last week [against Les Carabins] and thought McGill would just roll over.”
Starting left-tackle Damien Constantin went down in the first quarter with an injury that saw him sidelined for the rest of the game. Constantin is a big part of the Stingers offensive line and his injury was certainly felt by Vance, who was sacked five times in the game.
Here are three things we learned from the loss against McGill:
If the Concordia Stingers want to have any type of offensive success, it starts with the offensive line giving Vance time to get the ball down field. The Stingers offence had a lot of trouble getting any sort of production on the run, or through the air, in the first half against a McGill side that came out ready and determined. If one were to just look at the box score of the game, you’d think the blame would lie on Vance, who turned over the ball four times; twice by interception and twice by fumble. However, a lot of that blame falls on the offensive line. Vance spent the majority of the game under pressure, forcing him to take a handful of sacks, which forced some poor decisions from the fifth-year quarterback. A reason why this happened was Constantin going down early in the first quarter. The offence started to see more production in the second half, when Vance had more time in the pocket to go through his reads and allow his receivers to get down field.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line has to be able to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. McGill’s gunslinger, Dimitrios Sinidinos, had loads of time to go through all his reads and find someone to complete passes to. McGill’s offensive line also had a very easy time creating large gaps for their running back, Donavan Martel, to tear apart the Stingers from the ground. Run stopping was a big issue of the Stingers’ last season and unless something changes, their defense will be spending a lot of time on the field again.
One major bright spot for the Stingers in the game was rookie running back and kick returner, Kevin Foster. Foster hasn’t had many touches with the offence so far this season, but has made the most of his opportunities. In the third quarter, Foster had a 74-yard kick return touchdown, where he made a couple of McGill defenders miss before breaking up the sideline for the beautiful return. Foster has a lot of speed and skill, and will surely become a big part of the Stingers’ offence in the future. Right now, however, he still needs to adjust to the physicality of U Sports football.
The Stingers offence lines up at the goal line in the season opener against the UdeM Carabins. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
Despite the loss, the Stingers offence shows a lot of potential for the upcoming season
The Concordia Stingers football team lost their season opener 37-19 against the Université de Montréal Carabins at Concordia Stadium Friday night. Despite the loss, head coach Mickey Donovan said he saw a lot of potential in the way his offence battled hard and his defence limited the Montréal attack.
“The commitment on not giving up and playing all 60 minutes was a great sign,” he said.
The Stingers outscored the Carabins 13-0 in the fourth quarter, despite being down 37-6 after three quarters. Starting quarterback Trenton Miller was also pleased with his offence’s determination in the final quarter.
“I think the most important thing was the guys fighting for four quarters,” he said. “I don’t think we would have fought like this last year.” The Stingers virtually gave up by the fourth quarter last season in a 59-3 blowout against the Carabins.
The game started off ideally for the Stingers. The Carabins failed to get a first down on their opening drive, and the Stingers defence stopped them on a third-and-short play. This defensive stop seemed to motivate the Stingers, knowing this was the start they needed against last year’s best offence in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) conference.
Yet, despite starting with the ball at Montréal’s 16-yard line, the Stingers offence failed to find the end zone on the drive. Instead, kicker Andrew Stevens scored the opening three points with a field goal.
The Carabins stormed back on the next drive, scoring a touchdown with an 18-yard pass to receiver Kevin Kaya from quarterback Samuel Caron.
Concordia quickly gave the ball back to Montréal with a three-and-out on their next possession. The Carabins continued pounding on the Stingers with a seven-play, 54-yard drive capped off by a 22-yard touchdown reception by receiver Raphael Major-Dagenais. Ten minutes into the game, and the Stingers were down 14-3.
The rest of the first half lacked any efficient offence from either side, with the Stingers conceding a safety and the teams trading field goals. The Carabins led 19-6 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Carabins continued to dominate. After the Stingers gave up another safety to start the third quarter, Caron found receiver Carabins Régis Cibasu for a 10-yard touchdown strike.
Receiver Yanic Lessard avoids a Montréal Carabins defender in the Concordia Stingers season-opener. Photo by Alex Hutchins.
With three minutes remaining in the quarter and the score 30-6, the Carabins lined up for a field goal at the Stingers’ 14-yard line. But they faked it, with Major-Dagenais running it in for a touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, Miller found his favourite receiver targets from last year in Vincent Alessandrini and Yanic Lessard. Alessandrini had two catches of over 20 yards each to put the Stingers in the red zone early in the fourth quarter.
Miller spoke highly of his receivers: “It’s easy to find a good connection with them when they’re that athletic, doing their routes and knowing their assignments.”
A penalty put the ball at the Carabins’ one-yard line, and running back Jean-Guy Rimpel punched it in for Concordia’s first touchdown of the season with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
After a solid stop by the Stingers defence, Miller only needed a 26-yard pass to Lessard and a 46-yard bomb to receiver James Tyrrell to put the Stingers right back at the one-yard line. Rimpel found the end zone on the next play for his second touchdown. Concordia made it 37-19, and no one scored for the final six minutes of play.
Coach Donovan described his team’s performance in the second half as night and day compared to the first half .
“There were less mental mistakes in the second half,” he said. “(The offence) was great. I was pleased with that.”
One player who made a big impact was Stingers receiver Jarryd Taylor. Last season, as a rookie, he only had 12 catches for 164 yards, but he had a breakthrough performance against the Carabins on Friday. He caught five passes for a game-high 112 yards, including a 52-yard reception in the second quarter. All of his catches led to a first down.
“He’s a great football player and has a lot of potential,” the head coach said. “He comes and works hard everyday.”
Taylor wouldn’t speak about his performance after the game, saying he doesn’t like to talk about himself. He did add, however, that the rest of the league should watch out for the Stingers offence, given that they scored 19 points and had 335 total yards against last year’s best defence.
“I’m proud of what we did, I’m proud of how we finished and I’m proud of how we kept fighting,” Taylor said.
