CIS football Saturday roundup: T-Birds knock off No. 1 Dinos

ANTIGONISH, NS - On the strength of a 21-point first quarter, the Acadia Axemen cruised to a 34-15 win over the StFX X-Men Saturday afternoon in AUS football action. More than 400 fans attended the final game of the 2011 regular season at Oland Stadium in Antigonish, NS.
 
 The Axemen opened the scoring on their first offensive possession when wide receiver AJ Durling (3-100-1) took a flanker screen pass from Kyle Graves for a 65-yard touchdown. With the Thomas Blight conversion, the visiting Axemen led 7-0.
 
 Later in the quarter, Graves (14-23-309-3) connected with Taylor Renaud (6-123-2) on a 28-yard touchdown pass, extending the lead to 14-0. On the last play of the first quarter, Graves and Renaud connected for the second time, completing a 29-yard touchdown pass and catch. After a Jeremy Ford rouge for the X-Men, Blight gave the Axemen a 24-1 advantage with a 35-yard field goal.
 
The X-Men trimmed the Axemen lead to 21-8 late in the second quarter on a spectacular nine-yard touchdown run by receiver and back-up quarterback Andrew Hickey. He took the snap from center, bounced off several Axemen tacklers before plunging into the end zone with 1:33 remaining.
 
 Midway through the third quarter, Acadia extended their lead to 27-8, with Blight connecting on a 38-yard field goal. That score came on a drive keyed by a third down fake punt call. Graves, who also serves as the Axemen punter, gained the first down yardage on a pass to running back Holden Morales.
 
 In the fourth quarter, Morales rumbled 39 yards for a touchdown, extending the Axemen lead to 34-8. The X-men wrapped up the scoring on a six-yard TD run by Hickey. He helped set up the major score with another 17-yard run.
 
 For the X-Men, quarterback Cory Wensley was 12-for-18 for 116 yards, along with 77 yards on seven carries. Senior running back Aloysius Williams had 39 yards on six carries. Devon Bailey was the top receiver for X with three catches for 55 yards.
 
 With the win, Acadia (7-1) finished the regular season in first place, while the X-Men (2-6) placed third.
 
 The X-Men return to action Saturday, Nov. 5 when they face the Saint Mary's Huskies (6-2) in the AUS semifinal. Game time is 1 p.m. at Huskies Stadium in Halifax, NS. Acadia will host the winner in the Subway Loney Bowl Saturday, Nov. 12 in Wolfville.

Source: StFX Sports Info

MONTREAL - Quarterback Reid Quest of Regina threw for 356 yards and five touchdowns as Concordia clinched a playoff berth on the last day of the regular season with a 58-30 victory over McGill in the 43rd annual Shaughnessy Cup football game, at Molson Stadium, Saturday.
 
The fourth-place Stingers, who improved to 4-5, will meet division-leading Laval (8-1) in a Quebec conference semifinal next Saturday.
 
McGill, which finished with a 0-9 record, extended their losing streak to 20 straight league games dating back to the 2009 season.
 
Concordia led 14-7 after the opening quarter and held a slim 20-17 lead at the half but scored 37 straight points in the second half to snuff out any hopes of a McGill comeback.
 
Quest completed 23 of 31 attempts, directing an offence that generated 606 net yards compared to McGill, which amassed 573 net yards and had a 38-30 edge in first downs. It was a wild game that featured 22 penalties, 14 punts, 12 kickoffs, seven fumbles, three interceptions.
 
Running back Paul Thompson opened the scoring for the Stingers on a 35-yard TD romp at 2:02 of the first stanza. Five different Concordia receivers hauled in TD passes, including Kris Bastien, who caught four passes for 86 yards. Other receivers to find the endzone were Sanchez Deschamps, Matt Scheurwater, Mike Donnelly and Edem Nyamadi, who also rushed six times for 113 yards.
 
Concordia linebacker Max Caron picked off two errant passes, returning one for a 96-yard touchdown. The sophomore from Kingston, Ont., ended up with seven tackles in the game to finish the campaign with 78.5, breaking the Quebec single-season record held since 2001 by McGill's Mike Mahoney, who accomplished the feat in one less game.
 
Kicker Keegan Treloar added 14 points for the Stingers, including field goals from 28 and 34 yards.
 
McGill quarterback Ryne Bondy established a single-game Quebec conference record for passing attempts. The fourth-year pivot from Richmond Hill, Ont., established career passing highs in completions (35), attempts (65), yards (494) and touchdowns (3) but was picked off twice. He broke the previous mark of 60 attempts set by Concordia's Terrance Morsink in an overtime game against Sherbrooke last year.
 
Bondy's top two targets both went over the century mark. Michael Chitayat snared 12 passes for 155 yards and a pair of TDs, while Bobby Mikelberg had 10 receptions for 45 yards and a major.
 
McGill's other touchdown came on a blocked punt that was recovered in the endzone by sophomore linebacker Brendan Carrière of Richmond, B.C.  Rounding out the scoring for the Redmen was a field-goal and three conversions by kicker Austin Anderson of Canmore, Alta.

Alexander Hutchison of Beaconsfield, Que., and Mattey Ossom of Dorval, Que., led the Redmen defence. Hutchison registered 6.5 tackles, including a pair of QB sacks, while Ossom posted six solos.
 
REDMEN RAP: McGill is now 35-35 lifetime versus Concordia, including an 18-20 record in Shaughnessy Cup play.... Sonny Wolfe, 68, who took early retirement and stepped down as head coach three weeks ago, was honoured in a pre-game ceremony for his 36 years of coaching at the CIS level... Among the seniors who played their final game for McGill were fifth-year veterans R Michael Chitayat, R Bobby Mikelberg and DL Ben Thompson. Others seniors who dressed and may be done but could return for a fifth year include QB Ryne Bondy, DB Ryan Trudeau, LB Charles-Evens Peltrop, K Austin Anderson, DB Matt Quigley, DB Joffrey Gorin, RB Taylor Kuprowski, DE Renaud Collard-Seguin, R Gabriel Aubry, DL Alex Hutchison and DL David Beauchamp.

Source: McGill Sports Info

LENNOXVILLE, Que. – Jordan Heather threw for two touchdowns and 365 yards, but it was not enough as the Bishop's Gaiters fell, 37-15, to the No. 2-ranked Laval Rouge et Or in CIS football action on Saturday afternoon at Coulter Field. Heather set a new school record for passing yards in a season with 2,514, eclipsing the old mark of 2,374 set by Silvio Martel in 1991. His total is the third highest in league history, and the 15th-highest all-time in CIS. Heather attempted 49 passes, setting a school single-game record, and finished with a league-record 345 attempts on the season.

Laval was led by Sebastien Levesque, who had seven carries for 128 yards with two touchdowns. Both of Levesque's scores came in the first quarter, as Laval took a 25-0 lead after 15 minutes. Bruno Prud'homme opened the scoring for Laval with a 5-yard touchdown run, while Maxime Ducap-Kamara had the other Laval major, as he scored on a 29-yard interception return in the third quarter. A field goal and a pair of singles from Boris Bede, along with two safety touches, rounded out the Laval scoring.

Heather connected with David Haddrall on a 25-yard pass in the second quarter and with Alexander Fox on a 14-yard score in the third quarter. A 51-yard punt single by Mathieu Paquette rounded out the scoring for the Gaiters.

Heather finished with 28 completions on 49 attempts. Haddrall was the Gaiters' leading receiver, with eight catches for 105 yards. Fox made six catches for 95 yards, and led Bishop's with 159 all-purpose yards.

For Laval, starting quarterback Bruno Prud'homme completed two of ten passes for 62 yards, while Charles Lambert completed a pair of passes for 50 yards. Yannick Morin-Plante caught two passes for 62 yards.

Defensively, Tyler Jutras, playing his last game, led the Gaiters with a sack, an interception and a forced fumble. Jon Watts had the other Gaiter sack. Laval was led by Francis Beaudet, who made ten tackles and forced a fumble.

With the loss, the Gaiters (3-6) failed to qualify for the conference playoffs for the first time since 2008. Laval (8-1) had already clinched first place, and will host Concordia, the No. 4 seed, on Saturday.

NOTES: Laval leads the all-time series 21-6 … The Gaiters also set a new team record for single-season passing yards with 2,740, eclipsing the previous mark of 2,457, which was set in 1995 … Alexander Fox finished with 1,269 all-purpose yards, the fourth-highest total in team history … Today marked the final game for the Gaiters' three fifth-year seniors: Steven Turner, Jermaine Lewis-Parris, and Jutras.

Source: Bishop's Sports Info

VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds will host a playoff game for the first time since 1999 next weekend thanks to their 36-23 upset of the CIS No. 1 Calgary Dinos at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday.
 
Fourth-year quarterback Billy Greene connected on 23 of 42 pass attempts for 421 yards and four touchdowns while also leading the 'Birds with 60 rushing yards
 
He got the T-Birds out of the starting gate in a hurry, chucking a 50-yard bomb over the middle to a wide open Mitch Shuster for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage.
 
The 'Birds quickly made it a 14-0 lead, and after Calgary charged back to take the lead 21-17 in the second quarter, another long touchdown heave from Greene - this time a 29-yarder to David Scott - gave UBC the lead for good.
 
The Thunderbirds held the high-octane Dinos offence scoreless in the second half, ending their bid for a perfect season.
 
"The focus for our guys was to make sure they know we can beat them," said UBC head coach Shawn Olson. "Sometimes when you're 7-0 and rolling through the competition it's important to know you're not infallible, and it's important for us to know we can hang with them. We've talked about it all year since training camp that we can hang with the best if we play well."
 
And play well they did.
 
Though the Dinos used rushing leader Steven Lumbala only sparingly in the contest, limiting him to just six carries all in the first half, the other two thirds of their three-headed rushing monster were bottled up well by the T-Birds in the second half.
 
Lumbala ran wild for 81 yards on those six carries in the opening half, but Matt Walter and Anthony Woodson were held to 70 yards on 19 carries in the game.
 
The T-Bird rushing game wasn't much better, with Brandon Deschamps and Sam Adu combining for 47 yards on 15 carries, but the aerial attack that gave UBC a quick start proved too much for the Dinos to handle.
 
"We usually come out of the game pretty strong in most games, and then sometimes have a lull in the second quarter," said Olson. "We game planned some stuff and thought we could make some matchup problems for them, and it worked out. Billy played awesome. That was the best game I've seen him play since I've been here. He was very efficient and there was a real confidence about him today."
 
The win puts UBC at 6-2 to finish the regular season, setting them up to host the Saskatchewan Huskies next Saturday in their first home playoff game since 1999.
 
"I don't know if [playing at home] will make that much of a difference to be honest," said Olson. "We're comfortable being a road team, and since I've been here we've probably been better over those two season on the road than at home, but this year we've been very good at home so it is nice. The biggest thing to me though is now we will be playing on Saturday, so we get an extra day to get our guys healthy again and hopefully have a full squad."
 
The Dinos fall to 7-1, but still have home field advantage locked up throughout the playoffs.
 
Eric Dzwilewski was 16 for 27 for 184 yards and two touchdown tosses to Chris Dobko and Richard Snyder. Dzwilewski also ran for 33 yards and Calgary's third touchdown.
 
David Scott led UBC in the receiving game with 77 yards and a touchdown. Spencer Betts also added three grabs for 47 yards and a score.
 
UBC linebacker Adam Konar led the team with seven tackles.
 
Playoff football returns to UBC on Saturday, November 5th at Thunderbird Stadium. The T-Birds host the Saskatchewan Huskies, while the Calgary Dinos get the Regina Cougars at home to begin the postseason.

Source: UBC Sports Info