The No. 6-ranked Concordia Stingers narrowly defeated the Bishop’s Gaiters 20-18 before an opening night crowd of 3,500 fans at Concordia Stadium in Montreal.
The Gaiters tested Concordia’s limits most of the game. First they jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a 13-yard field goal by Josh Maveety at 4:47 of the first quarter. The Stingers tied the game on a 17-yard field goal by rookie kicker Rene Paredes to make the score 3-3 at halftime.
In the second half, the teams traded punches with Concordia getting touchdowns from fullback Blair Yachetti on a three-yard run and from wide receiver Cory Watson on a four-yard catch. Striking for the Gaiters were Steve Turner who took a kickoff return back 108 yards and running back Jamal Lee who scored from one-yard out.
In the end the difference was kicking as Paredes came through for Concordia with a 27-yard field goal at the start of the fourth quarter. While Maveety missed a 10-yard shot with 1:38 to play that would have tied the game.
It was a good night overall for Paredes, a rookie out of John Abbott College who is replacing both all-Canadian punter Mike Renaud and all-Canadian kicker Warren Kean. He was two for two on field goals, connected on both converts and punted six times for a 32.8 average.
The Stingers rolled up 24 first downs and 340 yards of offence. Bishop’s had 18 first downs and 271 of offence.
Concordia quarterback Rob Mackay completed 12 of 19 passes for 144 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran for 77 yards. The Gaiters’ Jesse Andrews completed 17 of 27 passes for 189 yards. He threw no interceptions or touchdowns.
On defence, Stingers’ middle linebacker Nathan Agadzi had 9.5 tackles. Bishop’s linebacker Dusty Burke recorded nine tackles.
The Concordia will play across town at Université de Montréal next Saturday at 1 p.m.
