The defending Vanier Cup champion Laval Rouge et Or emerged from an early defensive battle with a 36-8 victory over the Concordia Stingers in Quebec university football action on Saturday at Concordia stadium.
The score was 13-6 in favor of the No. 1-ranked Rouge et Or after 48 minutes of play. Laval’s Sebastien Levesque scored the only touchdown on a six-yard run late in the first quarter. The rest of the scoring was an exchange of safeties, field goals and rouges.
But in the last 12 minutes it was a different game. Laval scored three touchdowns – two on pass plays and one on a fumble return with 26 seconds left to play.
Concordia’s scoring came on a Keegan Treloar field goal of 42 yards late in the third quarter, a rouge and two safeties.
Overall, Laval rolled up 353 yards of offence compared to 185 for Concordia.
Quarterback Bruno Prud’homme played the entire game for Laval. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns. He threw two interceptions and was sacked five times.
Concordia defensive end Matt Meyer recorded three of the sacks.
Stinger pivot Terrance Morsink played 55 minutes, completing 17 of 39 passes for 134 yards. He had two interceptions and was sacked once. Reid Quest played the last five minutes for the Stingers. He was good on four of five passes for 68 yards. He threw one interception and was sacked three times.
Concordia head coach Gerry McGrath said he thought his offence had work to do to improve its execution, but he was impressed with the Stingers’ defence.
“The defence was awesome,” he said after the game. “I thought the secondary played well, Matt Meyer had three sacks and rookie Marc-Antoine Bedard had an interception. It was a great effort and there are lots of good things to build on.”
McGrath was also pleased with the work of the special teams. Returner Kris Robertson stood out. He returned three kickoffs for 89 yards and five punts for 28 yards, giving him 117 return yards in the game.
Next week the Stingers travel to Lennoxville, Que. to play the Bishop’s Gaiters on Saturday at 1 p.m. They return to Concordia stadium Sept. 17 for the annual Homecoming game versus the St. Francis Xavier X-Men.
