FRC - CIS football players of the week (#3): Roch, Sabourin, Lauther honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Sherbrooke quarterback Jérémi Roch, Queen’s linebacker Sam Sabourin and Saint Mary’s kicker Brett Lauther are the Canadian Interuniversity Sport football players of the week for the period ending Sept. 15, 2012.

The selection was made by a committee comprised of members of Football Reporters of Canada (FRC).

Roch, a second-year business administration student from Montreal, was honoured on offence following a record-setting performance which lifted the tenth-ranked Vert & Or (2-1) to a come-from-behind, 23-22 win over Saint Mary’s, Saturday in Halifax. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound sophomore completed 41 of 58 passes for 380 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions as Sherbrooke scored 10 unanswered points in the final two minutes of the contest, including the game-winning field goal with 14 seconds remaining, to steal the victory from the Huskies. The 2011 RSEQ rookie of the year set a Quebec conference record and tied the 31-year-old CIS mark for most completions in a single game, while his 59 passing attempts are a new team standard.

St. Francis Xavier running back Ashton Dickson, Queen’s running back Ryan Granberg and Saskatchewan receiver Kit Hillis were also up for the award.

Sabourin, a third-year physical education student from Stittsville, Ont., took home the weekly honour on defence after he helped the fifth-ranked Gaels (3-0) edge No. 6 Western (2-1) 18-11 in a Top-10 battle that attracted over 10,000 fans at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, on Saturday. The 6-foot-1, 223-pound junior racked up a game-high 12.5 tackles, including nine of the solo variety and two quarterback sacks, as Queen’s held its archrivals without an offensive touchdown for the second straight meeting and limited the Mustangs’ air attack to 109 passing yards on seven completions.

Acadia linebacker Ed McNally, Sherbrooke linebacker Olivier Goulet-Veilleux and Calgary defensive lineman Michael Klassen were also nominated.

Lauther, a third-year arts student from Truro, N.S., was the choice on special teams thanks to his five field goals in as many attempts, all of 38 yards or more, in a heartbreaking 23-22 home loss to No. 10 Sherbrooke, on Saturday. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound kicker, who split the uprights from 38, 43, 38, 43 and 45 yards out, also averaged 41.2 yards on 10 punts and ran for a first down on a fake punt in the close-fought contest.

Kickers Keegan Treloar of Concordia and Matthew Falvo of Ottawa were also up for the distinction.

Offensive nominees:
AUS: Ashton Dickson, running back, St. Francis Xavier
RSEQ: Jérémi Roch, quarterback, Sherbrooke (recipient)
OUA: Ryan Granberg, running back, Queen’s
CWUAA: Kit Hillis, receiver, Saskatchewan

Defensive nominees:
AUS: Ed McNally, linebacker, Acadia
RSEQ: Olivier Goulet-Veilleux, linebacker, Sherbrooke
OUA: Sam Sabourin, linebacker, Queen’s (recipient)
CWUAA: Michael Klassen, defensive lineman, Calgary

Special team nominees:
AUS: Brett Lauther, kicker, Saint Mary’s (recipient)
RSEQ: Keegan Treloar, kicker, Concordia
OUA: Matthew Falvo, kicker, Ottawa
CWUAA: no nominee

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE: WEEK 4 (all times local)

September 21
19:00 No. 4 Laval (3-0) at McGill (1-2), SSNCanada.ca (web)
19:00 No. 9 Regina (2-1) at No. 7 Saskatchewan (2-1), Shaw (TV)

September 22
13:00 Toronto (1-2) at Guelph (2-1), theScore (TV & web) & SSNCanada.ca (web)
13:00 Concordia (2-1) at Bishop’s (0-3), SSNCanada.ca (web)
13:00 Laurier (1-2) at Ottawa (0-3), SSNCanada.ca (web)
13:00 Waterloo (0-3) at York (1-2), SSNCanada.ca (web)
13:00 No. 10 Sherbrooke (2-1) at No. 3 Montreal (3-0), Radio-Canada (TV & web)
13:00 Windsor (2-1) at No. 6 Western (2-1), Rogers (TV) & SSNCanada.ca (web)
13:00 No. 5 Queen’s (3-0) at No. 1 McMaster (3-0), Cable 14 (TV) & marauders.ca/live (web)
13:00 Alberta (0-3) at No. 8 Manitoba (2-1), Shaw Manitoba (TV) & CanadaWest.tv (web)
14:00 Acadia (1-1) at Saint Mary’s (0-2), Eastlink (TV & web) & Bell Aliant (web)
14:00 StFX (1-1) at Mount Allison (0-2), sportscanada.tv (web)
14:00 No. 2 Calgary (3-0) at UBC (0-3), CanadaWest.tv (web)

-CIS-