CIS football roundup: Top-ranked Laval wins 25th straight game, offensive prowess proves too much for Redmen

Source: Earl Zukerman, McGill Communications Officer / Credit Stéphane Gaudreau

MONTREAL – Quarterback Hugo Richard passed for 379 yards, three touchdowns and a couple of CIS rookie records as No.1-ranked Laval cruised to a 53-14 victory over McGill in CIS football at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.
 
It marked a CIS record 25th consecutive victory for the Rouge et Or, who improved to 7-0 on the season and the 10th straight loss for the Redmen (0-7). Laval led 20-0 after the opening quarter, 29-0 at the half and 40-0 after three.
 
The lone bright spot for McGill's offence was sophomore Raphael Casey, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound running-back, who rushed for a career-high two touchdowns and 61 yards on 11 carries.
 
Richard, who completed 24 of 39 attempts, set a CIS single-season rookie record with 22 TD passes and established another mark for most passing yards in a season by a freshman with 2,440 in seven contests. He surpassed the mark held by Sherbrooke's Jérémi Roch, who benefited from an expanded nine-game RSEQ schedule in 2011 to rack up 2,383 yards.      
 
Richard generated an offence that produced 30 first downs and 608 yards, compare to 195 by the Redmen, who conceded a whopping seven safeties, which ate up 89 yards of real estate. Richard hooked up twice with fullback Felix Faubert-Lussier for TD catches of 17 and 20 yards to put Laval ahead 18-0 before the game was six minutes old. He also found wide receiver Antony Dufour for a 10-yard TD toss to make the score 39-0 in the third quarter.
 
The two other Laval TDs came on their ground game, with Christopher Amoah rushing nine times for161 yards and a TD and Guillaume Bourassa collecting a team-high 10 carries for 58 yards and a TD.
 
Rounding out the scoring for the Rouge et Or was kicker Boris Bede, who tallied nine points on five conversions, a 37-yard field goal and rouge on a missed 24-yarder.
 
Freshman Joel Houle was the lone quarterback to dress for the injury-plagued Redmen, who suited up 26 first-year players and never previously dressed only one pivot in the post-war era. Houle, who was sacked four times, completed 17-of-30 passing attempts, for 227 yards, no TDs and no interceptions.
 
Defensively, McGill rookie Karl Forgues registered a game-high 11.5 tackles, including 11 solos, two of them sacks. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound linebacker also had a forced fumble and a knockdowns. He leads the RSEQ conference with 66 tackles in seven games, including six quarterback sacks.
 
The division-leading Rouge et Or wrap up conference play versus Montreal on Nov. 1.
 
McGill (0-7) will close out their 134th season at Concordia with the 28th annual Shrine Bowl game, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. , which generates funds for the Montreal Shriner's Hospital for Children. A press conference about the event is scheduled to be held at the hospital on Oct. 29 at 11:30 a.m.
 
REDMEN RAP: McGill had only three penalties for 18 yards, their lowest total in nine games, dating back to a 28-3 loss against the Carabins, Oct. 19, 2013, where they were flagged twice for five yards... It was the last home game for eight McGill seniors, including injured LB Zach Lord, REC Pascal Tshilambo, DB Eran Gerstein, SFTY Simon Lamontagne, OL Frederic Methot, REC J.P. Paquette, DL Olivier Cain-Tremblay and K Nils Jonkmans.