THE CANADIAN PRESS
McGill Redmen teammates Matt Connell and Erik Galas broke prestigious Canadian university football records Saturday as their team suffered yet another loss, this one 45-23 to the Montreal Carabins.
Connell, a quarterback from St. Bruno, Que., surpassed the all-time passing yardage mark of 9,974 set by Ben Chapdelaine at McMaster in 2001 by going 26-of-36 for 345 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Chapdelaine’s record fell on a 46-yard pass to Charles-Antoine Sinotte late in the first half, giving Connell exactly 10,000 yards. He finished the game with 10,201 yards.
Connell also added to his own CIS records for attempts (1,331) and completions (794).
Galas, a receiver from Ottawa, broke the career receptions mark of 189 set by current Saskatchewan Roughriders star Andy Fantuz in 2005 by making a personal-best 13 grabs for 181 yards.
He now has 190 catches in his career — the record-breaker went for 18 yards with a minute left to play — and one more game left to pad his lead on the former Western Ontario standout.
The Redmen, however, still dropped to 0-7 while the Carabins improved to 3-4.
Elsewhere in the CIS on Saturday, it was: No. 3 Western Ontario 47, Guelph 16; No. 4 Calgary 25, Manitoba 18; Bishop’s 33, No. 5 Concordia 25; No. 6 Saskatchewan 16, No. 8 Simon Fraser 4; No. 7 St. Mary’s 31, Mount Allison 16; No. 10 Laurier 50, York 13; Ottawa 39, Toronto 30; McMaster 40, Windsor 11; St. FX 31, Acadia 20; and Alberta 38, Regina 31 .
At Ottawa, the host Gee-Gees overcame a 23-10 halftime deficit to beat Toronto 39-30 and clinch a playoff spot in the Ontario conference.
Gee-Gees quarterback Josh Sacobie, who was also trying to break Chapdelaine’s passing yards record and reach the 10,000 plateau, was held to 122 yards on 10-of-20 passing.
He finishes his career with 9,885 passing yards, good for third on the CIS all-time list.
——
No. 2 Gaels 38, Warriors 22
At Waterloo, Ont., Queen’s secured a perfect regular-season record, moving to an unblemished 8-0 with a win over the Warriors.
The Gaels now have a week off in preparation for the OUA semifinal set for Nov. 1 in Kingston, Ont.
Dan Brannagan threw for 342-yards and three touchdowns leading the Gaels while Scott Valberg became the school’s fourth receiver to go over 1,000 yards. Valberg finished the game with nine receptions, 142 yards and two touchdowns.
This is the eighth time the Gaels have recorded a perfect regular-season record since starting its program in 1882.
——
No. 3 Mustangs 47, Gryphons 16
At London, Ont., playing its final game of the 2008 regular season, Western defeated Guelph in a rematch of the 2007 Yates Cup Championship.
The Mustangs pushed their record to 7-1, with second seed in the OUA already locked up along with a first-round bye, while the Gryphons slipped to 4-4.
Wins by Ottawa and McMaster still allow the Gryphons into the OUA quarter-finals due to the tie-breaking procedure. They will host the Gee-Gees in one of the OUA quarter-finals on Oct. 25.
Nathan Riva, who raced for 101 yards and one touchdown, also caught six passes for 44 yards and a touchdown, while fourth-year quarterback Michael Faulds went 25-for-37 for 415 yards and four touchdowns.
Jesse Bellamy caught eight passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns.
Rob Mayer kicked three field goals for Guelph.
——
No. 4 Dinos 25, Bisons 18
At Winnipeg, the Calgary Dinos clinched a playoff spot by defeating the Vanier Cup-champion Manitoba Bisons.
Trailing 18-14 at the end of the third, Calgary (5-2) scored 11 unanswered points in the fourth to rally for a win. Calgary’s Deke Junior found K.C. Prince in the end zone for a four yard TD and a 21-18 lead, while Aaron Ifield added a field goal for insurance.
Ifield went 3-for-5 in FGs.
Running back Matt Walter had a game-high 147 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown for the Dinos. Junior was solid as he went 16-for-29 for 153 yards and one TD plus scampered for 18 rushing yards.
Manitoba (3-4) will have to beat Regina next week to capture the final conference playoff spot.
Bisons QB John Make went 20-for-37 with one TD and two picks.
——
Gaiters 33, No. 5 Stingers 25
At Lennoxville, Que., Jamall Lee’s 189 yards rushing and two touchdowns led Bishop’s (3-4) to an upset over Concordia (4-3), keeping the Gaiters’ playoff hopes alive.
Lee, a fourth-year running back, playing possibly his final home game as a Gaiter, passed Jesse Lumsden for fourth place on the CIS all-time rushing list with 4,200 yards, beating Lumsden’s total of 4,138.
Lee leads the CIS with 1106 yards this year.
The game turned with nine minutes left, as Concordia quarterback Liam Mahoney was intercepted by Kyle Jones on the Bishop’s one-yard-line. The Gaiters drove 109 yards in eight plays, capped by a 26-yard Keith Godding reception to take a 32-25 lead.
——
No. 6 Huskies 16, No. 8 Clan 4
At Saskatoon, Saskatchewan receiver Travis Gorksi caught a five-yard touchdown for the only TD of the game as the Huskies (5-2) beat Simon Fraser (5-3).
Gorski wound up with 108 yards on six receptions and quarterback Laurence Nixon was 17-for-31 and 216 yards for the Huskies.
Both teams’ punters got plenty of work in the defensive struggle, combining for 22 punts.
——
No. 7 Huskies 31, Mounties 20
At Sackville, N.B., the St. Mary’s Huskies (5-1) clinched first place in the AUS regular season with a victory over host Mount Allison (2-4).
The Mounties also clinched the AUS’s third and final playoff berth thanks to a win by St. FX over Acadia.
Devon Jones, Jahmeek Murray and Jeff Zelenski scored touchdowns for the Huskies, while Justin Palardy booted four converts and a field goal.
The Mounties replied with majors from Gary Ross on a 65-yard pass play. Olivier Eddie booted two converts and the Mounties had a safety touch in the second quarter.
——
No. 10 Golden Hawks 50, Lions 13
At Toronto, Golden Hawks quarterback duo Ian Noble and Luke Thompson combined for five touchdowns and 383 yards as Wilfrid Laurier (6-2) cruised past York (0-8).
Josh Bishop, Travis Vaughan, Shamawd Chambers, B.J. Mallott, and Troy Leach caught TD passes for Laurier.
York QB Bart Zemanek completed 14-for-34 for 183 yards and one touchdown.
The Lions’ ended their winless regular season by setting two new OUA records — most points scored allowed in a season (471) and fewest points scored in a season (32).
——
X-Men 31, Axemen 20
At Wolfville, N.S., pivot Steve Snyder went 20-for-33 for 379 yards and three touchdown passes as St. FX improved to 4-3 with a win over Acadia, extending the Axemen’s losing streak to 11 games and dropping them to 0-7 on the season.
St. FX’s Nick Guest grabbed two touchdown receptions and 95 yards in receiving, while teammate Akeem Foster added 146 yards and a major to lead the X-Men to their second victory over the Axemen this season.
Kyle Chisholm was good on 3-of-4 field goal attempts, while adding a rouge on a missed FG.
Second-year Axemen quarterback Keith Lockwood was 23-for-43 on pass attempts, while compiling 328 yards.
——
Rams 38, Golden Bears 31
At Edmonton, Regina quarterback Teale Orban threw five touchdown passes as the Rams (4-3) held off a late rally to beat Alberta (1-5).
Orban completed 15-of-22 passes for 247 yards, while Rams running back Austin Kappel rushed for 115 yards on 21 carries.
The Rams host the Manitoba Bisons next Saturday with the winner claiming the final Canada West playoff berth.
——
Marauders 40, Lancers 11
At Hamilton, McMaster (4-4) defeated Windsor (3-5) for the seventh-straight time to advance to the OUA quarter-finals.
The Marauders defence allowed only 264 yards, and limited the Lancers to only 52 yards rushing on 24 carries.
Windsor fifth-year running back Darryl Stephenson was held to 23 yards on 12 carries. Stephenson finished his OUA career with 5,163 rushing yards, the CIS career rushing record.
McMaster running back Joey Nemet rushed for a career high 172 yards on 20 carries, while quarterback Ryan Fantham threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns, and scored another on a two-yard run.