MONTREAL – Fifth-year running back Ronlee King-Fileen had his best day as a Bishop's Gaiter, rushing 18 times for 119 yards, he even hurdled a defender however it wasn't enough. The Concordia Stingers topped the Gaiters 25-15 in Montreal on Saturday, Sept. 6 to open the RSEQ University Football season.
King-Fileen (Toronto) also scored the Gaiters lone major on the day at the 7:48 mark of the second quarter that at the time put the visitors on top.
The kickers seemed poised to steal the show as the Stingers' Keegan Treloar (Brandon, Man.) and Gaiters'
Vincent Dube (Montmagny, Que.) alternated successful attempts to tie the game at six. Treloar added his third of the day, a 35-yarder just two minutes before the Gaiters grabbed the lead 13-9 heading into halftime.
In the second half Mickey Donavan's crew took advantage of Gaiters miscues and gave their bench boss his first win in his first game as a CIS head coach. Concordia outscored their counterparts 16-2 after the break as Bishop's turned the ball over six times.
Concordia's running back Gunner Tatum (Crane, Tx.) tied an RSEQ record with 35 carries on the day; he rushed for 192 yards and scored the touchdown that put the Stingers on top for good.
Bishop's fifth-year pivot
Shane McDonald (Uxbridge, Ont.) had a game he'd like to forget. He was 24-for-42 for 319 yards but had three interceptions. His favourite target was rookie
Dashaun Smellie (Mississauga, Ont.) who caught 6 passes for 64 yards. Veterans
Jerome Mercier (Quebec City) and
Nathan Heather (Oromocto, N.B.) each grabbed five passes for 59 and 58 yards respectively and
Yaata Nyantakyi (Toronto) chipped in with four catches for 72 yards and had 51 punt return yards and 79 kickoff return yards.
"I thought we beat ourselves today," said Gaiters head coach
Kevin Mackey. "We are going to work hard to prepare for Montreal. We have to clean up some things and execute better."
See all of Coach Mackey's post-game comments here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuMi0tIjr8 The Gaiters (0-1) won't have long to regroup from their 25-15 loss to the Concordia Stingers (1-0) as they are back in action on Friday, Sept. 12 once again in Montreal. They face the Carabins (0-1) at 7 p.m. at CEPSUM. Stay up-to-date anytime with the Gaiters at
www.gaiters.ca.
Quick hits: The Gaiters punting game struggled averaging 27.5 yards on 6 attempts…Bishop's took 9 penalties for 88 yards while Concordia was penalized 7 times for 60 yards…Bishop's outgained the Stingers 442 to 302 yards however the Gaiters turned the ball over 9 times while Concordia gave the ball away 3 times…Tatum tied Gaiters great Jamall Lee for most carries in an RSEQ game with 35.
-30-
