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Poor Defense to Blame for Stingers’ Homecoming Loss

SportsDavid Kaufmann — Published October 2, 2012 | Updated October 3, 2012 at 11:20am

Concordia’s homecoming game quickly turned to disaster as the Stingers football team were hung out to dry by the Université de Montréal Carabins on Friday, 38-0.

“We’ve got to come out there and play a little harder, a little earlier,” said Stingers linebacker Max Caron. “We can’t let them come out and dictate the pace of the game.”

While this wasn’t the result the Stingers were looking for, the game got off to a promising start as they managed to gain first-down possession five times in the first few minutes of play.

It was all for nothing, however. Midway through the first, Carabins defensive back Antoine Pruneau intercepted a pass thrown by Stingers quarterback Reid Quest. This led Ali Ndao to rush the ball 44 yards after connecting on a pass thrown by Carabins quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze. Moments later, Piuze was at it again when he found the Stingers’ end zone to go up 7-0.

One of the reasons the Stingers struggled Friday night, according to head coach Gerry McGrath, was because the defense took a back seat.

“If you can’t win the line of scrimmage, it’s very hard to get anything done,” he said. That was the case late in the second, when Ndao connected on another pass from Piuze to go up 17-0.

The Stingers nearly made a game of it with time running out in the first half when safety Nathan Taylor caught Carabins kicker Charles Bauer’s missed field goal and rushed it 86 yards before being stopped by defensive linebacker Mathieu Girard.

“A positive thing on our side is that our kids fought. They didn’t fold up their tent, and you can go from there,” said Stingers offensive coordinator Bryan Chiu.

Yet that newfound momentum was quickly deflated come the third quarter, as UdeM had complete possession of the ball, leading to an additional three Carabins touchdowns, finishing the night off at 38-0.

The loss was so great for the Stingers that when they finally got first down possession in the fourth, it was met with quiet cheers from the crowd.

“You’ve got to give Montreal credit, they’re a great football team, they are to me the best in the nation,” said Chiu.

While the Stingers would like to forget this game, the Carabins were savouring the victory.

“I think I was satisfied with our performance,” said Carabins head coach Danny Maciocia. “We were able to get some positive scores
on mixing it up between the run and the pass, and that paid in dividends for us.”

The loss leaves the Stingers below .500 for the first time this season, following their defeat at the hands of the Bishop’s University Gaiters Sept. 22, but McGrath isn’t worried about the rest of the season.

“We just have to make sure that we win three of our last four games and we’ll be fine,” said McGrath.

The Stingers will begin that quest Saturday when the Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or visit Concordia Stadium. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.