Laval 37, Concordia 24: Stingers Drop Hard-Fought Season Finale

Stingers Look Ahead to RSEQ Semi-Final

SportsJared Lackman-Mincoff — Published November 1, 2022 2 minutes

“At the beginning of the season, what we wanted was an opportunity against tough competition in the playoffs,” said Stingers’ quarterback Olivier Roy following the loss. “We’re excited to be in the playoffs and we’re going to try to take advantage of this opportunity.”

The Stingers kept the game close from beginning to end. They never trailed by more than ten points until the final minutes.

The Stingers' offense struggled in the first quarter. Laval marched down the field twice, scoring a touchdown and a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.

The second quarter started on a better note for the Stingers, as receiver Jeremy Murphy made an incredible toe-tap catch along the sideline for 37 yards. That catch ignited the Stingers' offense, as they cut the deficit to 19-17 near the end of the half. Murphy also had a 60-yard catch-and-run in the quarter.

Laval deflated this Concordia momentum by completing a back-breaking 49-yard hail mary as time expired. They took a 26-17 lead into halftime.

No points were scored in the third quarter, but the Stingers marched down the field to start the fourth. Roy found Murphy in the endzone to cut the deficit to 26-24 with ten minutes to play.

That’s where the fun ended for the Stingers, as Laval added another touchdown. The Stingers also conceded two safeties on punts to bring the score to 37-24, which is how the game ended.

“We’ve got to build on what we had this week,” said Stingers head coach Brad Collinson post-game. “I think we had a good game plan against them both offensively and defensively and now we’ve just got to keep building on it.”

Coach Collinson is confident that his team will be fired up for the re-match against Laval next week.

“That was the whole point of this: to make sure we played 60 minutes of team football, and I think we did that,” he said.

The Stingers’ 24 points are the most that any team has scored against Laval this season.

The Stingers finished with a 2-6 record, in fourth place in the RSEQ standings. Laval finished in first place with a 7-1 record, meaning the Stingers have a tall task ahead of them. 

This will be the third consecutive season that the Stingers face Laval in the semi-final. Laval has won both previous matchups. The semi-final is on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Stade TELUS in Quebec City. Kick-off is set for 12 p.m..