Out of Sync

Stingers Can’t Convert in Loss to Carabins

SportsAndrew Maggio — Published September 9, 2012

The Concordia Stingers football team hung on for as long as they could, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 48-10 to the Université de Montreal Carabins on Friday night at CEPSUM Stadium.

Carabins quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, pacing the Montreal offense, combined with a solid ground game paced by running back Rotrand Sené and Nicolas Dubeau.

The Stingers had several opportunities throughout the contest to tie it up, and even take the lead, but a lack of cohesion among players led to too many mistakes and miscues.

The Carabins stormed out of the gates, buoyed by a wild crowd of 5,100 Carabins fans, taking a quick 14-0 lead as the Stingers tried to find their footing. Concordia was unable to muster anything of significance until a horse-collar penalty on a Carabins defender fired up quarterback Reid Quest and the Stinger offense. Quest heaved a deep pass to receiver Jamal Henry for a 57-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead in half.

The Stingers’ night was easily summarized by three plays in the second quarter. Safety Nathan Taylor stripped a Carabins ball-carrier and bolted down the sideline to give the offense good field position with the score still 14-7. The following two plays resulted in Quest getting sacked.

That’s as close as the Stingers would get on this night. The offensive line had a rough night, unable to create many seams for Concordia backs Mike Donnelly and Raul Thompson, while Quest was seemingly picking himself up off the floor every couple of plays from being hit or sacked by the relentless Carabins pass rush.

Kicker Keegan Treloar had a rough outing in his own right, making only one of his four field-goal attempts on the night, with two misses and one blocked attempt.

The Stingers’ night was easily summarized by three plays in the second quarter. Safety Nathan Taylor stripped a Carabins ball-carrier and bolted down the sideline to give the offense good field position with the score still 14-7. The following two plays resulted in Quest getting sacked.

The Stingers were only down 20-10 with 11 minutes left in the contest, but a quickly orchestrated scoring drive by Nadeau-Piuze made it 27-10. The Stingers had no answer for the Carabins in the final 10 minutes, allowing three more rushing touchdowns and a field goal en route to their first loss of this young season.

There were some positives on the defensive side of the ball despite the lopsided score. The Stingers made several big defensive stops when they needed to and caused a few turnovers, but the offense was never able to capitalize.