Stingers Fall Apart in Fourth

Wheels fall off in fourth quarter as Stingers allow 23 points

SportsPaolo Mingarelli — Published September 6, 2011

An inability to play a full 60 minutes caused the men’s Stingers football team to collapse in the fourth quarter on Saturday, as the visiting Laval Rouge et Or crushed them with a 36-8 trouncing.

“That score is not what our defence deserved today,” said Stingers head coach Gerry McGrath, accounting for a total of five sacks and two interceptions against the number-one ranked team in the country.

Though the score was close for the majority of the match—it was 13-6 through three quarters of play—it appeared as though the game could go either way, but a devastating 23-point surge by Laval, along with a lackluster performance by the Stingers offense ultimately cost them the game.

Standing out for Concordia on defence was defensive end Matthew Meyer, whose three sacks totalled 21 yards lost, the most significant being towards the end of the first half when he broke through the line of scrimmage and decimated the Laval quarterback for a loss of 13 yards.

Though the Stingers offence put up a total of 185 yards during the game, their inability to score a single touchdown was a major factor in the loss.
“We just didn’t play well on offense… And that’s the game,” said McGrath.

The struggles began early when ConU was on the wrong end of a slew of dropped balls. Quarterback Terrance Morsink held nothing against his receiving core; he held himself accountable for the mistakes made.

“That’s part of football. I have to accept that, and it happens every game. I don’t blame anything on my receivers; I threw two interceptions and made some wrong reads.”
Morsink was pulled in the fourth quarter, giving Reid Quest the opportunity to make a few throws in his first year with the team. He was not subject to any less pressure, as he also threw an interception in his short field time. McGrath said the QB change wasn’t necessarily a sign of things to come against Bishop’s next week.
“We’ll evaluate the film and see where we go from there,” he said.

Though the lopsided score was hard to swallow, Stingers defensive end Louis Taillon wouldn’t point the blame to any one aspect of his team’s game. “Football is a team sport… There is no separation between offense, defense and special teams. We’re a whole package,” he said.

Next week, the Stingers face off on the road against the Bishop’s Gaiters, where they hope film from this week can help them get back to .500 on the season and make a run for the playoffs. Expect them to be hungry going into Lennoxville; each member of the roster brought up that it will not be an easy task, and as Taillon said it, “No way we take it easy.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 32, Issue 02, published September 6, 2011.