Kicker Anderson gives Gaiters the boot

(PHOTO BY JOHN LUKCA: Snapper Anthony Lukca (left), holder Taylor Kuprowski (middle) and kicker Austin Anderson posing as The Holy Trinity after the final play of McGill's 21-19 win at Bishop's)

LENNOXVILLE, Que -- Sophomore kicker Austin Anderson of Canmore, Alta., went 4-for-4 in field goals and nailed a 28-yarder in wet, slippery conditions, with 41 seconds remaining as visiting McGill edged Bishop's 21-19 in Quebec University Football League action at Lennoxville, Saturday.

McGill improved to 3-2 and Bishop's dropped to 1-4 as a rain-soaked Homecoming crowd of 2,570 witnessed a game that featured four lead changes, with both teams having chances to win in the last three minutes.

Anderson, the son of former NFL legendary kicker Gary Anderson, accounted for 13 of McGill's 21 points. He was also successful from distances of 25, 23 and 43 yards.

"They tried to ice me by calling a time out but that didn't bother me," said Anderson, who is now 10-for-10 in field goals on the season and 15-for-15 lifetime in a McGill jersey. "I am very focussed on going through my routine in those situations and just envisioned a good snap (from Anthony Lukca, a good pin (from holder Taylor Kuprowski) and then I imagined the ball going through the uprights. I treated it the same way as any other kick."

Lukca, a two-time all-star from St. Laurent, Que., who missed the previous two contests with a hyper-extended elbow, said "I told the guys in the huddle that we were going to run the play like we do every day in practice."

"All I could think about was "Don't drop it. Just catch the ball and get it down for the pin'," said Kuprowski, a sophomore running back from Kanata, Ont., who  caught the slick ball against his right knee and had to make an adjustment before placing it on the kicking tee.

Josh Maveety, the Bishop's kicker, missed all three of his attempts from distances of 31, 23 and 32 yards, respectively, but came away with single points on two occasions.

Montreal native Andrew Hamilton scored the only touchdown for McGill, on a two-yard run in the first quarter. He rushed 19 times for 103 yards, his fourth consecutive outing reaching the 100-yard rushing barrier this season.

After McGill conceded a safety touch to even the score at 18-18 with seven minutes remaining, a 10-play Gaiter drive, aided by a pair of 15-yard Redmen penalties. put them on the McGill five-yard line. However, a seldom called offensive pass interference infraction sent the Gaiters backwards, eventually forcing them into a field-goal attempt.  Maveety's  32-yard try sailed wide for a rouge to give the Gaiters a precarious 19-18 lead with 2:18 left on the clock.

McGill rookie quarterback Jonathan Collin then took the ball at the 35-yard line, went 5-for-6 passing as he drove the Redmen 54 yards in eight plays, setting up Anderson's last-minute heroics.

Collin completed 28 of 48 pass attempts for 243 yards and one interception. Nine different receivers caught balls for McGill, led by eight receptions for 61 yards by senior Charles-Antoine Sinotte, who has now caught at least one pass in 26 consecutive games, dating back to 2006. The six-foot, 185-pound wide-receiver from Trois-Rivieres, Que., has 180 career receptions and now sits fifth among the CIS all-time reception leaders. The national record is 194 established last year by then teammate Erik Galas.

Sinotte, who also filled in as a punter for the first time in his four seasons, averaged 30.9 yards on eight kicks and managed to angle the ball such that the Gaiters stellar return star Steven Turner could only muster 12 yards on a pair of returns.

"We needed to make some changes on special teams and it worked out well," said McGill head coach Sonny Wolfe. "One of those was to let Sinotte handle the punting chores, which frees up Anderson so that he could focus on what he does best and that's kicking field goals. And he couldn't have performed any better than he did out there today."

For Bishop's, Tim Cronk of Kingston, Ont., scored his first career touchdown on a 37-yard shovel pass in the first quarter, while quarterback Jesse Andrews of Pickering, Ont., found the end zone on an eight-yard run in the second. A safety touch rounded out the scoring.

McGill recorded 25 first downs to the Gaiters' 24, while Bishop's outgained McGill 386 to 360 in net yards. Bishop's committed two turnovers, including one on downs, to only one by McGill. The lone Redmen interception was an errant pass picked off in the endzone by cornerback Greg Landry, a North Vancouver native who was celebrating his 22nd birthday and finished the day with four solo tackles.

The teams combined for 33 penalties, with McGill being assessed 16 infractions for 160 yards, while the Gaiters were whistled down 17 times for 170 yards.

For Bishop's, Andrews returned to form, passing 12-for-23 for 236 yards with one touchdown pass and a TD run. Matt Burke led the Gaiters' ground attack, with 18 carries for 84 yards, while Andrews ran eight times for 47 yards. Turner was the Gaiters' leading receiver, with three catches for 71 yards.

Bishop's (1-4) and McGill (3-2) are both off next week, as the QUFL has a league-wide bye. The Gaiters return to action on Oct. 17, when they will face the St. FX X-Men (4-0) in Antigonish, N.S. The Redmen will host the Saint Mary's Huskies (3-1) on the same day in the McGill Homecoming game.

REDMEN RAP: The Gaiters lead the all-time series 39-37-1 between the long-time rivals but the loss snaps a three-game winning streak in the series ... Ben Thompson led the Redmen defence with eight solo tackles and an assisted tackle. He also had one QB sack, as did Cedric Bishop, who end up with 4.5 tackles... Another defensive stalwart for McGill was Patrick Bourgon of Point au Chene, Que., who registered six solo tackles.

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman

Communications Officer

McGill Athletics & Recreation

514-398-7012

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
McG - Safety Maveety concedes 1:30
McG - TD Hamilton 2 run (Anderson convert) 11:04
Bish - Cronk 37 pass from Andrews (Maveety convert) 12:38

Second Quarter
Bish - Single Maveety 49 (punt) 4:03
Bish - Single Maveety 44 (MFG) 8:15
Bish - TD Andrews 8 run (Maveety convert) 10:19
McG - FG Anderson 25 13:13

Third Quarter
McG - FG Anderson (23) 2:10
McG - FG Anderson (43) 7:41

Fourth Quarter
Bish - Safety Sinotte concedes 8:00
Bish - Single Maveety 45 (punt) 12:42
McG - FG Anderson (28) 14:19

SCORING BY QUARTER:

McGill..............  9  3  6  3  - 21
Bishop's............  7  9  0  3  - 19

Attendance at Lennoxville, Que. - 2,570

YARDSTICKS

McG     Bish
First downs...................       25       23
Yards Rushing.................      120      189
Yards passing.................      243      236
Total offence.................      363      425
Team losses...................        3       39
Net offence...................      360      386
Passes made-tried.............    28-48    12-23
Returns-yards.................     7-58     4-86
Intercepts-yards by..........       1-1     1-10
Fumbles-Lost..................      0-0      0-0
Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-18      0-0
Punts-average.................     8-31     7-35
Penalties-Yards...............   16-160   17-170
Possession Time...............    28:38    31:22

Net offence is yards passing, plus yards rushing, minus team losses such as yards lost on broken plays.

RUSHING: McG - Hamilton 19-103, Collin 1-10, Kuprowski 2-7; Bish - Burke 18-84, Andrews 8-47, Jean-Baptiste 6-24, Turner 3-19, Cronk 1-9, Guarna 2-6.

RECEIVING: McG - Sinotte 8-61, Aubry 7-57, Fortin 4-39, Mikelberg 3-29, Lafreniere-Dupont 2-23, Dodd 1-16, Chitayat 1-9, Hamilton 1-6, Kuprowski 1-3; Bish-S. Turner 3-71, Mongeau 3-49, D. White 2-33, Gore 2-25; Cronk 1-37; Soucy 1-21.

PASSING: McG - Collin 28-48, 243 yds, 0 TD, 1 int; Bish - Andrews 12-23-236-1-1.

For the game's full stats, click here.