John Kelsey

John Kelsey

The McGill Redmen Football team is still looking for its first win of the season after losing to the Montreal Carabins 30-7 on Saturday.

Carabins quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze threw to 14 different receivers, racking up 337 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Carabins to the comfortable win.

The Redmen were fighting an uphill battle against the seventh-ranked Carabins, on the field and in the stands.

You wouldn’t have known that it was a McGill home game from looking (or listening) to the vocally pro-Carabins crowd. At one point, McGill Security had to step in and quiet the rowdy Montreal supporters.

Head Coach Sonny Wolfe refused to blame the crowd. “Games aren’t won in the stands,” said Wolfe, “they’re won by kids blocking and tackling.”

The Redmen weren’t able to block and tackle enough to keep the potent Carabins offence from outscoring them. Still, the Redmen did not deserve to find themselves down by 13 at the half.

So far this season Jeff Thompson has provided a spark for the Redmen on kick returns, but he’ll want to forget about this game quickly. Midway through the first quarter Thompson fumbled in the McGill end zone while attempting to return a missed Carabins field goal. Montreal recovered the loose ball for the only touchdown of the first half, adding a spark to what was a close game at that point.

The Redmen made key stops in the red zone, holding the Carabins to three first-half field goals, but the defence struggled to stop the Carabins from getting into the red zone repeadedly.

Both offences made plays through the air, but it was the ground game that set the Carabins apart. Montreal outushed McGill 149 to 32. The Carabins averaged 5.1 yards-per-carry, keeping the McGill defence on its heels.

A bright spot for the Redmen was the play of wide receiver Michael Chitayat who had eight receptions for 90 yards. Chitayet was rewarded for his good work, catching a Ryne Bondy pass at the back of the endzone to put some points on the board, cutting the score to 23-7.

The play of defensive lineman Ben Thompson was another positive for the embattled Redmen—the senior registered 8.5 tackles.

Nonetheless, another loss means more disappointment for a team already suffering from injuries and heartbreaking come-from-behind losses.

“We thought the playoffs [were] something we could do,” said Wolfe. “It hasn’t been a successful season.”

The playoffs are out of reach, but there are still a lot of games left in the season and the players are determined to prove themselves.

The Redmen are looking to end their losing streak when they play at home against top-ranked Laval on October 23rd.