A year off may have cured many of the ills that plagued McGill’s football program last season, but not quite all of them. Last year, the team’s Achilles heel was an inability to stop the running game and, judging by their performance on Saturday against Bishop’s, not much has changed.

Gaiters running back Jamal Lee treated a boisterous crowd of just over 1,800 on hand at a cold and rainy Coulter Stadium to a prolific performance, gaining 279 yards and two touchdowns. His rushing total broke the team’s single game record for rushing yards and paced Bishop’s to a 27- 16 victory. In a game that is often won and lost in the trenches, McGill was completely outclassed by a Bishop’s side that out-rushed them by over 300 yards.

“We have to correct the mistakes we made defensively,” said Redmen Head Coach Chuck McMann. “We’re very young on defence so hopefully the guys will learn, in that they know what the level of play is. I don’t think they knew what to expect.”

Once more into the breach

Ironically, McGill got off on the right foot in the game, picking up 80 yards on their first possession before finally stalling inside the Bishop’s ten yard line and settling for a field goal. The defence followed that up by stopping Lee for a one yard loss on his first run, and when halfback Anthony Lucka intercepted a Dusty Whyte pass four plays later, the Redmen seemed to be in good shape.

But on the next play, McGill Quarterback Matt Connell gave the ball right back to the Gaiters and from that point on it was all Bishop’s. Lee would cap the ensuing drive by taking a pitch and scampering six yards for his first touchdown of the afternoon.

“It was pretty rough out there,” Connell said. “We had a good first drive but from then on it was all downhill. We were getting out-schemed on offence, we got behind early and from there it was hard to play catch-up. [Bishop’s] has a great running back.”

Indeed it was Lee’s second touchdown that would change the makeup of this match. With 5:19 left in the half and the game still within reach at 17-4 the sophomore back took a hand-off up the middle, bounced off a tackle, made a quick cut towards the right sideline and ran for daylight on his way to a 70 yard touchdown dash.

Lee had his choice of running lanes all day as the Gaiters offensive linemen-who on average outweigh the defensive linemen of McGill by almost 50 pounds-dominated the line of scrimmage. Even fullback Tim Cronk was quite impressive, rushing five times for 46 yards.

“My offensive-line is amazing,” Lee said. “They did a great job today and they made me look good.”

Late charge falls short

To their credit, the Redmen didn’t roll over when the game began to get out of hand. Down 24-5 in the third quarter, Connell and company drove 77 yards to the Bishop’s four yard line only to see wide receiver Charles-Antoine Sinotte drop a pass in the end-zone on third and goal.

On the ensuing drive, the McGill defence came up huge. With the Gaiters threatening deep in Redmen territory, linebacker Jean-Nicholas Carrière anticipated a screen pass, and picked off quarterback Dusty Whyte’s short toss. However, he was denied the score by Jamal Lee, who stopped Carrière 95 yards later at the Bishop’s 11-yard line.

“It was just a reaction play, when you feel that fullback release early you think to yourself, maybe this is a little screen or hitch play,” Carrière said. “I just released at the right time, grabbed it, and then [Lee] got me. I thought I was going to get my first touchdown there but I guess I’ll just have to intercept another one.”

The Redmen would eventually turn that play into three points. They followed that up the with a five-play, 70-yard touchdown drive punctuated by a 53-yard catch-and-run play from Connell to wide receiver Erik Galas and finished with running back Michael Samman scoring from two yards out.

But it was too little too late. While McGill managed to move the ball quite well on offence, amassing 345 yards, it was incompletions at key moments that killed drives all day. The Redmen converted three possessions inside the Bishop’s ten yard line into just six points.

“Offensively we have to make more plays,” McMann said. “We moved the football but then we’d drop passes or go offside; we just didn’t make the catches when we needed to.”

As always there’s no rest for the weary as McGill will host perennial powerhouse Laval next Saturday at Molson Stadium. The week should leave enough time to prepare an offence which requires a little fine tuning but not for a defence which remains a work in progress.