College football | The Rouge et Or did the essentials

Laval is Laval! The Rouge et Or demonstrated this again on Saturday at Percival-Molson Stadium, taking the measure of the McGill Redbirds, 37-20, despite a lackluster performance.

Michael Marois
The Press

“We’re going to have to show more maturity and play at our level, avoiding the slowdowns we had today, especially in the second half,” said head coach Glen Constantin. With the heat, the many injuries, we had a drop in energy and we will have to correct that. »

“We often say that we learn in defeat, but I believe that we will [tirer les leçons] of a victory like this. We struggled defensively. We were facing a young mobile quarterback, capable of extending games with his feet, also capable of throwing good balls and I think he will have a good future. »

Led by their rookie quarterback Eloa Latendresse-Régimblad, the hosts racked up more than 550 yards of attack and never gave up, often manhandling the Rouge et Or defense. needed.

In the last minutes of the first half, for example, after the Redbirds had approached 10-14 in scoring after a good series in attack punctuated by a touchdown from Zacharie Magnan on a one-yard run. It only took two minutes for the Rouge et Or to widen the gap with two quick touchdowns on passes from Arnaud Desjardins to Kevin Mital (26 yards) and David Dallaire (14 yards).

And when the Redbirds were again threatening, in the third quarter after a touchdown pass from Latendresse-Régimbald to Benjamin Bergeron-Spénard and another long series on offense, it was the visitors’ defense that made the difference by forcing a fumble from Darius Simmons on the goal line.

Mital, who had already scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on passes of 26 and 8 yards from Desjardins, sealed the victory for his team by scoring his fourth major – a new team record – late in the fourth quarter on a pass of 37 yards.

“I had already scored five touchdowns in college, but it’s special to score four with the Rouge et Or,” explained the star wide receiver. I try to always be well positioned in the end zone and we were able to make some big plays today at the right times. »

Desjardins completed 23 passes on 27 attempts for 343 yards and five touchdowns. Running back Kalenga Muganda, in uniform after red tape delayed his debut, settled for 34 yards on six carries.

Latendresse-Regimbald adapts

As for the Redbirds, Latendresse-Régimblad did not have an easy task starting his university career in front of the Rouge et Or, but he showed tremendous potential. With 20 passes completed in 41 attempts, for 381 yards, and no less than 132 yards by running, the physical education student was obviously not intimidated, even if he could not avoid a few mistakes. , two interceptions in particular.

D1 collegiate player par excellence last season in Vanier, Latendresse-Régimbald quickly adapted: “That’s what I was hoping for, he said after the game. We were well prepared, we had a good game plan, and it’s good to see that we managed to advance the ball against Laval. It’s only the first game, it’s the worst we’re going to be this season! »

Redbirds head coach Ronald Hilaire couldn’t hide his satisfaction despite the result. “We fought a little ourselves, he judged. However, I am happy with what we did on offense with a young quarterback, a special player. We come out of that game with nearly 600 yards of attack, it’s hard to say we’re disappointed.

“That said, it’s only the first game and we’ll have to be even better prepared for the following ones, starting next week in Sherbrooke. »

For its part, the Rouge et Or will also have to do better in its next game, next Saturday against the Carabins of the University of Montreal, a team that beat them three times last season.