College football | More than a football game

The Sherbrooke University Vert & Or defeated the Concordia Stingers 38-14 on Saturday in what was little more than a football game.

Michael Marois
The Press

The two teams were in fact playing on the 34th^e Shrine Bowl, a game organized by the Stingers to benefit the Montreal Shriners Hospital that has raised over $1 million since 1987. A section of the stands was reserved for a dozen hospital patients and their loved ones . In the front row, the two ambassadors of the match, Emma Ryan Cornet and Arthur Herrera-Charbonnier.

Despite severe congenital scoliosis, 8-year-old Emma is bursting with energy and she would have liked to join the cheerleaders Stingers at halftime. “We always pushed her to take her place and she has her character,” said her mother, Cari. The Shriners Hospital is like our second home, and it’s important to us to help her in every way. Emma and her family have raised more than $15,000 for the benefit of the establishment.

Victim of a perinatal stroke that caused slight paralysis on the right side, Arthur still plays baseball and shines with his personality. “He is always smiling, explained his mother, Sylvie Charbonnier. The treatments that these young people undergo are often demanding, sometimes painful, but Arthur lends himself to it without ever complaining. »

Very attached to “their” hospital, the two ambassadors were invited to present the trophies to the winners and the players par excellence after the match under the satisfied eyes of their parents.

Stingers head coach Brad Collinson also wanted to put things into perspective. “Thanks to the Shrine Bowl, we were able to meet extraordinary young people, young people who achieve a lot of things, always with a smile, despite the hardships.

“We only lost one football match today. And even if we would have liked to give them a better performance, these young people help us forget our bad day on the pitch. »

The strength of the group

But back to the game. Still deprived of two quarterbacks and several starters, the Vert & Or continued to surprise, taking advantage of the erratic play of the Stingers to quickly take the advantage and never really be worried afterwards.

Lucas Dalin, the offensive star of the game, scored the visitors’ first touchdown after less than three minutes of play. After two safety touchdowns, a single and a William Marchand touchdown on a five-yard pass from Charles Picard, Sherbrooke led already 19-0.

The Stingers finally managed to get on the score late in the half, after an interception, when Olivier Roy joined Jaylan Greaves for a six-yard touchdown pass. Dalin, however, managed an 83-yard run on the next series and Gianni Casati scored the touchdown that put the Vert & Or ahead, 25-7.

The hosts used the closing seconds of the half to make another push, concluded with a six-yard pass from Roy to Jeremy Murphy, but that proved to be their last positive streak.

“We made mistake after mistake after mistake, noted Brad Colinson. When it was going well offensively, we made a mistake in defense, and when the defense played well, it was the attack that was lacking. »

In the second half, the Stingers were never able to get going and the Vert & Or took the opportunity to widen the gap thanks to two placements from Louis Tardif and another touchdown from Casati, this time on a run. of a yard.

Dalin, who finished the game with 154 rushing yards, said, “It touched me to see PO [Pier-Olivier Cadoret] fall like this at first [il a subi une blessure à une épaule sur le deuxième jeu du match]. I thought of alternating with him, but we managed as a group to do what was necessary to succeed in the games, and especially the big games, at the right times. On my long run, I felt there was room, fended off a tackle and saw the field open up. After that, it was just a sprint! »

With now a record of three wins and two losses, the Vert & Or is in a good position for the rest of the season. “In Sherbrooke, we put forward the strength of the group, by preparing 100 young people who get up every morning to work, who are organized, disciplined, insisted head coach Mathieu Lecompte. We only dress 48 players each week, but everyone knows they have a role to play. It is the culture that we are developing and it is still only the beginning. Again today, we saw players take over brilliantly and I am very proud of the group. »

Lecompte also spoke of the Shrine Bowl: “I had the good fortune in my childhood to know my great-uncle Gilles Lecompte, now deceased, who was the number one Shriner in Canada, the first francophone to be . I know the value of this organization and I am always happy and proud to be able to associate myself with it. »