A television interview, hugs from his loved ones, then the PR person who informs him that the damn journalist from The Press wanted to talk to him. Everyone was fighting over Enrique Jaimes Leclair on Saturday afternoon on the mountain.
And even when we thought we had him, it continued. Between two answers, a teammate came to take him by the shoulder. “That’s the future right here!”
Leclair may represent “the future,” but the first-year receiver has helped the present of the Université de Montréal Carabins in a big way. Thanks in part to his brilliance, the Bleus recovered from a sloppy start to defeat the Concordia Stingers 30-18 at CEPSUM.
Leclair scored his first college touchdown, a 12-yard play on a pass from Jonathan Sénécal.
“It’s a feeling I can’t describe. You live it. You score, you turn around. Hey, I have my first six points in the league!” he described amid the post-match cacophony.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Enrique Jaimes Leclair (1) scored his first college touchdown, a 12-yard play on a pass from Jonathan Sénécal.
His touchdown was also a great mark of character. First, he was returning to the lineup for this game. “He’s very young,” recalled Carabins head coach Marco Iadeluca. “He played in our games 1 and 2, but he was starting to have trouble with the playbook, so we gave him some rest last week.”
Except that on the first pass he caught, the ball slipped out of his hands during his run, and was recovered by the Stingers. Leclair can console himself: it was one of four (as in 4) turnovers by the Carabins in the first half alone. Let’s just say that he was far from being the only one to mess up. It was during the next possession that he found the paying zone.
Guys know they made a mistake on plays like that. It’s not the time to get on them, Iadeluca said. You cheer them on, they know they can play football and you think about the next play. He did it. He’s going to have a great career.
Marco Iadeluca, head coach of the Carabins
“In practice, he’s already making big plays. It’s not one play that’s going to define him,” added his quarterback, Sénécal. “I threw two interceptions. Those aren’t the plays that are going to define my game. Everyone makes mistakes.”
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jonathan Senecal
The hero of the day concluded his afternoon with 7 catches for 134 yards. A nice way to validate the efforts to attract him.
Leclair did indeed take the American route, having played two seasons at McCallie, a high school in Chattanooga. The young man from Varennes hoped to improve his chances of making it to the NCAA. The University of Georgia invited him to their camp, but without the promise of a scholarship. So he opted for the Carabins, who went to Tennessee to meet him.
“He was always told that if he got a scholarship in the United States, that we will be happy for him, Iadeluca said. But he always said that his childhood dream was to play for the Carabins, and that he would not come back. When he decided, he was super happy and the next day, he was catching balls on the field.
When I was young, I went to the Carabins camps. I pretty much always followed them. So when they asked me if I wanted to come, I immediately said yes.
Enrique Jaimes Leclair
The No. 1 player admits, however, that he had a “plan” for the NCAA, but “it didn’t work out. Instead of being stuck in my ways and not moving forward, I took another path and that path is going to take me where I want to go.”
Difficult sequence
Like Leclair, the Carabins put behind them an atypical first half of the game, which they finished behind 13-11. All this after a defeat against the Rouge et Or last week.
“When you have four turnovers and four illegal procedure penalties in the first half, and you’re still in the game, you’re lucky,” Iadeluca admitted.
Veteran receiver Carl Chabot put in his best effort with 4 catches for 82 yards, while running back Lucas Dembele confirmed the Blues’ triumph with a spectacular touchdown late in the game, scored by literally jumping over a Stinger who was trying to tackle him.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Carl Chabot (13) after a touchdown
Let’s not forget Philippe Boyer. The kicker made both of his field goals (35 and 33 yards) in addition to constantly pushing Concordia back into the backfield with punts that were as powerful as they were surgical.
The Carabins are now entitled to their week off, “at the right time. We’re beat up,” agreed Iadeluca. The action will resume on September 28 against the Vert & Or, in Sherbrooke, where the fight was recorded on Télé 7.