Queen's tops McGill 23-9
The McGill Redmen football team had an inauspicious debut in their 132nd season-opener at Kingston, Sunday, dropping a 23-9 decision at Queen's in preseason play at Richardson Stadium.
Queen's, which generated 323 yards of net offence, compared to McGill's 242, led 12-0 after the opening quarter, 12-2 at the half and 22-2 after three stanzas.
The Redmen had a plethora of scoring chances in the second half but continually shot themselves in the foot with 19 penalties for 148 yards, compared to the Gaels, who committed only six infractions for 65 yards.
The Gaels opened the scoring at 8:07 of the first quarter, when quarterback Giovanni Aprile connected on a long bomb with receiver Billy McPhee.
Rounding out the scoring for Queen's was freshman kicker Dillon Wamsley, who added a 47-yard field-goal and an 85-yard rouge on a kickoff. The remaining points came off safeties and conversions.
McGill's lone TD featured quarterback Dallon Kuprowski hooking up with Mathieu Lepage, a freshman from Trois-Rivieres, Que., to make the score 23-9 with five minutes remaining. Kuprowski was good on 10-of-18 for 97 yards and one touchdown.
McGill had a half-dozen battles for starting spots up for grabs but none more pressing than the quarterback. Ryne Bondy, a fifth-year senior who started in 2010 but lost out to Kuprowski last year, got the start and completed 12 of 20 attempts for 118 yards. Jonathan Collin, who started in 2009 but sat out most of the past two seasons with injury, went 3-for-9 for 21 yards. None of them were picked off.
Rookie Shaquille Johnson of Toronto, led the Redmen in all-purpose yards with 196, including 129 on kick returns and a game-high 69 yards on six receptions. Ady Niang, a first-year player from Miami, was McGill's top rusher with six carries for 24 yards.
McGill opens the regular season at Laval next Sunday in a game that will be televised nationally on SRC, the French-language network of the CBC. Queen's opens their OUA campaign when they play host to York on Labour Day.
