October 24, 2008

Download the full game notes here (pdf)

THIS WEEK: The Bishop’s Gaiters (3-4) close out the 2008 regular season with a visit to the Montreal Carabins (4-3).

ON THE AIR: Today’s game will be broadcast live on RDS, with David Arsenault on play-by-play and Pierre Vercheval providing colour commentary. This is the Gaiters’ fourth RDS appearance this season.

FOLLOW, FOLLOW: Fans can also follow the game with Twitter updates on the Gaiters website at http://www.ubishops.ca/gaiters or http://www.twitter.com/BishopsGaiters.

THE RECORDS: The Gaiters are 3-4 on the season, having defeated #5 Concordia last week to snap a two-game losing streak. Montreal is 4-3, having picked up wins over McGill (twice), Saint Mary’s and St. FX, while losing to Laval, Concordia and Sherbrooke.

THE SCENARIO: Today’s game is a QUFL Quarter-final in everything but name. The winner of this game will qualify for the QUFL semifinals next week, while the loser will finish in fifth place and be eliminated from the playoffs. If the Gaiters win, they would finish fourth and visit Laval next week. If Montreal wins, then they would finish third with a Sherbrooke win over Concordia and travel to Sherbrooke. Wins by Montreal and Concordia would put the Carabins into fourth place.

LAST MEETING : On Oct. 27, 2007, the Gaiters missed a chance to host a semifinal game, by falling 21-13 to the Montréal Carabins. A steady rain turned Coulter Field into a muddy track, and neither offence had much luck on the day. Bishop’s scored on a Jamall Lee 75-yard run and three safety touches, while the Carabins hit the end zone twice—on a Frank Bruno punt return and a 44-yard pass from Marc-Olivier Brouilette to Kevin Rivet. A Pierre-Paul Gélinas field goal and two safeties rounded out their scoring. Jamall Lee led the Gaiters offence with 31 carries for 186 yards and a touchdown.

THE SERIES: The Gaiters hold a 9-5 all-time series lead against the Carabins. The first meeting came in on Sept. 23, 1967 in Montréal, with Bishop’s winning 16-12. Since the re-launch of the Carabins in 2002, the Gaiters are 3-5 against Montréal, including 1-4 at Coulter Field. The teams split two games last season, and the visiting team has won the last three games in the series.

LAST WEEK: Jamall Lee’s 189 yards rushing and two touchdowns led the Bishop’s to a 33-25 win over then No. 5-ranked Concordia .The game turned with nine minutes left, as Mahoney was intercepted by Kyle Jones on the Bishop’s 1-yard-line. The Gaiters drove 109 yards in eight plays, capped by a 26-yard Keith Godding reception to take a 32-25 lead. Godding had seven catches for 109 yards, while Jesse Andrews went 15-for-24 for 212 yards with one interception and one touchdown. Defensively, the Gaiters were led by Kyle Jones, who had a sack, a forced fumble, and an interception. Nick Poloniato made one interception and broke up three passes.

28 + 4200 = 4: Last week, fourth-year running back Jamall Lee passed current Hamilton Tiger-Cat (and former McMaster Marauder) Jesse Lumsden for fourth place on the all-time CIS rushing list. Lee now has 4,200 career rushing yards.

LEE’S MAJORS: Lee also holds the QUFL record with 35 rushing touchdowns, and he is now tied for 8th on the CIS all-time rushing touchdown list. He is one total touchdowns short of the QUFL’s record of 36, held by Pierre-Luc Yao of Laval. Lee’s ten rushing touchdowns this season are two shy of the school record of 12, which he shares with Chris Skinner.

IN GODDING WE TRUST: Fifth-year receiver Keith Godding had seven catches for 109 yards last week, continuing by far the best season of his career. Saturday was his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the season, and Godding has set career highs for catches, yards and touchdowns this year. He is 9th in the CIS with 605 yards this season. He has a career total of 1,931 yards receiving, and has averaged 15.3 yards per catch. Godding is 182 yards away from the school single-season record of 787, set by Nigel McGillvery in 1995.

RANKING MEMBERS: Today marks the sixth time this season that the Gaiters have faced a ranked opponent. The Gaiters are 2-3 this year when playing a Top 10 team.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES: Linebacker Kyle Jones was named the QUFL’s Defensive Player of the Week last week, for his 4.5 tackle, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception. His interception on the goal line stopped a potential Concordia game-winning drive, and set up the Gaiters’ own game-winning series. Jones had the Gaiters’ only sack last week, putting him in the team lead at 4.5 on the season. He has made 34.5 tackles this year, which is tied for 9th in the QUFL.

MILESTONES: Several Gaiters are approaching significant milestones:

• Jamall Lee needs 19 carries to break the QUFL single-season record (181, Lee, 2007)

• Jamall Lee needs 23 points to break the school record (233, Greg Hiscox, 1990-93)

• Jamall Lee needs 16 yards for 4,500 all-purpose yards in his career.

• Jesse Andrews needs 474 yards for 4,000 in his career.

• Keith Godding needs 69 receiving yards to reach 2,000 for his career

• Steven Turner needs 31 punt return yards to reach 500 for his career

• Kyle Jones needs 4.5 tackles to reach 150 for his career

• Josh Maveety needs nine points to reach 100 for his career.

TODAY IN GAITERS HISTORY:  On October 25, 1986, the Gaiters downed the McGill Redmen 26-3 in Montreal. Dennis Walker ran for 145 yards while Tony Harris was 10-for-28 for 205 yards passing including a 54-yard TD to Wally Zatylny, as the Gaiters closed out the 1986 season with a 6-1 record. The 1986 Gaiters went on to win the school’s first Dunsmore Cup.