CIS PRESEASON: UBC beats Laval in Nill’s debut [stats]

VANCOUVER – The Blake Nill era at UBC has started with quite a bang.

In his first game as the team’s head coach, his Thunderbirds beat the Laval Rouge et Or, winners of seven of the last 12 Vanier Cups, by a score of 41-16 on Saturday in Quebec City.

UBC took a 27-0 lead into halftime before staving off a comeback attempt by the hosts to come away with the victory in its first-ever meeting with Laval. The triumph caps off an historic week for the UBC program, which also saw the two squads hold joint practices together at Stade TELUS-Université Laval in the lead-up to today’s contest.

The Thunderbirds scored in just about every possible fashion.

Kicker Quinn van Gylswyk (Victoria, B.C.) opened the scoring with a field goal and rouge before reigning Canada West Rookie of the Year Marcus Davis (Victoria, B.C.) ran a punt return back 85 yards for touchdown to make it 11-0 for UBC with less than three minutes gone in the second quarter.

UBC then finished the half with a safety bookended by two touchdown passes from quarterback Michael O’Connor (Ottawa). Ten minutes into the second quarter, O’Connor found receiver Trivel Pinto (Toronto) with a five-yard pass, capping off an 85-yard drive, to put UBC 18-0. Then just seconds before halftime, Marshall Cook (Nanaimo, B.C.) caught a 20-yard toss from O’Connor.

Following a van Gylswyk single in the third, Laval found the end zone to close to within three scores. The Rouge et Or continued to build momentum with a touchdown and safety to cut the UBC lead to 31-16 with 11 minutes to go in the final quarter.

However, the Thunderbirds were able to stem the tide, closing the game with 10 straight points. Kevin Wiens (Mission, B.C.) picked off Laval quarterback Hugo Richard for the second time on the day and returned the ball 30 yards for a touchdown, before van Gylswyk finished off the day with his third field goal.

Wiens, Cook and Pinto recorded their first Canadian Interuniversity Sport touchdowns on Saturday.

In all, UBC’s defence intercepted Richard four times, with Dominique Termansen (North Vancouver, B.C.) and Taylor Loffler (Kelowna, B.C.) getting the other two.

Terrell Davis (Victoria, B.C.) and Troy Hansen (Edmonton) led the T-Birds with six tackles each.

In his UBC debut, O’Connor completed 18 of his 32 passes for 292 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Backup Trevor Casey (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) was effective in moving the ball during his stint, going 6-for-12 for 60 yards and an interception.

The favourite targets for the pivots were David Mann (Delta, B.C.), who caught six passes for 156 yards, and Will Watson (Surrey, B.C.), who also hauled in six passes, for 71 yards.

Running back Brandon Deschamps (Prince George, B.C.) was the team’s leading rusher with 77 yards on nine carries.

UBC will travel to Calgary next weekend for the Canada West regular season opener for both squads. It will be Nill’s first game back at Calgary, where he won six Canada West titles, after leaving the Dinos to come coach the Thunderbirds.

Then the team will return to Vancouver for its annual Homecoming Game, on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m., against the Regina Rams at Thunderbird Stadium.
Source: UBC Thunderbirds Sports Information

 

Scoring Summary (Final)
UBC (1-0) vs. LAVA (0-1)Date: Aug 29, 2015 • Site: QUEBEC, QUEBEC  • Stadium: STADE TELUS,U.LAVAL  •  Attendance: 8742

Score by Quarters	1	2	3	4	Score
UBC	3	24	4	10	41
LAVA	0	0	7	9	16

SCORING SUMMARY				UBC -LAVA
1st	03:00	UBC	Q. Van Gylswyk 18 yd field goal
			5 plays, 22 yards, TOP 2:02	3 – 0
2nd	01:32	UBC	Q. Van Gylswyk 41 rouge
				4 – 0
	02:57	UBC	Marcus Davis 85 yd punt return (Q. Van Gylswyk kick)
				11 – 0
	09:59	UBC	Trivel Pinto 5 yd pass from M. O?Connor (Q. Van Gylswyk kick)
			4 plays, 85 yards, TOP 2:03	18 – 0
	11:39	UBC	TEAM safety
				20 – 0
	14:56	UBC	Marshall Cook 20 yd pass from M. O?Connor (Q. Van Gylswyk kick)
			1 play, 20 yards, TOP 0:06	27 – 0
3rd	03:51	UBC	Q. Van Gylswyk 28 rouge
				28 – 0
	11:04	LAVA	Chr. Dallaire 31 yd pass from Hugo Richard (Dom. Levesque kick)
			3 plays, 52 yards, TOP 1:21	28 – 7
	15:00	UBC	Q. Van Gylswyk 32 yd field goal
			8 plays, 61 yards, TOP 3:48	31 – 7
4th	02:19	LAVA	Etienne Moisan 3 yd pass from Hugo Richard (Dom. Levesque kick)
			7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:19	31 – 14
	03:45	LAVA	Team safety
				31 – 16
	10:48	UBC	Kevin Wiens 30 yd interception return (Q. Van Gylswyk kick)
				38 – 16
	13:10	UBC	Q. Van Gylswyk 35 yd field goal
			4 plays, 49 yards, TOP 0:56	41 – 16

Kickoff time: 13:11  • End of Game: 15:51  • Total elapsed time: 2:40 Referee: RON PALUZZI  •  Umpire: RENALD DULAC  •  Linesman: ERIC CLOUTIER  •  Line judge: MARTIN CAUX  •  Back judge: WALTER BERRY  •  Field judge: ERIC GASCON  •  Side judge: BRENT YOUNG  •  Scorer: ESTHER TURGEON  • Temperature: 21 C  • Wind: OSO 13KM • Weather: PART. ENSOLEILLE

 

Team Statistics

Team Statistics (Final)

Team Totals	UBC	LAVA
FIRST DOWNS	23	11
Rushing	5	2
Passing	15	9
Penalty	3	0
NET YARDS RUSHING	102	95
Rushing Attempts	20	19
Average Per Rush	5.1	5.0
Rushing Touchdowns	0	0
Yards Gained Rushing	107	95
Yards Lost Rushing	5	0
NET YARDS PASSING	352	161
Completions-Attempts-Int	24-44-4	16-31-4
Average Per Attempt	8.0	5.2
Average Per Completion	14.7	10.1
Passing Touchdowns	2	2
TEAM LOSSES	-44	-25
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	410	231
Total offense plays	68	52
Average Gain Per Play	6.0	4.4
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	0-0
Penalties: Number-Yards	8-50	9-72
PUNTS-YARDS	5-171	12-433
Average Yards Per Punt	34.2	36.1
Net Yards Per Punt	25.2	29.2
Inside 20	0	1
50+ Yards	0	1
Touchbacks	0	0
Fair catch	0	0
KICKOFFS-YARDS	5-297	4-223
Average Yards Per Kickoff	59.4	55.8
Net Yards Per Kickoff	42.2	38.5
Touchbacks	0	0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	6-83-1	4-45-0
Average Per Return	13.8	11.2
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	4-69-0	5-86-0
Average Per Return	17.2	17.2
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	4-72-1	4-13-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Possession Time	35:43	24:17
1st Quarter	9:34	5:26
2nd Quarter	7:38	7:22
3rd Quarter	10:06	4:54
4th Quarter	8:25	6:35
Third-Down Conversions	2 of 3	0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	3-3	1-1
Touchdowns	2-3	1-1
Field goals	1-3	0-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards	2-8	4-38
PAT Kicks	4-4	2-2
Field Goals	3-6	0-0

 

Individual Statistics

Individual Statistics (Final)

UBC		LAVA
RUSHING  No.  Gain  Loss  Net  TD  Lg  Avg.  B. Deschamps   9  79  2  77  0  50  8.6  Trevor Casey   4  20  0  20  0  16  5.0  D. Neustaeter   1  4  0  4  0  4  4.0  Marcus Davis   6  4  3  1  0  3  0.2  Totals…  20  107  5  102  0  50  5.1		RUSHING  No.  Gain  Loss  Net  TD  Lg  Avg.  Hugo Richard   5  37  0  37  0  16  7.4  Christop. Amoah  7  31  0  31  0  8  4.4  V Alarie-Tardif  4  17  0  17  0  8  4.2  Sebastien Serre  3  10  0  10  0  5  3.3  Totals…  19  95  0  95  0  16  5.0
PASSING  Cmp-Att-Int  Yds  TD  Long  Sack  M. O?Connor   18-32-3  292  2  56  2  Trevor Casey   6-12-1  60  0  18  2  Totals…  24-44-4  352  2  56  4		PASSING  Cmp-Att-Int  Yds  TD  Long  Sack  Hugo Richard   15-27-3  159  2  31  2  M-A. Langevin   1-4-1  2  0  2  0  Totals…  16-31-4  161  2  31  2
RECEIVING  No.  Yds  TD  Lg  David Mann   6  156  0  56  Will Watson   6  71  0  17  Ben Cummings   4  54  0  23  Trivel Pinto   3  31  1  18  Alex Morrison   2  14  0  9  B. Deschamps   2  6  0  7  Marshall Cook   1  20  1  20  Totals…  24  352  2  56		RECEIVING  No.  Yds  TD  Lg  Chr. Dallaire   4  88  1  31  Etienne Moisan   3  9  1  7  Fel. Lechasseur  2  22  0  14  Marco Dubois   2  14  0  7  Antony Auclair   2  7  0  4  Simon Proulx   1  12  0  12  Simon Laplante   1  7  0  7  Sebastien Serre  1  2  0  2  Totals…  16  161  2  31
PUNTING  No.  Yds  Avg  Long  In20  TB  Q. Van Gylswyk   5  171  34.2  42  0  0  Totals…  5  171  34.2  42  0  0		PUNTING  No.  Yds  Avg  Long  In20  TB  Dom. Levesque   12  433  36.1  54  1  0  Totals…  12  433  36.1  54  1  0
Punts  Kickoffs  Intercept  ALL RETURNS  No  Yds  Lg  No  Yds  Lg  No  Yds  Lg  Ben Cummings   0  0  0  4  69  26  0  0  0  D. Termansen   0  0  0  0  0  0  1  -2  0  Kevin Wiens   2  -12  1  0  0  0  2  39  30  Taylor Loffler   0  0  0  0  0  0  1  35  35  Marcus Davis   4  95  85  0  0  0  0  0  0  Totals…  6  83  85  4  69  26  4  72  35		Punts  Kickoffs  Intercept  ALL RETURNS  No  Yds  Lg  No  Yds  Lg  No  Yds  Lg  Antony Auclair   0  0  0  1  11  11  0  0  0  Denver Wright   0  0  0  3  48  22  0  0  0  Gabriel Marcoux  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  1  1  Mathieu Forgues  0  0  0  1  27  27  0  0  0  Shayne Gauthier  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  12  12  Alex. Hovington  4  45  33  0  0  0  0  0  0  Thomas Girard   0  0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  Totals…  4  45  33  5  86  27  4  13  12
ALL PURPOSE  Rush  Rcv  KR  PR  IR  Total  David Mann   0  156  0  0  0  156  Ben Cummings   0  54  69  0  0  123  Marcus Davis   1  0  0  95  0  96  B. Deschamps   77  6  0  0  0  83  Will Watson   0  71  0  0  0  71  Taylor Loffler   0  0  0  0  35  35  Trivel Pinto   0  31  0  0  0  31  Kevin Wiens   0  0  0  -12  39  27  Marshall Cook   0  20  0  0  0  20  Trevor Casey   20  0  0  0  0  20  Alex Morrison   0  14  0  0  0  14  D. Neustaeter   4  0  0  0  0  4  D. Termansen   0  0  0  0  -2  -2  Totals…  102  352  69  83  72  678		ALL PURPOSE  Rush  Rcv  KR  PR  IR  Total  Chr. Dallaire   0  88  0  0  0  88  Denver Wright   0  0  48  0  0  48  Alex. Hovington  0  0  0  45  0  45  Hugo Richard   37  0  0  0  0  37  Christop. Amoah  31  0  0  0  0  31  Mathieu Forgues  0  0  27  0  0  27  Fel. Lechasseur  0  22  0  0  0  22  Antony Auclair   0  7  11  0  0  18  V Alarie-Tardif  17  0  0  0  0  17  Marco Dubois   0  14  0  0  0  14  Simon Proulx   0  12  0  0  0  12  Shayne Gauthier  0  0  0  0  12  12  Sebastien Serre  10  2  0  0  0  12  Etienne Moisan   0  9  0  0  0  9  Simon Laplante   0  7  0  0  0  7  Gabriel Marcoux  0  0  0  0  1  1  Totals…  95  161  86  45  13  400
FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS  Q. Van Gylswyk  1st  12:00  18 yards  Good  Q. Van Gylswyk  2nd  13:28  41 yards  Rouge  Q. Van Gylswyk  3rd  11:09  28 yards  Rouge  Q. Van Gylswyk  3rd  00:00  32 yards  Good  Q. Van Gylswyk  4th  04:56  40 yards  Returned  Q. Van Gylswyk  4th  01:50  35 yards  Good		FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
KICKOFFS  No.  Yds  TB  OB  Avg.  Q. Van Gylswyk   5  297  0  0  59.4		KICKOFFS  No.  Yds  TB  OB  Avg.  Dom. Levesque   4  223  0  0  55.8

FUMBLES: UBC-None. LAVA-None.