The Chateauguay Raiders have locked up second place in the standings and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs by beating the visiting Rive-Nord Sabercats 38-17 to improve their record to 5 wins and 3 losses.
Even though the Raiders had 21 penalties called against them during the game, the Sabercats could not take advantage of them and instead they helped the Raiders’ cause by turning the ball over eight times. On three of those occasions, the Raiders were able to score a touchdown and the points scored from the turnovers provided the Chateauguay team with its margin of victory.
After punting on their first possession, the Raiders went back on offense for the second time in the game starting from their own 39-yd line following a Sabercats turnover on downs. Ryan Forest then got the ball on each one of the next four plays to get to the visitors’ 1-yd line and he finished the drive with a 1-yd plunge into the end zone to give the home team a quick 7-0 lead (Remi Hort convert kick).
At the start of the 2nd quarter, the Raiders doubled their lead when they got the ball again after a Sabercats turnover and Daniel Mancini caught a 35-yd pass from Mario Porecca to score a TD.
Early in the 3rd quarter, the Raiders went in front 21-0 thanks to a 1-yd TD run by Nicolas Findlay before the Sabercats were able to score their first points of the game on a 35-yd field goal into the wind by Joel Viel.
The game then opened up with the Raiders first increasing their lead to 28-3 thanks to the second TD of the game by Mancini on another 35-yd catch, but that was followed immediately by a 60-yd TD run by the Sabercats QB Dominic Beaudet to make the score 28-9 (convert kick blocked).
In the 4th quarter, Remi Hort showed off his kicking leg by booting a 42-yd field goal into the wind but the Sabercats responded with another TD run by Beaudet and a 2-pt convert catch by Xavier Almonte to make the score 31-17. Findlay then closed out the scoring with his second TD of the game on an 18-yd scramble to make the final score 38-17.
Photo information:
1 – Ryan Forest carries the ball on a scoring drive
2 – Kevin Cronn breaks up a pass attempt
3 – Sanders Armand puts pressure on the Sabercats QB
4 – Daniel Mancini makes a TD-scoring catch
5 – Dominic Beaduet and Roumel Saget try to recover their own fumble
6 – Shawn Carignan blocks a punt attempt
7 – Dominic Beaudet evades a defender at the start of a 60-yd TD run
