McGill Redbirds end 36-game losing streak to Montreal Carabins in stunning upset

The McGill Redbirds ended a 23-year losing streak to one of the top teams in the RSEQ on Friday night after beating the Montreal Carabins by a score of 31-24.

The Redbirds got the win after scoring 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald completed only nine passes for 142 yards in the win, though two of those completions went for touchdowns. McGill was also dominant along the ground as Jerry Momo rushed 24 times for 179 yards, Latendresse-Regimbald rushed 11 times for 119 yards, and both registered rushing scores.

McGill had lost 36-straight games to their cross-town rivals, last beating them on October 7, 2002. The Carabins, ranked No. 2 in the country, had just beaten the top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or the previous week.

“It was a huge win… since the Concordia loss (two weeks ago), we spoke a lot about just living the moment, going play by play and having fun out there,” McGill head coach Alex Surprenant told the team’s website. “That’s what I reminded the guys about just before this game and I told them to be relaxed, have fun and not look at the scoreboard. And that’s what they did… After the game, the first thing I said was that they could look at the scoreboard now.”

Pepe Gonzalez completed 23-of-38 pass attempts for 306 yards and two touchdowns in the loss, though he also threw three interceptions, which went to Philippe Bouthot, Alexandre Milnes-Pominville, and Jahnai-Taj Copeland-Lewis.

The game was played in front of an estimated crowd of 4,000 at Percival Molson Stadium. After the win, McGill now has an all-time record of 3-36 against the Carabins.