FCC2018: Quebec earns shutout victory over New Brunswick

Coming into their opening game of the tournament, New Brunswick had high hopes despite being labelled as the underdog in their game against Quebec.

However, the defending gold medallists from Quebec proved to be a handful for New Brunswick to handle.  Quebec earned a 56-0 shutout victory over New Brunswick at the 2018 Football Canada Cup at Shouldice Park in Calgary, Alberta.

Quebec opened the scoring when Xavier Lacoste added a field goal with over four minutes left in the first quarter.

Nicholas Cenacle tallied two majors in the same quarter while Xavier Tremblay handed the ball off to Olivier Lapointe for a touchdown score.

With 50 seconds before the half, Cenacle would score his third touchdown of the game.

At halftime, Quebec enjoyed a 32-0 lead over New Brunswick.

It was more of the same for Quebec in the second half.

Quarterback Marc-Antoine Allard snuck into the end zone for a 1 yard major with 9:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Merton Theagene sprinted into the end zone for a rushing touchdown. New Brunswick also gave up a single to Quebec.

With 5:40 remaining in the game, New Brunswick conceded a safety to round out the scoring.

Offensive Players of the Game were Cenacle (Quebec) and Cody Barton (New Brunswick). Defensive Players of the Game were Dorian Daniel-Royal (Quebec) and Lucas Cormier (New Brunswick).

“We didn’t know much about this team coming in so we just played well and executed well on all three sides,” commented Quebec Head Coach Marco Iadeluca after the win.  “That’s what we wanted to do.”

Despite the loss, New Brunswick is taking the positives from this game and plan to build upon them for the duration of the tournament and beyond.

“We played a great football team and we got better towards the end which is even better,” assessed New Brunswick Head Coach Chris Hopkins after the game.  “It’s about improvement throughout the 48 minutes of the game.”

“When you play a team like Quebec, you start to play to that level.  I think we got better in 48 minutes so we build on the positives, we correct the mistakes and keep going forward.”

Quebec’s next challenge will be Alberta on Thursday July 19, 2018 at 7:00pm MST.  New Brunswick will square off against British Columbia on the same day at 10:00am MST.

Post-Game Interview with Chris Hopkins – Head Coach, New Brunswick

Post-Game Interview with Marco Iadeluca – Head Coach, Québec

This post is also available in: French