Cheetahs hammer Beauce, advance to Bol d'Or

Published on November 12, 2007

Published on February 6, 2010

Chris Quigley

The Western Star

Vanier's 52-3 semifinal romp sets up grudge match versus Vieux Montreal

When the Vanier College Cheetahs moved their home games to N.D.G.'s Concordia Stadium in September and its state-of-the-art artificial-turf field, even they couldn't have imagined how well it would work out for them. So after the Cheetahs hammered the Beauce-Appalaches Condors 52-3 in their Cégep AAA league semi-final victory to set up a Bol d'Or date against their biggest rivals, the Vieux Montreal Spartiates, you could say they were happy about the change.

Trading the sloppy, muddy field at Vanier for Concordia's fast track paid dividends for the Cheetahs, who rolled up an incredible 625 yards of total offence and held the Condors' powerful offense out of the end zone. "We played very well on offence today," said Cheetahs quarterback Myles Gibbon, who threw for 315 yards and two scores and ran for two more. "We kept the mistakes to a minimum and played our game. We made plays when we had to," he said.

Vanier players who scored touchdowns included St. Laurent’s own Duraney White (85-yard catch), John Jean-Baptiste (52-yard run), Vincent Zucco (12-yard catch), Anatole Roberts (14-yard run) and Cartierville resident Julien Papineau (74-yard touchdown reception). Jean-Baptiste was the Cheetahs' leading rusher with 141 yards on 13 carries.

On the defensive side of the ball, Samael Lavaud paced the Cheetahs with 14 tackles including a sack of Beauce quarterback Derek Berrigan, while defensive end Ameet Pall also had a big game with 10 tackles.

The Cheetahs and head coach Peter Chryssolmalis now set their sights on the Bol d'Or, scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. at Diablos Stadium in Trois-Rivières. Vanier, which beat the Spartiates 10-3 and 38-17 during the regular season, is expected to be the favourite in that game.

A victory would give the Cheetahs the first undefeated season in school history.