3e in the ranking of the Northeast section, the Cégep de Rimouski Football Pioneers will visit Champlain College in Saint-Lambert, 2e in the standings in the South-West, Saturday afternoon in Saint-Lambert, as a curtain-raiser to the playoffs of the RSEQ College League.
For the Pioneers, this is their first appearance in the playoffs in six years. Their last match dates back to November 10, 2018 in an 18-2 loss against Ahuntsic in the semi-final of the Bol-d’Or.
Special fact: the Pioneers maintained a better record (6-2) than their opponents, the Cavaliers (5-3), in the regular season. In the column of points scored, Pioneers advantage with 274 against 244 while they allowed 12 more points with 199 compared to 187.
Figures which allow us to argue that the Pioneers present a competitive team against the Cavaliers.
Maxim Lépinay agrees. “They have a very good offense with a very good quarterback who passes the ball a lot to very good receivers. Their defense is a little younger. I think he’s a good opponent for us. At the moment, our attack has the wind in its sails and defensively, we are going to tighten up a little. We can expect an electrifying match,” analyzes the head coach.
Happy for his players
One thing is certain, he is happy for his players.
“There are guys on the team who have been here three or four years and who haven’t experienced this, a playoff game. Rendered in playoffsanything is possible, you have to play your best game every week for three weeks. The primary goal at the start of the year was to offer that to the players. »
“There, we made the playoffsbut we won’t be satisfied with just doing them. The next match will be decisive and the next one too. In the playoffs, it’s rarely the best team that wins, it’s the team that makes the fewest mistakes and wants the most. You have to learn to win playoff games. I can’t wait and I’m excited to see them compete in a match like this, the one I’ve been waiting for since June. This is where we will see the character of our team,” mentions Maxim Lépinay.
Léopold D’Amour-Dionne
One of those who will have a big say in the game is quarterback, Léopold D’Amour-Dionne, who set some new team marks in 2024.
“We had a great season, we played with heart, we gave our 100%. Now for the playoffs. We face a good team that is in the other section, so we have seen them less this year. We didn’t play against them. We will work hard all week to arrive ready on Saturday. We are confident, we will enter the series after two victories and a great performance against Chicoutimi. We want to continue our momentum,” said the pivot of the attack after last Saturday’s game. The kickoff will be taken at 1 p.m.
The match will be webcast on the Soir.ca website
