Canada cruises to 56-0 win against France
In Canada’s second game of the 2014 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) U-19 World Championship on Thursday night in Kuwait, Canada cruised to a 56-0 shutout against France.
“The kids were very excited to play against France today,” said Canada head coach and defensive coordinator, Warren Craney. “We knew we had to bring a physical game and wanted to send a message early.”
Quebec City running back Philippe Lessard-Vézina supplied the game’s opening two scores on 9 and 34-yard runs respectively to give Canada a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“After a slow start, we managed to shut down the France offense and our offense moved the ball easily including three rushing touchdowns by Lessard-Vezina,” added Craney. “Vezina was the early spark we needed to change the momentum of the game.”
Next quarterback Frédéric Paquette-Perrault found his CVM (CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal) teammate Louis-Mathieu Normandin in the end zone to push Canada’s lead to 21.
Following a 24-yard Dominique Lévesque field goal, Lessard-Vézina went to work again, tallying his third major on the day, this time on a 55-yard touchdown run. The Académie Saint-Louis running back was named Canada’s player of the game, rushing for a game-high 154 yards on 9 carries.
To end the third quarter Calgary’s Brett Hunchak connected with his younger brother Colton who made a leaping 8-yard touchdown catch to end the third quarter.
A 26-yard Louis-Philippe St-Amant pick-6 followed by two consecutive receiving touchdowns by Marc-Antoine Pivin from the arm of quarterback Liam Putt made the final score 56-0.
Canada’s defense played another strong game allowing 42 yards of total offense, all of which were on the ground.
“Our defense has been solid since training camp and are extremely talented and anxious to test themselves with our next opponent.”
Canada will now play Austria on Sunday at 8 PM local time (1 PM ET).
