Nomades win first Canadian Championship in overtime thriller

MONTREAL (May 5, 2024) – The Collège Montmorency Nomades are the Canadian Collegiate Flag Football Champions after a 13-12 (2OT) upset of the two-time defending champion University of Montréal (UdeM) in Sunday’s gold-medal game at the 2024 championship, held at Riverside Park in LaSalle. The Nomades converted in the second overtime period, on a pass from Elisabeth Ashka to Anne-Frédérique Tardif, and then forced an incompletion by UdeM to clinch their first Canadian championship.

This is the first time in the three-year history of the event that a CEGEP team has won the national crown, this also marks UdeM’ first loss at the event, ending a 17-game winning streak.

Ashka completed 27 of 52 pass attempts for 255 yards and two touchdowns, along with the successful OT convert. Tardif caught 10 passes for 108 yards, including a touchdown and the game-winner. For Montréal, Sandrine Gabriel-Huot went 20-for-35 for 237 yards with a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions. Mathilde Renaud was her favourite target, with seven catches for 102 yards.

UdeM took a 12-0 lead into halftime and seemed headed to the three-peat after a pair of touchdown catches by Renaud. However, Montmorency cut the lead to 12-6 on a four-yard hookup from Ashka to Tardif with 7:10 left, and a two-yard catch by Rosalie Lebeau tied the game with just 3:40 to go.

The first overtime period, which had each team starting a drive from midfield, resulted in no scores, so the teams proceeded to alternating one-point convert attempts from the 5-yard line. The Ashka-Tardif connection put Montmorency ahead and their defence held to complete the upset.

Defensively, Montmorency was led by Penelope Collins, who had three interceptions and broke up three passes, while Erika Bastien had UdeM’s only interception

Earlier, Concordia scored three unanswered touchdowns to down UQAM 20-13 in the bronze medal game. After falling behind 6-0, Concordia’s Sara Parker threw three touchdowns, to Amélie Bentler, Angélie Martina and Amy Dueul, and converted twice to put Concordia up 20-6. UQAM cut the lead to seven on a touchdown by Laura Molimard with 42 seconds left, but it was too little, too late.

Parker finished 23-for-34 for 212 yards and the three touchdowns and did not throw an interception. Her favourite target was Amy Dueul, who caught 14 passes for 123 yadrs. UQAM’s Emmanuelle Bronsard was 19-for-37 for 179 yards with one interception and two touchdowns. The Citadins’ leading receiver was Molimard who had eight catches for 60 yards, including both majors.

In the day’s earlier placement games, Sherbrooke shut out UQTR 26-0 for fifth place, Ahuntsic defeated St-Laurent 31-12 for seventh and Regina-Green earned the title of highest non-Quebec team, by downing Toronto 13-7 to finish ninth. The Western Mustangs defeated Champlain-St. Lambert 26-19 to take 11th spot, Outaouais downed Regina-Yellow 19-0 for 13^th, and the Guelph Gryphons picked up their first win of the tournament as they defeated Saskatchewan 16-6 in the 15^th-place game.

The next event on the FC domestic flag football calendar is the 2024 Football Canada Flag Championship, set for May 17-19 in Kingston, Ont. That tournament will feature competition in the U14, U16, U18 and 18s age categories.

Statistics for Gold Medal Game – UdeM vs Montmorency

Statistics for Bronze Medal Game – Concordia vs UQAM

Full results can be found here: https://footballcanada.com/event/2024-canadian-collegiate-flag-football-championship/

Final Team Placements

1. Collège Montmorency
2. Université de Montreal
3. Université Concordia
4. UQAM
5. Université de Sherbrooke
6. UQTR
7. Collège Ahuntsic
8. Cégep de Saint-Laurent
9. University of Regina-Green
10. University of Toronto
11. Western University
12. Champlain College
13. Cégep de l’Outaouais
14. University of Regina-Yellow
15. University of Guelph
16. University of Saskatchewan

Tournament All-Stars :

#	Name	Position	Team
2	Elisabeth Ashkar	QB	Collège Montmorency
8	Mathilde Renaud	Centre	Université de Montreal
10	Amelie Bentler	Receiver	Concordia University
11	Béatrice Bouchard	Receiver	UQAM
17	Léa Duval	Rusher	Université de Sherbrooke
3	Emma Rousseau	QB, DB	UQTR
1	Frédérique Morneau	REC, DB	Collège Ahuntsic
10	Marianne Quirion	REC, DB	Cégep de Saint-Laurent
15	Brenna Metz	REC, DB	University of Regina-Green
14	Yalini Sutharsan	REC	University of Toronto

Tournament leaders:

Scoring: 72 points – Marianne Quirion (St-Laurent)

TD passes: 31 – Sandrine Gobeil-Huot (Montréal)

Rushing TDs: 2 – Marianne Quirion (St-Laurent)

Receiving TDs: 10 – Daniella Chung (Toronto), Brenna Metz (Regina), Mathilde Renaud (Montréal)

Defensive TDs: 3 – Marianne Quirion (St-Laurent)

1-point conversions: 10 – Béatrice Bouchard (UQAM)

2-point conversions: 1 – Four players tied.

Sacks: 3 – Catherine Denault-Cardinal (UQAM), Noémie Olmand (Montréal), Léa Duval (Sherbrooke), and Mellisa O’Neill (Toronto)

Interceptions: 6 – Marianne Quirion (St-Laurent), Emma Rousseau (UQTR), and Penelope Collins (Montmorency)