Plenty of highlights on Day 1 of 2023 National Collegiate Flag Football Championship

Four Quebec teams – Sherbrooke, College Montmorency, Concordia, and 2022 winner Université de Montréal (U de M) – remained perfect in Day 1 action at the 2023 National Collegiate Flag Football Championship, each claiming top spot in their pool heading into Day 2.

Pool A saw two dominant performances by last year’s champions, U de M, who took on the University of Saskatchewan in their opening match (57-06), before dispatching UQO 54-0 in the second matchup of the night. The women of U de M will conclude pool play against the University of Toronto at 11:50 am on Saturday before finding out the path that’s laid out in front of them and the teams standing between them and the repeat championship.

In another impressive show of force, Concordia made quick work of their opponents in their back-to-back opening games on Friday evening, besting College Ahuntsic (60-6) and then Western White (47-0), cruising to a top position in their pool heading into the second day of competition. Concordia’s defensive back Frédérique Paul expects to see their team continue building momentum on Saturday, and a hard-fought battle against familiar foe UQAM.

“Everything just went really well today. We all trust each other so much; that teamwork is the source of our success,” explains Paul. “Now we have to focus on the important games, and we want to keep winning. We’ll face teams we’re used to playing against, but things are always really close when we play UQAM so that’s a bit more stressful. Tonight, we’ll take care of ourselves and do our recovery, and be ready to get up early tomorrow and get back at it!”

In Pool C, it was College Montmorency that rose to the lead thanks to an inspired one-point win over UQTR (33-32) and a determined victory (39-12) against University of Regina Cougars Green. Montmorency will look to close out pool play with a perfect record Saturday morning when they face Western Purple, a team still looking for their first win of the competition.

Montmorency’s Anne-Frédérique Tardif, who played in her first games since breaking her collarbone barely four months ago, commented: “We maintained our focus and intensity throughout the two games and allowed us to be victorious. We kept pushing, even when playing from behind against UQTR, and found ways to keep scoring to get that win. We now face a team we don’t know much about, but if we play against them like we did tonight, I’m confident we can get the job done.”

Finally, Pool D saw some closer results and a battle for first place in the group being played out between Football Nova Scotia and Sherbrooke, the latter claiming the win over the former (33-19) in their second game of the night. Now Sherbrooke will face University of Regina Cougars Yellow to close out the first round of play.

A Day 1 honourable mention goes out to University of Regina Cougars Green, who in their first game of the night against Western Purple, came back from trailing 0-14 to capture an uplifting 28-14 win.

The Canadian Collegiate Flag Football Championship 2023, featuring women’s teams from across the country, is currently being held at the Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard in Montreal, QC, with games running all weekend until the championship game Sunday afternoon.

Visit https://footballcanada.com/event/2023-canadian-collegiate-flag-football-national-championships/ for the full schedule, results and links to select game streams.