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Canadians in the NCAA: Week 12

Canadians in the NCAA: Week 12

By Michael Preston

As the college football season either winds down or reaches a climax, depending on the fortunes of teams across the United States, Canadians playing south of the border are now either heading for the playoffs or getting ready to pack away the pads for the winter.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Kito Poblah (Montreal, QC) is heading to the postseason with Central Michigan despite a 48-45 loss to rival Eastern Michigan in which he caught 2 passes for 37 yards, including a touchdown. The former Charter High School receiver’s scoring grab came over 20 yards to earn a 24-21 lead in the eventual loss.

Fellow Montreal native Kevin Challenger caught a pass for 11 yard as Boston College returned to winning ways with a 20-17 victory at Clemson, but is fighting off an ankle injury to be fit to face Miami this weekend. The Eagles have not beaten the Gators since 1984 and both teams have their sights on a bowl game on December 1.

Senior receiver Matt Lagace (Burlington, ON) did not post any stats as he brought the curtain down on his Harvard career in a 37-6 win over Yale. The Crimson upset Yale in a clash of two unbeaten teams to claim the Ivy League championship in front of 57,248 fans; the largest Yale Bowl crowd since 1989.

Several Canadian tight ends recorded stats on the weekend, including junior Martin Bedard (Laval, QC) who caught 1 pass for 24 yards as UConn beat Syracuse 30-7 and Arthur Kapalanga (Toronto, ON) who had a reception for 10 yards in opposition for Syracuse. Rolly Lumbala (Calgary, AB) had a catch for 4 yards as Idaho went down 58-14 to Boise State and Steve Schmidt (North Vancouver, BC) caught a pass for 4 yards in a losing effort for San Diego State against Air Force.

Closing the season for Weber State were freshman tight end Tyrell Francisco (Kelowna, BC) who also had one catch for 4 yards and senior Dimitri Tsoumpas (Edmonton, AB) who ended his college playing career starting at right guard in a 38-16 loss to Eastern Washington.

Wide receiver Kevin Logan (Toronto, ON) ended his time at Lafayette with a catch for 13 yards in a 21-17 win at Lehigh in college's football's most-played rivalry. The Leopards amassed 374 yards of offense in the dramatic 21-17 triumph in the 143rd meeting between the two schools.

Jabari Arthur (Montreal, QC) continues to impress for Akron. Arthur had 6 receptions for 73 yards, but was unable to come up with a fourth down grab inside the final two minutes of a 7-0 loss to Miami when a short pass was thrown his way.

Arthur and the Zips are postseason-bound after he set the Akron single-season record for receptions, his total now standing at 78 for 1,060 in 11 games, breaking the previous mark of 75 in 13 games. Arthur, who moved to second on the UA single-season receiving yards list, became just the third Zip to have at least 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He is also second on the Zips’ career receiving yards list with 2,542.

Also extending the season was Michigan State, who’s senior Mike Gyetvai (Old Castle, ON) started at left guard in a 35-31 win over Penn State to secure a bowl game berth. Senior Jesse Newman (Powell River, BC) started at left tackle in a 38-28 Louisiana Lafayette win over Florida International, junior Greg Wojt (Missisauga, ON) started at right tackle in Central Michigan’s loss to Eastern Michigan, and junior offensive linemen Jon Gott (Lethbridge, AB) and Andrew Woodruff (Victoria, BC) both saw action as Boise State beat Idaho 58-14. Senior linebacker Josh Bean (Calgary, AB) also got in on the action.

Ashland went in search of its first ever postseason victory, playing in the NCAA playoffs for the first since 1997, but fell 40-12 to Eastern Washington as senior Andy Hunter (Toronto, ON) started at right tackle.

Also done for the year is freshman kicker Carlo Turavani (St Catherine’s, ON) who kicked a 22-yard field goal in Hampton’s 45-25 playoff semi final loss to Southern Illinois. Formerly of Holy Cross Secondary, Turavani ended the year having made 11 of 15 field goals and 36 of 39 extra point attempts for a total of 69 points.

Switching the focus to the defensive side of the ball, junior defensive end Mike Stadnyk (Regina, SK) posted 3 tackles and half a sack as Montana finished the season 11-0 and now faces Montana Wofford in the first round of the Division I playoffs.

There were 6 tackles and one and a half sacks for losses totaling 15 yards for senior defensive end Jamaal Westerman (Brampton, ON) as Rutgers claimed a 20-16 win over Pitt, Eric Fraser (Burnaby, BC) made 7 tackles as he started at strong safety in Central Michigan’s loss to Eastern Michigan, and Ryan Hinds (Toronto, ON) made 2 tackles in a 34-14 New Hampshire win over Maine. UNH also progresses to the playoffs for a fourth straight year to face top-ranked Northern Iowa.

Chris Parris (Toronto, ON) made 2 tackles and had half as sack in Charleston Southern’s last game of the season, a 41-2 loss to Costal. In a winning effort against Marshall, senior Shomari Williams (Brampton, ON) made a tackle for Houston, while fellow linebacker, redshirt sophomore Nick Edgson (West Vancouver, BC), had a tackle for Idaho State in a 41-30 loss to Sacramento State to close out his season. There was also a solo tackle for junior Fernand Kashama (Toronto, ON) as Western Michigan beat Iowa 28-19.

Junior defensive back Tang Bacheyie (Windsor, ON) and the Kansas Jayhawks sit in second place in the BCS rankings hoping for a shot at the national championship after he contributed a tackle in a 45-7 win over Iowa State. Kansas faces off against number three-ranked (AP poll) Missouri this weekend and holds it’s highest ever ranking since being third for three weeks in the AP poll in 1968. The clash at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City will be televised nationally on ABC at 7pm on Saturday.