With the first double in Division 1 college football since the Vanier Cheetahs in 2006 and 2007, the Limoilou Titans broke a glass ceiling that had existed since their inception 15 years ago by managing to attract a significant number of recruits from the Blizzard of Saint-François attract seminar.
“We’ve been working on this file for 15 years,” head coach Dave Parent said. Like our team, we were patient and resilient, even when results were lacking. After it worked two years ago, we broke through the last remaining wall this year.”
This trigger bears the names of Mathieu Hébert and Xavier Dagenais, who will be one of the captains next year. “We are talking about two recruits who were number one in their position in the region, but also in the whole of Quebec,” said the Titans pilot. Even though Mathieu eventually took over the management of American preparatory schools [McCallie]His decision and that of Xavier sent a strong message and opened the door.
Homer
Last year, the Titans recruited Maxime Poliquin and Victor Lavoie before hitting a home run this year. A total of seven Blizzard graduates from Saint-François Seminary have committed to the Titans, surpassing the total for the entire first 15 years of football in Limoilou, and two more are still in a period of reflection.
Quarterback Samuel Gagné, whose father Jessy played and trained with chief recruiter André Gosselin while he ran Benoît-Vachon's Embâcle program, is one of them.
We also find offensive player Jérôme Lehoux, whose father Pascal was the first coach in the history of the CNDF. The son is also a very good baseball player.
Antoine Dagenais, whose brother Xavier played the Pioneers in 2022, Louis Petitclerc, Victor Laflamme, Anthony Morasse and Émile Chamberland complete the cohort.
A double that weighed heavily?
Did the Titans' double help turn the tide? “It goes beyond the two Bols d'Or,” Parent said. We conveyed the same message from the beginning and knew it would take a long time. CNDF is a good soccer program right next to SSF. Garneau was the second stop and Limoilou was third.”
Goal to be achieved
By finally breaking through SSF's “wall,” Parent will also achieve a goal he set for himself when he took over the program's leadership in Division 3 in 2009.
“The goal was to focus on a 100 percent regional team and we will achieve that goal in 2026,” he said. The outside players we recruited in 2022 and 2023 will complete their college careers in 2025, a year in which there will only be two players who are not from the Quebec region. We have worked to feed ourselves from our regional catchment area to ensure our sustainability.”
“We recruited from outside to find skills and leadership that we didn’t have in the region,” Parent continued. Blizzard’s recruits will fill this need.”