Gaels get home win on Thanksgiving weekend 48-27 over Toronto

KINGSTON, Ont. (October 11, 2014) - The Gaels grabbed their first win of the season on Saturday, topping Toronto 48-27 at Richardson Stadium.

Queen's got the job done through the air in their Thanksgiving matchup with the Varsity Blues, as starting quarterbackBilly McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) finished with 406 passing yards, going 22-35 for three touchdowns and two interceptions. McPhee now moves into second all-time on the Gaels yards passing list as he now has 7,775 in his career to move ahead of Tom Denison. He now trails only Danny Brannagan who had 10,714 during his tenure with the Gaels.

Queen's took advantage of three first quarter fumbles by Toronto, as Curtis Carmichael (Scarborough, Ont.) caught a 68 yard bomb from McPhee on a corner route to get the Gaels on the board first. Dillon Wamsley's (London, Ont.) first quarter field goal was also set up by a Toronto fumble, giving Queen's a 10-0 lead early in the first quarter. Frederic Kinkead (Quebec City), Munashe Masawi (Peterborough, Ont.), and Mitchell Spataro (Barrie, Ont.) picked up the fumble recoveries for the Gaels.

Toronto pulled themselves back into the game on a six yard touchdown toss from Simon Nassar to Boris Isakov and an Eric Hewitson field goal, leveling the score 10-10 after the first quarter.

After Alex Carroll (Victoria, B.C.) put Queen's back on top 17-10 in the second quarter, Michael Moore (Mississauga, Ont.) blocked a punt from former Gael Aaron Gazendam to begin the second half.

Derek Wiggan (Toronto) recovered the punt for Queens, tumbling 75 yards to the three yard line. From there, Justin Gleben (Barrie, Ont.) punched in another Gaels touchdown to make it 24-10.

"The blocked punt set the bar, I think that changed the momentum of the game," head coach Pat Sheahan said. "After that we went right down and scored to give us a 14 point buffer. It wasn't over at that point, but I thought that it gave our team a tremendous boost."

In an action packed third quarter, Isakov caught his second touchdown pass for Toronto, and Carmichael responded for Queen's with his second touchdown of the game, which came off a Carroll fumble after a reception.

After Jesse Andrews (Arnprior, Ont.) put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter, making it 41-20 for the Gaels, rookie Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) took over the quarterback duties for Queen's. Hobbs connected withDoug Corby (Burlington, Ont.) on a 60 yard catch and run for the first touchdown in his young Gaels career.

Lukas Gavac ran for 134 yards, as the Varsity Blues leading rusher, including 96 yards in the first half. Toronto quarterback Simon Nassar, who is coming off a record setting game last week against Carleton, was 29-52 for 341 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Nassar's favourite target on Saturday was Llevi Noel, who caught 11 passses for 129 yards.

Rookie linebacker Moore continued his standout season for Queen's, finishing with the punt block, a one handed interception, two forced fumbles, and 4.5 total tackles. Yann Dika-Balotoken (Toronto) had nine solo tackles and broke up a pass in the Gaels win.

Carroll led Queen's with 149 yards receiving, while Corby picked up 146 to go with 62 punt return yards and Carmichael finished with over 112 yards from passes and 36 from kick returns.

Queen's will take on York next Saturday at Richardson Stadium for homecoming.

Source: Queen's Gaels