Queen's season ends after 42-41 OT loss to No. 9 Ottawa

KINGSTON, Ont. (October 22, 2016) – The Gaels lost a heartbreaker against No.9 Ottawa in overtime on the last day of the regular season at Richardson Stadium in cold, wet, and windy conditions. The Gee-Gees took their only lead of the day on the last play of the game to win 42-41.
 
Ending the season at 3-5, Queen's finishes level with Guelph in the standings. The Gaels fall out of a playoff spot because the Gryphons won the head-to-head tie-break.
 
GAME FLOW
The first quarter started with a strong sack for the Gaels defence, with Nick Dowd (Gananoque, Ont.) taking down Ottawa quarterback Derek Wendel on the first offensive play of the game. The Gee-Gees went two-and-out, and punted into the wind from their own goal line. Jonah Pataki (Wallaceburg, Ont.) started a career day with three runs on the Gaels first three plays, including a 27-yarder that set up a first and goal on the one yard line. Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) put Queen's up 7-0 with a quarterback sneak early in the first quarter. The next two Gaels possessions ended on the Ottawa one and two yard lines, but yielded no points after Queen's turned the ball over on downs. Kyle Gouveia (Brampton, Ont.) checked into the game for a few plays at the end of the first quarter after Hobbs went down favouring his ankle.
 
After Nicholas Fraser-Greene (Mississauga, Ont.) grabbed his first interception of the day at the Ottawa 19 yard line, the Gaels switched to fullback Eric Dodwell (Kingston, Ont.) at the goal line, who ran through the line from two yards out to score. With Queen's up 16-0, Gouveia took over the Gaels quarterbacking duties for good with 10 minutes to play in the second. After Ottawa got on the board with a 32 yard field goal, Niclas Bembenek (Winnipeg, Man.) responded for the Gaels with his only field goal of the day. The Gee-Gees went into halftime with a touchdown on the final play of second quarter, which was set up by a mishandled field goal return by Queen's.
 
The teams traded rouges to start the third quarter, before Gee-Gees kicker Lewis Ward hit another field goal. Queen's marched the field on the next drive, which culminated in a 35 yard touchdown pass from Gouveia to Matteo Del Brocco (Leamington, Ont.). Ottawa started to look dangerous on the following possession, with Mitchell Baines making a 43 yard catch to kick-start a 102 yard drive that ended in a Gee-Gees touchdown.
 
Ottawa narrowed the deficit to 24-27 before Fraser-Greene came up with his second interception of the game and returned it 40 yards for a Gaels touchdown. The very next drive saw Ottawa cruise down the field in four plays to score just a minute later and leave the score at 34-31 in favour of Queen's. Still up three points with under five minutes to play, the tricolour were forced to punt from their own 47. The snap sailed over the Gaels punter all the way to the eight yard line, where Ottawa took over on downs with three minutes remaining in regulation. After two incomplete passes, the Gee-Gees tied the game with a field goal to force overtime.
 
Queen's had the first possession in extra time, and Gouveia found Peter Hannon (Toronto) and Del Brocco on back-to-back passes to set up first and goal. Rudy Uhl (North Vancouver, B.C.) caught a Gouveia pass in the flats to put the pressure on Ottawa and the Gaels up 41-34. With the game on the line, Wendel found Bryce Vieira from 20 yards out for the touchdown. In a gutsy move, Ottawa went for the two-point conversion. They score: they win. They miss: Queen's wins and makes the playoffs. Wendel rolled out to the right and Baines reeled in a tipped pass to end the Gaels season with a gut-wrenching overtime loss.

BY THE NUMBERS
984 - Mitchell Baines ended the regular season 16 yards shy of 1,000 for Ottawa
204 - Jonah Pataki ran for a career-high 204 yards
149 - Head coach Pat Sheahan ends the season with 149  career wins (regular season and playoffs)
2 - Kyle Gouveia threw the first two touchdowns of his career
232 - Derek Wendel sets new CIS record for completions in a season, beating his own record of 216 last year
646 - Wendel becomes the leader in completions in Gee-Gees history

FINAL SAY
"I think we are that team that everybody is glad was eliminated because on any given day, we can play with anybody. I was proud of our team, they honoured themselves, they honoured their team and they honoured their school. They provided great entertainment all season but particularly today they showed some grit and some guts while never giving up on one another." - Head coach Pat Sheahan

Source: Queen's Gaels