OUA Football Roundup Week 6
Septemebr 30, 2017
Queen's 54 Windsor 10
WINDSOR, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels (1-4) got head coach Pat Sheahan his 150th career win as a head coach in U SPORTS as the Tricolour defeated Windsor 54-10.
Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) threw for 486 yards and four touchdowns and added another score on the ground while Chris Osei-Kusi (Brampton, Ont.) hauled in 226 yards and three touchdowns. Jake Puskas (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) had his second straight start and second straight game with over 100 yards on the ground tallying 135 on 20 rushes.
GAME FLOW
Things got off to a slow start for the Gaels in the early stages of the game as the Lancers, up 3-0 on Queen's, forced and recovered a fumble on their own one-yard line preventing the Gaels from taking the lead.
After a defensive stop, the Gaels got on the board as Hobbs found Osei-Kusi for a 22-yard touchdown.
Queen's picked up two points off a safety and Hobbs punched in a quarterback sneak in the second quarter to give the Gaels a 16-3 lead at the half.
The Tricolour offence came flying out of the gates to start the third quarter. After Puskas ran in a five-yard score, Queen's recovered a fumble off the ensuing kick-off and two plays later Jeremy Pendergast (Kingston, Ont.) for his first career touchdown.
The defence came up with another takeaway for Queen's as Nelkas Kwemo (Montreal) picked up an interception. That led to one of two Osei-Kusi touchdowns to close out the quarter.
The Gaels added another 10 points in the fourth, and the Lancers picked up their first major of the game to bring the score to a final of 54-10.
Source: gogaelsgo.com
Western 29 Laurier 13
WATERLOO, Ont. – A strong defensive effort and impressive ground game led the Western Mustangs to a 29-13 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday afternoon at University Stadium.
"That's round one. If we're going to win a championship we've got to do it again and if it's not [against Laurier] then it'll be another good team. Our guys responded, it was a good challenge, they're a good football team," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 6-0 and stand alone as the only undefeated team in the OUA, while Laurier falls to 4-1 and are one of four teams with four wins, including Ottawa, McMaster, and Waterloo.
The Mustangs racked up 457 yards of total offence in the win, with 361 of those coming on the ground.
Chris Merchant led both the Mustangs rushing and passing attacks, completing 10 of 16 passes for 109 yards, while also recording 143 yards rushing on 11 carries.
"They're a great team in the secondary and they have a lot of athletes back there. Maybe I missed a couple of reads, but some of the running lanes were opening up and sometimes when I see that I'm able to take it," said Merchant. "I feel like today was one of those days where they opened up really nicely for me and the offensive line did a great job blocking for me."
All-Canadian running back Alex Taylor was next up with 124 yards on 21 attempts and was followed by Cedric Joseph, who tallied 80 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns.
Marc Liegghio had yet another impressive outing, after tying a Mustangs single game record with six field goals last week the Woodbridge, Ont., native hit five more field goals on Saturday along with two extra points. Liegghio has now connected on 13 consecutive field goals, and hasn't missed since the Mustangs game against McMaster on September 9.
Although the Golden Hawks recorded 438 total yards on Saturday, the Mustangs defence were able to limit Laurier's big plays and prevent them from finishing off drives.
"We've been boiling on this for a long time now," said defensive tackle Jimmy Hawley on taking down the Golden Hawks. "Coach Gleason, credit to him, coach Marshall and all the coaches for getting us prepared. We had a bunch of different packages, you could see different guys subbing in almost every down.
"This is huge, but at the same time we can't ride this high too high, this is only round one – we're going to see them again."
Michael Knevel completed 33 of 45 passes for 317 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss. His main target was Kurleigh Gittens Jr. who made an incredible 18 catches, one off the U SPORTS record of 19, for 174 yards.
Gittens Jr. and Knevel may have gained yardage through the air, but the purple and white defence slowed down a running attack that had been averaging nearly 210 yards per game, limiting the Golden Hawks to 121 yards rushing.
"We did a very good job stopping the run, we've got to do a better job stopping the pass, but give them credit they have a couple receivers…they're dangerous to deal with, especially in man coverage."
Western started the game off strong, with Taylor breaking out for a 41-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a 39-yard field goal from Liegghio to cap off Western's opening drive.
The Golden Hawks responded on their first drive with a 21-yard field goal from Nathan Mesher to keep the score even in the opening minutes.
The kickers continued to put points on the board, with Liegghio hitting a 44-yard field goal to make it 6-3 for the Mustangs after 15 minutes. Both defences continued to limit their opposing offence, with Liegghio and Mesher each adding another field goal to keep the teams separated by only three points.
Late in the second quarter the Mustangs used the ground game to put together their first touchdown drive of the day, with Merchant pulling the ball down and running for 31 yards on the drive before Joseph could punch it in from five yards out to put Western up 16-6 heading into halftime.
"Chris is dangerous, when you play two-man against him you really can't account for the quarterback pulling the ball and taking off because everyone's in man coverage and the two guys are high. Chris did a good job with pulling it down and ripping off some big yards for us," said Marshall.
Neither team was able to get much going until late in the third, when Joseph scored on a 34-yard run to record his second touchdown of the day and extend the Western lead to 23-6 going into the final frame.
Liegghio's fourth field goal of the day put Western up 26-6 early in the fourth, however the Golden Hawks responded midway through the quarter with a six-yard pass from Knevel to Daniel Bennett.
Unfortunately for the home side that was as close as things would get, as Liegghio hit one final field goal to give the Mustangs a 29-13 win.
The Mustangs will now turn their attention to a showdown with the Carleton Ravens on Friday, October 6, at TD Stadium. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and can be seen live on Rogers Cable channel 368, and on OUA.tv. Fans can also tune in on Radio Western 94.9 FM or on Newstalk 1290 CJBK with Tom McConnell and legendary Mustangs coach Larry Haylor calling all the action.
Source: westernmustangs.ca
Guelph 53 Waterloo 49
WATERLOO – They were like two heavyweight fighters exchanging punishing blows in the championship rounds of a fight. But the Guelph Gryphons football team snuck in the last meaningful punch. The Gryphons got three rushing touchdowns from fifth-year running back Johnny Augustine, including the winning score in the final minute, to rally and defeat the Waterloo Warriors 53-49 in an OUA classic at Warrior Field Saturday afternoon.
Guelph scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to improve to 3-3 in dramatic fashion.
"The guys battled hard and believed in themselves," said head coach Kevin MacNeill. "It was nice to see them persevere through adversity."
In a wild fourth quarter that featured each team answering their opponent, Augustine got the job done late. The Welland, ON native took the ball from quarterback Theodore Landers and broke away from pursuing Waterloo defenders to scamper in from 22 yards out with just 23 seconds left on the clock. It was Augustine's third rushing touchdown of the afternoon, tying a career high for a single game and keeping him atop the OUA with eight rushing scores this season.
In Guelph's final drive, the Warriors took a critical unnecessary roughness penalty in the final minute, helping the Gryphons creep closer to what most thought would be a tying field goal. But Augustine's final touchdown run on second and short iced it for the Gryphons, who were looking to avoid a third overtime in six weeks.
"We never gave up and kept fighting until the end," Augustine said.
The Gryphons celebrate after a thriller at Warrior Field"We thought that we'll get the first down here and then Johnny took it in," MacNeill added. "That was great. We were obviously trying to score but we had been in overtime a couple times so we wanted to get the first down, take some shots and if we didn't score, kick a field goal.
"Johnny just put the team on his back, with outstanding blocking from the receivers."
Augustine, who impressed at the last CFL Combine and tried out with the Edmonton Eskimos last Spring, finished the day with 91 rushing yards on 18 carries. His first touchdown came from one yard out at 8:25 of the third quarter, a critical scoring drive for the Gryphons, who trailed 29-12 at the half and then 32-19 after a 28-yard field goal from Waterloo's Caleb Girard just minutes after the break.
Guelph gambled after that touchdown and successfully executed an onside kick, recovered by Dotun Aketepe, giving the visitors possession just past midfield. Landers found Jacob Scarfone for a huge 46-yard strike and Augustine went right back to work, scoring a three-yard touchdown at 7:49 of the third to help the Gryphons snatch momentum from the aggressive Waterloo offence with 14 points in a 36-second span. Guelph tried another onside kick after Augustine's second score and almost recovered again but Waterloo came away with the ball.
"We figured we would go for the pooch kick and limit their ability to return it," said MacNeill. "We were down, needed a spark, and needed to get more opportunities to get our offence on the field. It was part of the strategy coming out of the half, being more aggressive and taking the game to them."
Landers was making his first career start after fourth-year veteran James Roberts was injured against McMaster last week and he was solid, completing 16 of 26 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown, while running the ball 13 times for a game-high 106 yards on the ground and another touchdown. Scarfone led all Guelph receivers with six catches for 86 yards and had a critical fourth-quarter touchdown.
"Theo was very poised," MacNeill. "Even in the first half, he wasn't quite making all the plays but he was very composed and we believed in his ability to extend drives."
The Gryphons' defence was busy all day trying to contain Waterloo's dual quarterback threat of Tre Ford and Lucas McConnell. Fourth-year defensive back Royce Metchie led all players with 10 solo tackles and two assisted tackles, to go along with an interception and a sack, while linebacker Luke Korol added eight solo tackles, two assisted tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
Scarfone battles for yardageGuelph did a good job slowing down Waterloo early and took a 5-0 lead after a safety and 32-yard field goal from Gabriel Ferraro. But the Warriors quickly got into rhythm, beginning with a one-yard rushing score from Dion Pellerin. Guelph did answer that with an incredible 96-yard kickoff return from second-year defensive back Jason Richards to go up 12-7. But two big plays, a 95-yard touchdown hookup by McConnell and receiver Tyler Ternowski and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Ford to Brandon Metz, helped Waterloo establish a 29-12 lead going into the half.
"Waterloo is a good team," said MacNeill. "They've done a great job this year in utilizing the pieces that they have to move the football. That's not the same team as a few years ago. They've recruited a lot of good pieces, have a very good receiving corps and two really good quarterbacks that can make plays with their feet and arms."
After Augustine scored his first two touchdowns, Ford ran one in from 15 yards out late in the third quarter, setting up the wild fourth that saw the two teams exchange scores at will. Landers found Scarfone just four seconds into the quarter from five yards out to make it 39-33 Waterloo. Ford again showed why he leads the Warriors in rushing by running in another touchdown from the Guelph six-yard line.
It was then Landers's turn, as the Maple Ridge, BC native kept the ball for a five-yard score. Two Ferraro field goals, from 51 and 41 yards out, tied the game 46-46. Girard would hit from 42 yards himself to put the Warriors up three with 1:16 left in the game before Augustine ended it.
The Gryphons go into their bye week and will host the Laurier Golden Hawks at Alumni Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 14 for Think Pink/Senior Day. Game time is 1 pm.
Source: gryphons.ca
York 2 McMaster 32
HAMILTON (September 30, 2017) - The No. 7 McMaster Marauders knocked off the York Lions 32-2 during homecoming weekend at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ont.
The win improved McMaster's record to 4-1 while dropping York to 1-4. McMaster now sits tied with Wilfrid Laurier for second place in the OUA football standings with three weeks left to play in the regular season.
Jordan Lyons of Burlington, Ont., had one touchdown and collected a workmanlike 186 yards on 25 carries in the victory over York. It marked just the second time in Lyons career that he has broken 100 yards rushing, and his final total was his career high.
McMaster's defence gave up just two points all game and extended their streak of not allowing a touchdown to 12 quarters. They gave up a mere 143 offensive yards, which improved their per-game average to 287 yards for the season, ranking them second in the OUA behind only Western (286 yards).
Rookies Justice Allin of Toronto and Jackson White of Cambridge, Ont. also contributed in the win, with Allin pulling down a touchdown and registering a career high 141 all-purpose yards. White was 19 for 25 with one touchdown pass and a career-high 303-yards passing.
For York, Erick Kimmerly of Oshawa, Ont., recorded a team high 52 yards receiving on five carries while quarterback Brett Hunchak of Calgary posted 125 yards passing on 16 completions.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED: McMaster's kicker Adam Preocanin of Burlington, Ont., recorded 17 points in the win against York. He registered five field goals with his longest being 42 yards. He added field goals from 12, 14, 18 and 15 yards. He also tallied a rouge, an extra point and helped set up a bizarre scoring play on a blocked field goal in the third.
FINDING NEW WAYS TO SCORE: In the third quarter, with the Marauders leading 17-1, Preocanin had a 25-yard field goal attempt blocked, with the Marauders recovering after a scrum on the goal line. That unique play set up a one-yard touchdown punch-in by Jordan Lyons to push the score to 24-1.
LOOK SMART WITH FRIENDS: McMaster's defence has gone 186 minutes and 56 seconds without allowing a touchdown. The last touchdown scored against McMaster came against Western (Sept. 9) with 6:57 remaining in that game, when Mustang Cedric Joseph of Montreal scored on a three-yard run. Overall, McMaster has only given up four touchdowns all season (three vs. Western in week 3 and one vs. Saskatchewan in exhibition play).
HOMECOMING: A total of 4,502 McMaster faithful and alumni watched the Marauders dust the Lions 32-2 on a cool and sunny afternoon at Ron Joyce Stadium.
BIG SCREEN: Ron Joyce Stadium is celebrating its tenth season, and on Saturday, McMaster unveiled a brand new scoreboard and high definition jumbotron to their game day experience. The screen features a high definition 32'x19' high definition screen. Paul Leskew of the Scoreboard Man, along with RBC, made the video board and scoreboard possible.
UP NEXT: It will be a short turnaround for McMaster, with the Thanksgiving weekend approaching. McMaster (4-1) will travel to Toronto to play under the lights on Oct. 5 vs. the Toronto Varsity Blues. Toronto holds a 1-4 record and are enjoying a bye this week. Their only win of the year came back on Sept. 4 with a 19-12 victory over Windsor. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.
QUOTABLE:
McMaster running back Justice Allan on today's game flow...
"We wanted to put on a show for the fans, first and foremost, especially with the alumni in the building. That was an expectation for us. The first half was slow, and I think right now we're a first half team. We need to work on the first half, but we had a great speech that motivated everybody, and we came out fired up in the second.
Allin on the McMaster's defensive play this season...
"We can always expect our defence to show up."
McMaster head coach Greg Knox on slow starts to games
"We're a young, inexperienced group, and what's happening is that it's taking us awhile to get where we need to get emotionally. We'll need to collectively do a better job of getting into a mindset and getting mentally and physically ready to answer the bell at opening kickoff."
Knox on his defensive play to date...
"We're limiting mistakes more and more. That's important if you want to be a championship-calibre defence. That's probably the biggest step forward, and really what we're aiming to do. If you limit mistakes, you force teams to beat you instead of beating yourself."
Knox on establishing the run during today's game...
"It's critical to be a balanced offensive attack. Sometimes it's easier against throw the ball all over the field. But we need to be able to run the ball come playoff time against playoff-calibre defences. It's best to establish that every step along the way over the course of the season."
Jordan Lyons on the causes of the Marauders slow starts:
"Little things go wrong. Guys make small mistakes, and those add up. We've just got to come together as a whole and start getting it. That's what starts happening in these second halves. Everyone executes on their assignments and good things happen."
Lyons on the danger of complacency with the schedule ahead:
"We have to understand that we're young and we're not a perfect team yet. We're not a team that can just come out and destroy anyone when we feel like it. We're a team that needs to improve every week, and we want a Yates Cup. Nothing less. We're not here to make the quarterfinals or the semis. But we have to build to that, and little steps like today are part of that."
Lyons on the backfield combination with Allin:
"We work off of each other. He's a little faster than I am, but we work off of each other. I do the inside work and he does the outside work. And then we have packages where he can get out of the backfield and I can sit in and block. He's a great guy and I've taken him under my wing and I just keep teaching him. He's getting better and better every week."
Source: marauders.ca
Carleton 33 Ottawa 30
OTTAWA, ON – In the highest attended Panda Game in 49 years, the Ravens delivered a memorable 33-30 double overtime victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees in front of a sellout crowd of 24, 420 at TD Place Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Third-year receiver Quinton Soares (London, ON) opened the scoring for the Ravens by returning Lewis Ward’s punt 84 yards to the house to give his team a 7-0 advantage early on.
After some back and forth play, veteran kicker Michael Domagala (St. Catharines, ON) rewarded the Ravens with an 18-yard field goal to extend Carleton’s lead to 10-0 at the end of the first.
Just under three minutes into the second, Domagala was clutch again as his 32-yard field goal pushed the Ravens ahead 13-0.
However, the Gee-Gees remained focused, as they were able to respond with a touchdown to narrow Carleton’s lead thanks to rookie QB Alex Lavric, who found second-year wideout Kalem Beaver in the end zone to cut the deficit to six.
With just under two minutes to go in the half, Carleton moved the sticks to get within field goal range, where Michael Domagala connected from 24 yards to make it 16-7 at the intermission.
The third quarter saw the Gee-Gees find their rhythm as Lavric found receiver Carter Matheson on a nine-yard score to make it a two-point game, 16-14, in favour of the Ravens.
Ten minutes later, Lavric guided uOttawa downfield before firing a bullet to Beaver who found daylight in the middle of the field to score on a 49-yard touchdown pass to give the Gee-Gees a 21-16 lead on the scoreboard.
The Ravens, who have proven to be a resilient squad so far this season, weren’t ready to give up just yet. Trailing by five points in the fourth and final quarter, the Ravens made a drive towards the end zone with under 10 minutes to go. Despite missing a few glorious red zone chances, Domagala’s rouge made it a four-point game.
Still down with under five minutes to go and their playoff hopes on the line, the Ravens needed a miracle. With the intensity at its peak, Michael Arruada found third-year receiver Phil Iloki (Montreal, QC), whose astonishing one-handed climb-the-ladder snag led to a 75-yard run to the end zone. With just two minutes to go, the Ravens led 24-21.
However, like the Ravens, the Gee-Gees weren’t going down without a fight. With no time left on the clock, and the Gee-Gees forced to kick to tie, uOttawa’s Lewis Ward levelled the game up on a 45-yard field goal to even out the game at 24-24.
Sixty minutes wasn’t enough to settle the game, but neither was one overtime.
In the first OT period, Domagala was able to nail a 32-yard field goal, but Ward replied with a triple from 40 to extend the game.
In the second overtime, uOttawa started with the ball at Carleton’s 35. After a few penalties against Carleton that helped uOttawa inch closer to the end zone, the Ravens’ defence came up with a crucial goal-line stand to reduce the damage to a nine-yard field goal.
With one last possession to either tie up or win the game, the Ravens drove the ball to the Gee-Gees’ 21 when a flag was thrown on the field. A costly face mask penalty by uOttawa’s Cody Cranston brought Carleton to Ottawa’s six-yard line. At first-and-goal, Arruda faked the hand-off before taking a naked bootleg to the outside and scrambling for the game-winning touchdown.
With their playoff hopes on the line, the Ravens couldn’t have asked for a better scenario.
“It felt like all year long we were losing these kind of games and now to get this win, we’re hoping it’ll catapult us forward,” head coach Steve Sumarah said.
Though the Ravens are excited about the win, they know there is still plenty of work to be done.
“Let’s enjoy this for 24 hours, and then it’s over – we’ve got to prepare for Western basically starting tomorrow night,” he continued. “It’s a short week so we’ve got to put this in the box and move on.”
Rookie QB sensation Arruda echoed his thoughts.
“We have quite a bit to work on, as you can see,” Arruda explained. “But at least we’re going to have the energy next week – we’re going to be 2-3 and we have a chance to get in playoffs. This is gonna bring us up – big time.”
Up next, the Ravens will take on the first-place Western Mustangs at TD Stadium in London.
Source: goravens.ca