Gee-Gees Stage Fourth Quarter Comeback to Down Gaels 37 - 30

Three touchdowns in under nine minutes propelled the uOttawa Gee-Gees (2-0) past the Queen's Gaels (1-1) 37-30 on Saturday afternoon in Kingston.

Shaking off another shaky third quarter, the Gee-Gees' offence needed a couple of key plays from their defence to get them back on the field to make up the deficit.

Each quarter told a very different story.

"We came out strong but we were disappointed in how the third quarter went," said head coach Jamie Barresi after the game. "It was a little bit like last week because we didn't keep rolling. We have to put the whole thing together. I got on them a little bit here. They know what I want from them. I'm still not satisfied right now honestly. We have to work at a high level all the time".

The first quarter was all Gee-Gees. Following a Queen's punt on an unheard-of 3rd down and 53, the GeeGees took the ball 91 yards down the field on 5 plays to open the scoring on a 31 yard Vincent Campbell TD catch. They'd add another seven minutes later on an 11-yard Mack Tommy run.

Queen's came alive in the second quarter.

On the quarter's opening play, Gaels' quarterback Billy McPhee threw a bullet into the middle of the endzone to get Queen's on the board. They followed that by forcing four straight two and outs.

With 5:39 to go in the half, Queen's took their first lead, 17-14, with a touchdown pass to Jonah Pataki on a slant pattern to the right corner of the end zone.

uOttawa's defensive line was able to get to the quarterback and tackle him for a safety, the teams went to the locker rooms with just one point separating each other at 17-16 in favour of Queen's.

Queen's started the second half off in a sprint. Getting into the end zone on a seven play, 66 yard drive.

Just as the Gee-Gees looked to be regaining their form midway through the third quarter, a pass tipped off the hands of Tristan Bailey and into the hands of a Gaels defender. They'd subsequently tack on a couple field goals to build their largest lead of the game at 30-16 while snatching all the momentum.

But with 8:16 to go in the fourth, Ian Stewart caught a short pass over the middle and dove into the end zone to pull the Gee-Gees within seven.

A crucial point came in the final five minutes when Mike Randazzo picked off Gaels' quarterback McPhee in the redzone. The Gee-Gees then took the ball 78 yards down the field in 10 plays chewing up just 2:19 minutes and tying it up at 30.

When Queen's went back to offence, it looked as if they were posed to close it out with a winning drive. The way Queen's had been able to play consistent most of the game and comeback when the Gee-Gees took the momentum was hard count out. But on the fourth play of the drive, the Gee-Gees forced a fumble and turned the chance to win in their direction.

After a great run by quarterback Derek Wendel, the uOttawa bench erupted when Mack Tommy punched it in from two yards out making it 37-30 Gee-Gees.

"We had an issue in the third quarter again," said Wendel. "We just had to pick up our intensity and we had to work hard in the fourth and got the right calls in and made the right plays."

Often under pressure, Wendel made some great passes all day to extend drives. He scrambled when he needed to, buying time or picking up valuable yards with his legs. He finished 35 for 52 passing, racking up 401 yards through the air, and three TD passes while also leading the team in rushing with 104 yards on the ground.

"We try to do as much as we can (with the spread offence) we have the personnel and the depth at every position," added Wendel. "I think the spread worked pretty well for us today in the fourth mainly and the first. So we just have to work that good play into the middle part of the game."

"I give him (Wendel) credit. He hung in there, he had to make some plays," said Barresi. "I challenged him a bit on the sideline that sooner or later he has to throw one in there, and he did get a couple in there and it gave us a little bit of life."

"I thought we were lousy to be honest and I was really disappointed with the way we executed in the third quarter," said Wendel. "I'm not taking anything away from Queen's, they did a great job, but I just didn't feel we executed. We dropped some passes, we didn't throw well. Now I give my guys credit. They fought hard and they got back, but I expect them to play at a high level all the time."

The Gaels had their running game working throughout as tailback Jonah Pataki rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown.

Saturday's loss to uOttawa was the Gaels' first in their last 14 games at Richardson Stadium going back to the 2011 season.

Next week the Gee-Gees return home to take on the University of Guelph Gryphons at 1pm on Saturday.