Week 9 - Football Players of the Week
Football Players of the Week – October 24, 2017
Offence – Chris Osei-Kusi, Queen’s
Chris Osei-Kusi (Brampton, Ont.) is the Queen's University offensive football player of the week for the second time this season, and has earned OUA Offensive Player of the Week for his Week 9 efforts.
Osei-Kusi recorded two touchdowns during the Toronto victory on Saturday. While the Gaels were down early in the game, it was Osei-Kusi who opened the Gaels scoring to propel the offence. Turning on the jets, Osei-Kusi was off to the races with a 73-yard touchdown to put Queen’s on the scoreboard.
The third year receiver led the Gaels offence with twelve catches for 179 receiving yards on the day. Closing out regular season action, the Brampton native leads all OUA receivers with a grand total of seven touchdown receptions.
Defence – Dotun Aketepe, Guelph
Second year defensive back Dotun Aketepe takes home Defensive Player of the Week honours after the best performance of his young Gryphon career on Saturday versus the Ravens.
Aketepe, a Commerce student from Barrie, came up with one of the biggest defensive plays of the game late in the 3rd quarter, intercepting Carleton quarterback Michael Arruda to spark the visiting Gryphons, who at the time, were still trailing by 10.
Aketepe also racked up a team-high 12 solo tackles on the day.
Special Teams – Gabe Ferraro, Guelph
Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, Gryphons fourth year kicker Gabe Ferraro emphatically capped off the greatest single-season by a place kicker by going a perfect 7-for-7 on field goal attempts in a 28-23 victory over the Carleton Ravens.
Three of Ferraro's seven field goals on Saturday were of the long range variety, with makes of 45, 48 and 49. The seven made field goals ties the OUA record for most made field goals in a single game, but that was far from the most significant record set by Ferraro on the weekend. With his seven made field goals, Gabe finishes the regular season with a new U SPORTS single-season record of 33 made field goals. He surpasses the previous mark of 26, set in 2014 by his older brother and current kicking coach, Daniel Ferraro.
Gabe single-handedly accounted for 22 of the Gryphons 28 points on Saturday in the team's come-from-behind victory over the Ravens.