Aboud, Onyemenam, Forcier named OUA football players of the week

Burlington, Ont. – Tristan Aboud, Ife Onyemenam, and Brandon Forcier have been named Canadian Football Perspective’s OUA Players of the Week for Week 5.

Offensive Player of the Week – Tristan Aboud, Guelph

In just his fifth outing for the Guelph Gryphons, Tristan Aboud delivered a perfect performance under center against the York Lions on Saturday.

Aboud was surgical in the Week 5 win, connecting on all 16 of his pass attempts on the afternoon. The pin-point precision sparked 384 passing yards and a total of six touchdown passes for the rookie. The first major came just over a minute into the contest, connecting on a 52-yard pass to Vyshonne Janusas, before finding Kaine Stevenson just a few minutes later. The management economics and finance major would go back to Janusas before the opening quarter wrapped up, and would start the second with Stephenson’s second score. Aboud would finish the first half with fifth touchdown passes before adding his sixth and final on an 85-yard play to Willem Arseneau a few minutes into the third.

With his half dozen majors in tow, the Montreal, Ont. native set a new Gryphon football single-game record, surpassing the previous mark of five (Wally Gabler, Justin Dunk). The electrifying performance also helped the first-year quarterback continue to settle in as one of the OUA’s standouts at the position, as Aboud ranks second in completion percentage, third in passing efficiency, and fourth in touchdowns.  

Defensive Football Player of the Week – Ife Onyemenam, Wilfrid Laurier

In a game that was dictated by defence throughout the opening half, Ife Onyemenam was anywhere and everywhere for the Golden Hawks all game long.

Returning for his fourth OUA season after being drafted in the sixth round of the 2023 CFL Draft by Toronto, Onyemenam has long been a stalwart for the Laurier defence. The Toronto, Ont. product might have outdone himself on Saturday; however, as he stuffed the stat sheet in more ways than one. The senior linebacker racked up a team-leading 5.5 tackles on the day, including a sack and two tackles for a loss. He also sparked three turnovers during the game, one coming on a forced fumble and two via interception. He first corralled a Keagan Hall pass with a few minutes remaining in the opening quarter, before sealing the deal on the win by picking off Stephen Narancic on McMaster’s final possession.

Onyemenam now sits tied for seventh in the OUA with 5.9 tackles per game and his first two interceptions of the season place him among a crowded list of conference leaders therein.

Special Teams Player of the Week – Brandon Forcier, Carleton

Brandon Forcier continues to epitomize consistency for the Ravens, as the Carleton kicker provided another productive outing in his team’s convincing Week 5 win over Toronto.

The junior from L’Ange Gardien, Que. opened his day with a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter to push Carleton’s lead to double-digits. He would wrap up the first half with another make, this one from 31 yards out, before connecting on his third and final field goal (24 yards) less than a minute after the break. In addition to his 3-for-3 outing on field goal duty, Forcier was also flawless on extra points, splitting the uprights on all five of his point-after attempts on the day.

The business major, who improved his OUA-best field goal percentage to 90% on the season, finished the afternoon with 14 points for the black birds and moves into fourth all-time in Ravens scoring as a result (136 career points).