October 4, 2008
OUA FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: LAURIER UPSETS NO. 7 OTTAWA
OTTAWA, Ont. - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks scored 17 points in the second and third quarters to upset the No. 7-nationally ranked University of Ottawa Gee-Gee's 22-21 in front of 1,590 fans at Frank Clair Stadium.
The win ends an eight game win streak at home for Ottawa who the Golden Hawks haven't been able to defeat since back in 2005, the year Laurier went undefeated and won the Vanier Cup.
"We came in here and looked at this as a chance to get a home playoff game," said an excited head coach Gary Jeffries after the game when asked about the significance of beating Ottawa. "Today is the first time in six games that we played as a full football team. We became a team and played all three aspects of the game."
Quarterback Luke Thompson (London, Ont.) completed seven of 20 passes on the day for 137 yards and two touchdowns including a 75-yard touchdown catch by Troy Leach (Barrie, Ont.). The pass to Leach came as Thompson was being faced with pressure and was almost sacked. The second year quarterback opened the day with a pair of interceptions as his only completions, but was able to rebound. In addition to the passing, Thompson led the team in rushing with 97 yards.
"We came out sluggish and coach challenged us to come together at half," commented Thompson on the 124 yards of offence in the first half. "The team made it happen and it feels great to come out of here with the win."
Leach's 75-yard catch made him the top receiver of the day. Third year receiver Josh Bishop (Mississauga, Ont.) was just behind him with 46 yards including a major of his own on a 26-yard catch. The Golden Hawk offence finished the day with 313 yards while Ottawa had 275.
Ottawa opened scoring after conceding a safety early in the contest. Josh Sacobie (Fredericton, N.B.) connected with Gharone McLean (Whitby, Ont.) and Justin Wood-Roy (Morin-Heights, Que.) for two majors within five minutes in the second to put the garnet and grey up 14-2. Laurier closed the gap with the Bishop's touchdown. At the half, Ottawa had netted 183 yards with 120 in the air.
By the end of the contest, Sacobie completed 16 of 33 on the day for a season-low 159 yards. Davie Mason (Brampton, Ont.) returned to the line-up and had only seven carries for 20 yards.
Laurier running back Ryan Lynch (Waterloo, Ont.) carried the ball 12 times for 86 yards. Mike Montoya (Burlington, Ont.) returned to the line-up with 24 yards over four rushes.
"Luke made a great play he scrambled out and found me down field," commented Leach on the key catch post-game. "Thank goodness I caught it and finished it off."
Mitchell Bosch (Langley, B.C.) led the team in tackles on the day with seven tackles (six solo) and now leads the team overall with 28. Bosch and Shane Burns (Burlington, Ont.) both forced fumbles on the day while Giancarlo Rapanaro (Niagara Falls, Ont.) picked one up as well as had 3.5 tackles on the day. Sacobie was sacked once for a loss of 11 yards by George Kourtesiotis (Toronto, Ont.) and Joe Labenski (Welland, Ont.).
"We're going to have to bring a better game than we did today next week to our house as we know McMaster is a dangerous team and we're expecting their best," said Leach when asked about week seven action.
The Golden Hawks (4-2) return home next week to host the McMaster Marauders (3-3) at Knight-Newbrough Field, University Stadium at 1:00 p.m. The Ottawa Gee-Gees (3-3) visit the No. 2-ranked Queen's Gaels (6-0).
Source: Golden Hawks Athletics
NO. 2 QUEEN'S 80, YORK 0
TORONTO, Ont. – Scott Valberg (Kingston, Ont.) had four touchdown receptions as the No. 2 Queen's Gaels earned their biggest win in the school's history trouncing the York Lions 80-0 on Saturday in Toronto. The loss also marked York's biggest defeat in school history.
Valberg finished the game with seven-receptions for 186-yards with three of his four touchdowns coming on passes from Dan Brannagan (Burlington, Ont.) Brannagan was 14 for 18 posting 169 yards and passing for four touchdowns; three of them to Valberg.
CIS leading rusher Mike Giffin (Kingston, Ont.) recorded his third 200-yard rushing game of the season posting 204-yards on 19 attempts. Fourteen of his 19 attempts came in the first half of the game. Giffin also recorded three touchdowns in the one-sided victory.
Queen's has now scored over 41 points in their last five games and dealt York their biggest loss this season. Western and had defeated York 71-0 earlier this year.
The Gaels (6-0) secured a playoff position for the second consecutive season and coupled with the Ottawa loss earlier today have clinched a bye in the opening round playoffs. Queen's needs just one more victory against Ottawa next week or Waterloo in the final week to earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. York's record drops to 0-6.
The 80-point plateau was the most ever scored by Queen's football and it also marked the worst margin of victory by a York Lions team. Previously, the Gaels high point came on Sept. 6, 2003, when Queen's scored 72 points against the University of Toronto in a 72-0 victory. York's worst was a 90-15 loss to Wilfrid Laurier on Oct. 19, 1974.
Queen's is the first team to record 80 points in an OUA game since Sept. 13, 2003 when McMaster defeated Toronto 80-0.
Source: Gaels Athletics
NO. 5 WESTERN 58, WINDSOR 5
LONDON, Ont. - Rookie running back Nathan Riva (LaSalle, Ont.) totalled 272 all-purpose yards and added three touchdowns, while Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) threw for 413 yards and three touchdowns as the Western Mustangs defeated the Windsor Lancers 58-5 at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Oct. 4.
With the win, Western improves to 5-1 and remains in sole possession of second place in the OUA, behind Queen's (6-0). Both the Mustangs and Gaels have qualified for the playoffs. Windsor falls to 3-3.
There were many positives for the Mustangs in front of a capacity crowd of 11,406. Converting on five of six third-down attempts, scoring a momentum-changing Riva 42-yard touchdown to open the game up and take an 8-0 lead.
Western was dominant throughout the game totalling 633 total offensive yards.
Riva ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 104 yards and one touchdown.
Aside from his 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Riva added scores on a three-yard run and a 83-yard screen pass from Faulds.
Western led 21-5 at the half and did not surrender any points in the second half.
Daryl Stephenson (London, Ont.) was held to just 67 yards of rushing on the day, but it was enough to allow the fifth-year running back to become the first player in CIS history to reach the 5,000-yard career rushing yards mark.
Rookie Windsor quarterback Sam Malian (LaSalle, Ont.) was 11 of 25 for 214 yards, and looked impressive despite dealing with constant pressure all game from the Western defensive line and linebackers.
Glenn Mackay (Burlington, Ont.) was the leading Lancers' receiver with four catches for 98 years.
Western took control of the game, weathering a great Windsor drive that appeared to have ended with Malian touchdown pass to Mackay for over 60 yards. The play was called back, though, as the officiating crew ruled Malian to have crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball.
On the ensuing Mustangs possession, Faulds hit senior receiver Zach Bull (Port Colbourne, Ont.) for a 12-yard touchdown to spread the lead to 35-5. It could have been a 16-point game had Mackay's touchdown counted.
Faulds was 21 of 38 and threw just one interception - saving the return from Matt Bucknor (Hamilton, Ont.) from going all the way for a touchdown with a great tackle near midfield.
Rookie Nick Trevail (London, Ont.) was the top receiver for Western with five catches for 113 yards, while Darryl Wheeler (Hamilton, Ont.) helped Western to establish great field position averaging 44.7 yards per punt.
Craig Butler (London, Ont.) was also great on defence and special teams, with 3.5 tackles, one interception for a touchdown late in the game and eight punt returns for 84 yards.
Rookie Ryan Tremblay (London, Ont.) added a 69-yard kick return in a full team effort for Western.
While the Mustangs still experienced trouble holding onto catchable passes through the game, the team looked much improved on the day.
Source: Mustangs Athletics
GUELPH 37, WATERLOO 22
WATERLOO, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons football team moved to .500 on the season with a 37-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field in Waterloo. With the win the Gryphons move to 3-3 on the season while Waterloo drops to a 1-5 record.
Guelph ’s attack came in the running game with 221 total rushing yards on 35 carries compared to Waterloo’s 130 yards on 21 carries.
Gryphon quarterback Justin Dunk (Guelph, Ont.) had an impressive day tossing for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns, completing 19-of-27 passes. Jedd Gardner (Niagara Falls, Ont.) was the top receiver making several acrobatic catches, tallying 175 yards on 7 receptions. The second-year receiver also had the highlight play of the day, with a 125-yard kick return to set up Maver field goal.
David Harrison (Toronto, Ont.) chipped in with 82 yards on 5 receptions, finding the end zone once. Nick Fitzgibbon (Pushlinch, Ont.) had 133 yards on the ground on 21 carries and scoring one touchdown. Kicker Rob Maver (Brampton, Ont.) continued his steady play connecting on all three of his field goal attempts.
Source: Gryphons Athletics
MCMASTER 27, TORONTO 19
HAMILTON, Ont. - McMaster first team All-Canadian Mike Bradwell (Toronto, Ont.) returned from an injury he sustained last spring to make 8 catches for 108 yards to lead McMaster (3-3) to a 27-19 victory of the University of Toronto (2-4).
McMaster took a 20-5 lead into the locker room at the half, but Toronto closed the lead to 20-12 in the third quarter on a 107-yard drive capped by a six-yard run by Mark Stinson (Calgary, Alta.).
McMaster would counter later in the third quarter on a Ugonna Ihekwoaba (Burlington, Ont.) two-yard touchdown, the first career rushing touchdown for the fifth-year full back who was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Argonauts last spring.
Toronto added a touchdown with 1:12 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
McMaster running back Joey Nemet (Burlington, Ont.) rushed for 100 yards for the second-consecutive game, carrying the ball 14 times for 106 yards and a touchdown as McMaster out-rushed Toronto 273 yards to 37.
University of Toronto fifth year quarterback David Hamilton (Mississauga, Ont.) aired it out all evening, passing for 342 yards, completing 28 of 45 passes including one touchdown and an interception. Varsity Blue receiver Cory Kennedy
(Metcalfe, Ont.) had 6 catches for 117 yards. Earl Johnson (Baltimore, Mar.) added 8 receptions for 97 yards.
McMaster quarterback Ryan Fantham (London, Ont.) completed 18 of 32 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. Kevin D’Hollander (London, Ont.) had 3 catches for 46 yards and a touchdown for the Marauders.
Defensively, McMaster had a strong performance from Ryan Chmielewski (St. Catharines, Ont.) who recorded 7 tackles. Chmielewski also secured the football for McMaster late in the fourth quarter on a University Toronto onside kick attempt. McMaster linebacker Simon Binder (Almonte, Ont.) added 6 tackles and 2 sacks for the Marauders.
The Varsity Blues defence was led by Derek Batchelor (Mississauga, Ont.) who had 8 tackles for the Varsity Blues. Marco Rodrigues (Oakville, Ont.) tallied 6 tackles for the blue and white.
Source: Marauders Athletics
The win ends an eight game win streak at home for Ottawa who the Golden Hawks haven't been able to defeat since back in 2005, the year Laurier went undefeated and won the Vanier Cup.
"We came in here and looked at this as a chance to get a home playoff game," said an excited head coach Gary Jeffries after the game when asked about the significance of beating Ottawa. "Today is the first time in six games that we played as a full football team. We became a team and played all three aspects of the game."
Quarterback Luke Thompson (London, Ont.) completed seven of 20 passes on the day for 137 yards and two touchdowns including a 75-yard touchdown catch by Troy Leach (Barrie, Ont.). The pass to Leach came as Thompson was being faced with pressure and was almost sacked. The second year quarterback opened the day with a pair of interceptions as his only completions, but was able to rebound. In addition to the passing, Thompson led the team in rushing with 97 yards.
"We came out sluggish and coach challenged us to come together at half," commented Thompson on the 124 yards of offence in the first half. "The team made it happen and it feels great to come out of here with the win."
Leach's 75-yard catch made him the top receiver of the day. Third year receiver Josh Bishop (Mississauga, Ont.) was just behind him with 46 yards including a major of his own on a 26-yard catch. The Golden Hawk offence finished the day with 313 yards while Ottawa had 275.
Ottawa opened scoring after conceding a safety early in the contest. Josh Sacobie (Fredericton, N.B.) connected with Gharone McLean (Whitby, Ont.) and Justin Wood-Roy (Morin-Heights, Que.) for two majors within five minutes in the second to put the garnet and grey up 14-2. Laurier closed the gap with the Bishop's touchdown. At the half, Ottawa had netted 183 yards with 120 in the air.
By the end of the contest, Sacobie completed 16 of 33 on the day for a season-low 159 yards. Davie Mason (Brampton, Ont.) returned to the line-up and had only seven carries for 20 yards.
Laurier running back Ryan Lynch (Waterloo, Ont.) carried the ball 12 times for 86 yards. Mike Montoya (Burlington, Ont.) returned to the line-up with 24 yards over four rushes.
"Luke made a great play he scrambled out and found me down field," commented Leach on the key catch post-game. "Thank goodness I caught it and finished it off."
Mitchell Bosch (Langley, B.C.) led the team in tackles on the day with seven tackles (six solo) and now leads the team overall with 28. Bosch and Shane Burns (Burlington, Ont.) both forced fumbles on the day while Giancarlo Rapanaro (Niagara Falls, Ont.) picked one up as well as had 3.5 tackles on the day. Sacobie was sacked once for a loss of 11 yards by George Kourtesiotis (Toronto, Ont.) and Joe Labenski (Welland, Ont.).
"We're going to have to bring a better game than we did today next week to our house as we know McMaster is a dangerous team and we're expecting their best," said Leach when asked about week seven action.
The Golden Hawks (4-2) return home next week to host the McMaster Marauders (3-3) at Knight-Newbrough Field, University Stadium at 1:00 p.m. The Ottawa Gee-Gees (3-3) visit the No. 2-ranked Queen's Gaels (6-0).
Source: Golden Hawks Athletics
NO. 2 QUEEN'S 80, YORK 0
TORONTO, Ont. – Scott Valberg (Kingston, Ont.) had four touchdown receptions as the No. 2 Queen's Gaels earned their biggest win in the school's history trouncing the York Lions 80-0 on Saturday in Toronto. The loss also marked York's biggest defeat in school history.
Valberg finished the game with seven-receptions for 186-yards with three of his four touchdowns coming on passes from Dan Brannagan (Burlington, Ont.) Brannagan was 14 for 18 posting 169 yards and passing for four touchdowns; three of them to Valberg.
CIS leading rusher Mike Giffin (Kingston, Ont.) recorded his third 200-yard rushing game of the season posting 204-yards on 19 attempts. Fourteen of his 19 attempts came in the first half of the game. Giffin also recorded three touchdowns in the one-sided victory.
Queen's has now scored over 41 points in their last five games and dealt York their biggest loss this season. Western and had defeated York 71-0 earlier this year.
The Gaels (6-0) secured a playoff position for the second consecutive season and coupled with the Ottawa loss earlier today have clinched a bye in the opening round playoffs. Queen's needs just one more victory against Ottawa next week or Waterloo in the final week to earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. York's record drops to 0-6.
The 80-point plateau was the most ever scored by Queen's football and it also marked the worst margin of victory by a York Lions team. Previously, the Gaels high point came on Sept. 6, 2003, when Queen's scored 72 points against the University of Toronto in a 72-0 victory. York's worst was a 90-15 loss to Wilfrid Laurier on Oct. 19, 1974.
Queen's is the first team to record 80 points in an OUA game since Sept. 13, 2003 when McMaster defeated Toronto 80-0.
Source: Gaels Athletics
NO. 5 WESTERN 58, WINDSOR 5
LONDON, Ont. - Rookie running back Nathan Riva (LaSalle, Ont.) totalled 272 all-purpose yards and added three touchdowns, while Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) threw for 413 yards and three touchdowns as the Western Mustangs defeated the Windsor Lancers 58-5 at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Oct. 4.
With the win, Western improves to 5-1 and remains in sole possession of second place in the OUA, behind Queen's (6-0). Both the Mustangs and Gaels have qualified for the playoffs. Windsor falls to 3-3.
There were many positives for the Mustangs in front of a capacity crowd of 11,406. Converting on five of six third-down attempts, scoring a momentum-changing Riva 42-yard touchdown to open the game up and take an 8-0 lead.
Western was dominant throughout the game totalling 633 total offensive yards.
Riva ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 104 yards and one touchdown.
Aside from his 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Riva added scores on a three-yard run and a 83-yard screen pass from Faulds.
Western led 21-5 at the half and did not surrender any points in the second half.
Daryl Stephenson (London, Ont.) was held to just 67 yards of rushing on the day, but it was enough to allow the fifth-year running back to become the first player in CIS history to reach the 5,000-yard career rushing yards mark.
Rookie Windsor quarterback Sam Malian (LaSalle, Ont.) was 11 of 25 for 214 yards, and looked impressive despite dealing with constant pressure all game from the Western defensive line and linebackers.
Glenn Mackay (Burlington, Ont.) was the leading Lancers' receiver with four catches for 98 years.
Western took control of the game, weathering a great Windsor drive that appeared to have ended with Malian touchdown pass to Mackay for over 60 yards. The play was called back, though, as the officiating crew ruled Malian to have crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball.
On the ensuing Mustangs possession, Faulds hit senior receiver Zach Bull (Port Colbourne, Ont.) for a 12-yard touchdown to spread the lead to 35-5. It could have been a 16-point game had Mackay's touchdown counted.
Faulds was 21 of 38 and threw just one interception - saving the return from Matt Bucknor (Hamilton, Ont.) from going all the way for a touchdown with a great tackle near midfield.
Rookie Nick Trevail (London, Ont.) was the top receiver for Western with five catches for 113 yards, while Darryl Wheeler (Hamilton, Ont.) helped Western to establish great field position averaging 44.7 yards per punt.
Craig Butler (London, Ont.) was also great on defence and special teams, with 3.5 tackles, one interception for a touchdown late in the game and eight punt returns for 84 yards.
Rookie Ryan Tremblay (London, Ont.) added a 69-yard kick return in a full team effort for Western.
While the Mustangs still experienced trouble holding onto catchable passes through the game, the team looked much improved on the day.
Source: Mustangs Athletics
GUELPH 37, WATERLOO 22
WATERLOO, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons football team moved to .500 on the season with a 37-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field in Waterloo. With the win the Gryphons move to 3-3 on the season while Waterloo drops to a 1-5 record.
Guelph ’s attack came in the running game with 221 total rushing yards on 35 carries compared to Waterloo’s 130 yards on 21 carries.
Gryphon quarterback Justin Dunk (Guelph, Ont.) had an impressive day tossing for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns, completing 19-of-27 passes. Jedd Gardner (Niagara Falls, Ont.) was the top receiver making several acrobatic catches, tallying 175 yards on 7 receptions. The second-year receiver also had the highlight play of the day, with a 125-yard kick return to set up Maver field goal.
David Harrison (Toronto, Ont.) chipped in with 82 yards on 5 receptions, finding the end zone once. Nick Fitzgibbon (Pushlinch, Ont.) had 133 yards on the ground on 21 carries and scoring one touchdown. Kicker Rob Maver (Brampton, Ont.) continued his steady play connecting on all three of his field goal attempts.
Source: Gryphons Athletics
MCMASTER 27, TORONTO 19
HAMILTON, Ont. - McMaster first team All-Canadian Mike Bradwell (Toronto, Ont.) returned from an injury he sustained last spring to make 8 catches for 108 yards to lead McMaster (3-3) to a 27-19 victory of the University of Toronto (2-4).
McMaster took a 20-5 lead into the locker room at the half, but Toronto closed the lead to 20-12 in the third quarter on a 107-yard drive capped by a six-yard run by Mark Stinson (Calgary, Alta.).
McMaster would counter later in the third quarter on a Ugonna Ihekwoaba (Burlington, Ont.) two-yard touchdown, the first career rushing touchdown for the fifth-year full back who was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Argonauts last spring.
Toronto added a touchdown with 1:12 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
McMaster running back Joey Nemet (Burlington, Ont.) rushed for 100 yards for the second-consecutive game, carrying the ball 14 times for 106 yards and a touchdown as McMaster out-rushed Toronto 273 yards to 37.
University of Toronto fifth year quarterback David Hamilton (Mississauga, Ont.) aired it out all evening, passing for 342 yards, completing 28 of 45 passes including one touchdown and an interception. Varsity Blue receiver Cory Kennedy
(Metcalfe, Ont.) had 6 catches for 117 yards. Earl Johnson (Baltimore, Mar.) added 8 receptions for 97 yards.
McMaster quarterback Ryan Fantham (London, Ont.) completed 18 of 32 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. Kevin D’Hollander (London, Ont.) had 3 catches for 46 yards and a touchdown for the Marauders.
Defensively, McMaster had a strong performance from Ryan Chmielewski (St. Catharines, Ont.) who recorded 7 tackles. Chmielewski also secured the football for McMaster late in the fourth quarter on a University Toronto onside kick attempt. McMaster linebacker Simon Binder (Almonte, Ont.) added 6 tackles and 2 sacks for the Marauders.
The Varsity Blues defence was led by Derek Batchelor (Mississauga, Ont.) who had 8 tackles for the Varsity Blues. Marco Rodrigues (Oakville, Ont.) tallied 6 tackles for the blue and white.
Source: Marauders Athletics
