September 8, 2009
NO. 7 GOLDEN HAWKS BLANK VARSITY BLUES IN FOOTBALL OPENER
TORONTO - Mike Montoya picked up three touchdowns on 160 yards as the No. 7-nationally ranked Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks opened their season with a 36-0 shutout victory over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in front of 2,347 fans.
Montoya, a fourth year running back from Burlington, Ont., picked up the starting role this season after the graduation of Ryan Lynch. On top of the three touchdown runs, Montoya had several big plays including a 22-yard run that saw several Blues bounced off of him.
"We knew we were going to run the ball today," commented Montoya on the 299 yards of rushing offence that the team put up. "Our offensive line made some big holes and with those holes anyone can run the way I did today – it's a credit to them the yards that I put up."
Luke Thompson (London, Ont.) had a good performance despite not being in rhythm with his receivers. The six-foot-three quarterback completed 8-of-15 passes for 184 yards including a touchdown pass and run to Dustin Heap (Waterloo, Ont.) before allowing backup Evan Pawliuk (Kingston, Ont.) to see some playing time.
"It was nice to get the first game out of the way," said Thompson post-game. "We as an offence need to do better in terms of our execution, but a win is what we came here to get and it's what we are walking away with."
Josh Bishop (Mississauga, Ont.) had a career-best five receptions for 134 yards including a 47-yard catch and run. The performance beats his previous high of 132 yards in the 2008 homecoming contest.
"We made a lot of mistakes today especially in terms of penalties," said manager of football operations and head coach Gary Jeffries, especially in reference to the 125 yards worth of penalties on 13 calls. "We definitely need to be better and we will be. It's a learning curve every year and we'll figure it out and be able to grow for next week."
Defensively Mitchell Bosch (Langley, B.C.) and Courtney Stephen (Markham, Ont.) each led the team with five tackles apiece. Bosch also picked up a sack as well as the only interception of the game and returned it 31 yards.
"We definitely played well today," said Bosch when asked about the performance of the defence. "The line as well as the secondary worked hard through training camp to get to where we were today. We'll look at some film now and prepare to do this again for Western."
Also adding to the defensive performance was rookie Nick Sapone (Richmond Hill, Ont.) who added four tackles as well as a sack.
Chris Mamo (London, Ont.) was the only other Hawk to add points with a 24-yard field goal on one of his four attempts.
Wilfrid Laurier (1-0) travels to London, Ont. next weekend to compete against the No. 2-ranked Western Mustangs (1-0) at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on the nationally televised game on The Score television network. The Varsity Blues (0-1) travel to Windsor to face the Lancers (1-0).
Source: Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks
Montoya, a fourth year running back from Burlington, Ont., picked up the starting role this season after the graduation of Ryan Lynch. On top of the three touchdown runs, Montoya had several big plays including a 22-yard run that saw several Blues bounced off of him.
"We knew we were going to run the ball today," commented Montoya on the 299 yards of rushing offence that the team put up. "Our offensive line made some big holes and with those holes anyone can run the way I did today – it's a credit to them the yards that I put up."
Luke Thompson (London, Ont.) had a good performance despite not being in rhythm with his receivers. The six-foot-three quarterback completed 8-of-15 passes for 184 yards including a touchdown pass and run to Dustin Heap (Waterloo, Ont.) before allowing backup Evan Pawliuk (Kingston, Ont.) to see some playing time.
"It was nice to get the first game out of the way," said Thompson post-game. "We as an offence need to do better in terms of our execution, but a win is what we came here to get and it's what we are walking away with."
Josh Bishop (Mississauga, Ont.) had a career-best five receptions for 134 yards including a 47-yard catch and run. The performance beats his previous high of 132 yards in the 2008 homecoming contest.
"We made a lot of mistakes today especially in terms of penalties," said manager of football operations and head coach Gary Jeffries, especially in reference to the 125 yards worth of penalties on 13 calls. "We definitely need to be better and we will be. It's a learning curve every year and we'll figure it out and be able to grow for next week."
Defensively Mitchell Bosch (Langley, B.C.) and Courtney Stephen (Markham, Ont.) each led the team with five tackles apiece. Bosch also picked up a sack as well as the only interception of the game and returned it 31 yards.
"We definitely played well today," said Bosch when asked about the performance of the defence. "The line as well as the secondary worked hard through training camp to get to where we were today. We'll look at some film now and prepare to do this again for Western."
Also adding to the defensive performance was rookie Nick Sapone (Richmond Hill, Ont.) who added four tackles as well as a sack.
Chris Mamo (London, Ont.) was the only other Hawk to add points with a 24-yard field goal on one of his four attempts.
Wilfrid Laurier (1-0) travels to London, Ont. next weekend to compete against the No. 2-ranked Western Mustangs (1-0) at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on the nationally televised game on The Score television network. The Varsity Blues (0-1) travel to Windsor to face the Lancers (1-0).
Source: Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks
