Comeback effort punches Gryphons ticket to the 105th Yates Cup

GUELPH, Ont. - The No. 5 Guelph Gryphons came from behind to defeat the No. 6 Queens Gaels 42-39 in an overtime thrilling OUA semi-final on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium to advance to the 105th Yates Cup next Saturday, November 10.

The win for Guelph marks their first trip to the provincial finals since hosting in 2007 where they eventually lost to Western. This will be the Gryphons seventh overall appearance in the OUA final and they will be searching for their fourth OUA banner.  The last time Guelph won the Yates was in 1996.

The Yates Cup will take place Saturday (Nov 10) against the McMaster Marauders who defeated Western today in the other OUA semifinal. Game will be at 1:00 p.m. at the Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ont. Tickets are available online at link below:

 http://maraudertickets.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event_listings.asp

“I can’t say enough about these kids, they just never give up, this is unbelievable,” said an emotional head coach Stu Lang following the game surrounded by his many supporters. “The kids played so well. At the half we told them that this is no surprise, we’ve been here before it’s just one of those games. And we came back, fought hard and never gave up.  I’m so proud of them.”

Leading the Gryphon charge today was second-year quarterback Jazz Lindsey (Markham, Ont) who threw for 198 yards and two majors on 14-38 attempts.  He also tallied 99 yards on the ground with an 80-yard long for a touchdown.

“This feels unbelievable,” commented Lindsey following the game. “At halftime we talked about being in similar situations, we knew what we had to do to come back and win and we did.  We simply executed better in the second half.”

Michael Fortino (Niagara Falls, Ont) was Lindsey’s favourite receiver as he came down with four catches for 86 yards and the game-winning score.

The Gaels were led by Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont) who connected on 22 of 33 attempts for 226 yards and a touchdown.  Jesse Andrews (Arnprior, Ont) led the rushing game with 117 yards and two touchdowns.

The outcome of the game was largely decided by the dominant Gryphon defence who were able to combine for seven forced turnovers and 63 total tackles.  The defence were led by Jake Reinhart(Guelph, Ont) with 12.5 tackles and a forced fumble and a fumble return.   John Rush (Niagara Falls, Ont) added another 11.5 tackles to the total with two forced fumbles and a recovery of his own.  Mark Durigon (Rockwood, Ont) was instrumental in the backfield with two additional interceptions on the day.

The Gaels would hit the scoreboard first following a missed field goal by Julian Tropea (Niagara Falls, Ont) Giovanni Aprile would carry the ball out 68 yards to the Gryphon’s 32.  McPhee would find Aprile again on a short 4-yard pass in the end zone for the first score of the day.  Dillon Wamsley’s (London, Ont) point after was good to put the Gaels up 7-0 to round out the first.

After pinning the Gaels’ offence deep, the Gryphon defence returned to their defensive dismantling as Zach Androschuk (Sarnia, Ont) and John Rush viciously stripped the ball from McPhee on a QB sneak.  Androschuk would carry it uncontested for 26 yards into the end zone where Tropea’s kick would tie the game at seven.

Guelph’s A’Dre Fraser (Niagara Falls, Ont) bobbled a punt deep in his territory for Queen’s Matt Webster (Calgary, Alta) to recover on the Gryphons’ 14.  The defensive unit was successful in preventing a Gaels trip into their end zone and forced Wamsley to settle for a 15 yard field goal to put Queen’s up 10-7.

Fraser answered in redemption on the following kick to bring it back 75 yards to start the Gryphons’ drive on Queen’s 25.  Just as the Gryphons paved their way into the Gaels’ red zone, a costly holding penalty dropped them back down to the 24 to a second and 20 situation.  An unfazed Lindsey dropped back to find Carl Trivieri (Toronto, Ont) wide open for the score to take a 14-10 lead.

A 38 yard connection to Justin Chapdelaine (Abbotsford, B.C.) down the middle re-established Queen’s presence in the second to put the Gaels in easy scoring position.   Four plays later would find Jesse Andrews in the end zone on a 2-yard draw to regain a 17-14 lead with 1:07 left in the half.

On the following Gryphon drive, after a bad snap, Daniel Ferraro (Mississauga, Ont) was forced to botch a punt as the Gaels closed in on him.  The ball spun into T.J. Chase-Dunawa’s (Toronto, Ont) hands for a 34-yard return for the Gael’s third trip to the end zone of the half.  Wamsley’s kick extended the lead to 10 as the half wound down with the Gaels up 24-14.

Entering the third quarter, Queen’s Justin Chapdelaine and Jesse Andrews marched into Gryphon territory on two consecutive plays for 32 combined yards.  The Gryphon defence found their footing on the following set of downs to hold the Gaels to a 34-yard field goal to go ahead 27-14.

On the next Queen’s possession, John Rush came up with his second forced fumble of the day to be recovered by Jarryd Baines (Ottawa, Ont) on the Gryphon 18.  But after going 2 and out again, the Gryphons were forced to concede a safety to extend the Gaels’ lead to 29-14.

On the opening play of the next drive, McPhee connected deep with Giovanni Aprile who was able to bring down a 39-yard bomb to set the Gaels’ up on the Gryphons’ doorstep.  Jesse Andrews would carry the ball in for his second 2-yard rush to push the Gaels up to 36-14 with the extra point from Wamsley.
 
With his sights set deep in Gryphon territory, Queen’s Wamsley was unprepared for the Gryphon rush that culminated with a smack from Taylor Palmer (Niagara Falls, Ont) to bat the punt aside.  Jake Reinhart jumped on the loose ball and ran it back 14 yards to bring Guelph back on the scoreboard, 36-21.

On the following Gryphon drive, Lindsey rushed past the first down marker and into open field where he ran an uncontested 80 yards for the score.  Tropea’s point brought the Gryphons to within eight.

The next Queen’s possession saw the Gaels line up for a second-and-four chance with just over three minutes left.  Electing to go with the air attack, McPhee’s pass intended for Justin Chapdelaine pinballed between both sides to eventually fall into Zach Androschuk’s hands for his second turnover of the day. On the ensuing Gryphon drive, Farquharson was stopped for no gain on the first play to force Lindsey to drop back to find his brother, Saxon Lindsey (Markham, Ont) in the end zone to bring the Gryphons to within two.

On the two-point conversion, Lindsey scrambled to find Trivieri once again wide open in the back of the end zone to tie the game at 36 and round out a nail-biting quarter to send the game to overtime.

Queen’s started the overtime action off with a three-yard rush from Jesse Andrews.  Knowing they needed to make a statement, McPhee fell back to the air attack to be nearly picked off for what would have been his fourth interception.  Instead, Dillon Wamsley marched onto the field to hit a 43-yard field goal to put the Gaels up 39-36.

With pressure on the offence, the Gryphons looked to the consistent presence of Farquharson to carry them forward.  But he was stopped for a loss of one and, seeing this, the Grypons opted to fall back on their passing game.  On second and 11, Lindsey rolled out to hit Michael Fortino who broke a tackle to run in 35-yards to seal a 42-39 overtime victory over the Queen’s Gaels.

Guelph Gryphons Yates Cup? Information:
Previous appearances (since 1971): 7
Last appearance:  2007 (lost to Western 34-21)
2nd last appearance: 1996 (23-13 win over Waterloo)
Wins (since 1898): 3 (1996, 1992, 1984)
Last win: 1996 (23-13 over Waterloo)