Basalyga, Charles-Brown, Fair named OUA football players of the week

Burlington, Ont. – James Basalyga, Shaiheem Charles-Brown, and Campbell Fair have been named Canadian Football Perspective's OUA Players of the Week for Week 1.

Offensive Player of the Week – James Basalyga, Waterloo



While many of the pre-game stories focused on Waterloo players who had moved on, it was a returning receiver that stole the headlines when the Warriors opened up their OUA slate against York on Saturday.

James Basalyga came out of the gates in a big way to help anchor the Warriors' Week 1 win over the Lions, and while he didn't haul in many passes, he made the most of his opportunities. Of the fourth-year player's four receptions in the game, three of them were for touchdowns, including a 69-yard major in the final frame to put the game out of reach.

Before capping off the game's scoring with his longest major of the day, the Thunder Bay, Ont. native registered back-to-back scores in the first half, closing out the first quarter with a 35-yard reception from Nolan Kaban and then reeling in a seven-yarder halfway through the second.

Basalyga's 110 yards receiving also paced the conference pack of pass-catchers through the opening week of play on the gridiron.

Defensive Player of the Week – Shaiheem Charles-Brown, Carleton



It was a record-setting day at TAAG Park as part of Carleton's home opener, with Shaiheem Charles-Brown etching his name in the Ravens record books thanks to a ferocious start to his season.

The senior defensive lineman made himself right at home in the McMaster backfield to anchor a strong showing for the Ravens defence as a whole. Charles-Brown showed off a variety of block-evading efforts en route to collecting four sacks for the black birds and setting a new school benchmark in the process. The psychology major from Montreal, Que. came out of the gates strong with three quarterback takedowns in the opening half before once again breaking past the Marauders offensive line late in the fourth quarter. Charles-Brown would finish with six tackles on the day.

The fourth and final sack of Mac QB Andreas Dueck was enough to stimy the Marauders' late-game charge up the field and hold them off for the eventual 24-18 victory.

Special Teams Player of the Week – Campbell Fair, Ottawa



With the game on the line and an early season win up for grabs, the Ottawa Gee-Gees turned to their veteran kicker to be the difference-maker against Windsor, and they were rewarded with a three-point win over the Lancers as a result.

Fourth-year kicker Campbell Fair handed the Ottawa Gee-Gees a win in their season opener, coming through in the clutch with a game-winning field goal with just seven seconds left on the clock. The late-game heroics were the feather in the cap of Fair's productive day for the Garnet and Grey, as the senior from Carrying Place, Ont. hit a total of four field goals and one convert on the day, producing 13 of Ottawa's 19 points on the evening. While his final make was the most dramatic from 38 yards out, it was eclipsed in distance by his pair of first-half connections (42, 46).

In the punting game, Fair totaled 234 yards on six points, for an average of 39.0 yards per attempt, which also ranked second among all OUA punters in Week 1.