Elgersma, Aboagye-Gyan, Mullan named OUA football players of the week

Burlington, Ont. – Taylor Elgersma, Emmanuel Aboagye-Gyan, and Tyler Mullan have been named Canadian Football Perspective's OUA Players of the Week for the quarterfinals.

Offensive Player of the Week – Taylor Elgersma, Wilfrid Laurier



The Wilfrid Laurier offence was flying around the field in the quarterfinal clash of the birds, and helping them do just that was Taylor Elgersma under centre.

Elgersma showcased the desire to air it out early in this one, connecting on a 43-yard completion on just the second play of the game and a 54-yarder the following drive. Both of those plays helped set the tone in what was a quick start for the home side, as they quickly jumped out to a two touchdown lead after one quarter. It was more of the same in the second, as the second-year quarterback from London, Ont. collected a 44-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Jordan on his first pass of the quarter before finishing off the half with another four-yard scoring play to Raidan Thorne.

When the dust settled on Elgersma's OUA playoff debut, he had racked up 303 yards on an efficient 21-of-28 passing for two touchdowns and no interceptions, finding five different receivers along the way. And with his impressive effort in tow, Elgersma and the Hawks advanced to the OUA semifinal to play Western next weekend.

Defensive Player of the Week – Emmanuel Aboagye-Gyan, Ottawa



Linebacker Emmanuel Aboagye-Gyan was all over the scoresheet in his team's quarterfinal win on Saturday, and every bit of his dynamic defensive performance was needed for the semifinal bound Gee-Gees.

Needing a big effort from their team to turn the tides in their favour when trailing 34-31 in the final frame, the Ottawa, Ont. native answered the call with the game's turning point play. In the fourth quarter, Aboagye-Gyan stripped the ball to create the fumble, scooped it up, and ran it back 60 yards for the touchdown to put Ottawa ahead 38-34 with 6:37 left to play, a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

Along with his big play heroics, the senior criminology student posted an impressive six tackles (five solo, two assisted), including one for a five-yard loss, and also broke up a pass in coverage to help Ottawa prevail with a thrilling 43-40 win.

Special Teams Player of the Week – Tyler Mullan, Queen's



Queen's rookie kicker, Tyler Mullan, showed no signs of nerves in his postseason debut, as he rolled his strong regular season for the Gaels into another quality performance in the quarterfinals.

Mullan, a native of North Bay, Ont., did not miss a field goal in his 17 regular season attempts, and that streak continued into the Gaels 41-13 quarterfinal win over Toronto on Saturday. He was first called up to connect on a 17-yarder late in the first quarter, before doing the same in the final two minutes of the half from 14 yards out.

It was more of the same in the second half, wherein the first-year science student split the uprights with a game-long 37-yarder to put Queen's ahead by three possessions, and sealing the win with a 25-yard field goal and a rouge late in the fourth.

Mullan finished the day a perfect 4-for-4 in field goal attempts and an identical mark in extra points, helping to kick Queen's into the semifinals and a matchup with the Ottawa Gee-Gees.