AROUND OUA: Gryphons win 18-12 over Queen's in rematch of OUA final

SCOREBOARD

Queen's 12 @ Guelph 18

Toronto 19 @ Brock 34

Trent 12 @ McMaster 27

RMC 5 @ Western 53

Gryphons win 18-12 over Queen's in rematch of OUA final

GUELPH, ON. – Sunday afternoon at Varstiy Field, the Gryphons men's rugby team won 18-12 over the four-time defending OUA champion Queen's Gaels.

The Gryphons and Gaels have gone head-to-head in each of the past two OUA championship matches. Although Sunday's match marked just the second game of the regular season, there was a playoff-like feel throughout.

The first half was a tight, defensive struggle both sides finding little room to creat much offensively. After the Gaels jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a try from Kainoa Lloyd the Gryphons would respond with Mario Van Der Westhuizen splitting the uprights on a pair of penalties to give Guelph a slim 6-5 lead at the half.

In the second half, veteran flanker Eric Charest-Pekeski (Barrie, ON) would score the Gryphons first try of the afternoon to extend the lead to 11-5.

The turning point of the match would come shortly after the Charest-Pekeski score.

With the Gaels on the move and deep in Guelph territory, the Gryphons would come up with several crucial stops at the goal line. That good defence would translate into good offence with fifth year winger Adam Maahs (Port Perry, ON) ripping off a long run for a try to essential seal the win for the Gryphons. Van Der Westhuizen was good on the convert as the Gryphons would go on to win it 18-12.

After the match, Gryphons first year head coach Cory Hector pointed to the goal line stand as the key momentum shift in the game, "If they score there, it's all of a sudden a one-point game. So being able to not only make that stop, but then come down the field and score like that...it was a huge swing."

With the win, the Gryphons move to 2-0 on the season and will next be in action on Saturday, Sept. 17 when they travel to St. Catharines to face Brock.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Brock downs Varsity Blues 34-19

ST. CATHARINES, ON - The Brock University men's rugby team (1-1 OUA) defeated the University of Toronto Varsity Blues by the score of 34-19 Sunday afternoon at the Brock Rugby Field.

The Badgers held a five point lead early on, before coming out strong in the second half and adding four trys and two converts on route to their first conference victory of the season.

The Badgers defense was strong late in the contest coming up with some nice physical hits and some key turnovers, which led to scores.

Leading the Brock offense was the tandem of Nabeel Imtiaz (Pickering, ON) and Nathan Boeyenga (Brantford, ON). Intiaz led all scorers with two tries while Boeyenga registered a try and two converts. 

Other scorers for the Badgers included Jackson Amos (Mississauga, ON), Karl Mueller (Pickering, ON) and Camron Edwards (Napanee, ON) who all added one try each.

For the Varsity Blues, Scott McGuire collected one try and two converts. Brandon Langevin and Robert Welch both added one try in the loss.

The Badgers return to action on HOMECOMING SATURDAY September 17th at 1pm when they host the Guelph Gryphons.

Source: Brock Badgers

Four try scorers lead Mac past Trent

Riding the wave of their midweek win over the Western Mustangs, the Marauders proved that their emphatic start to the OUA season was no flash in the pan. Mac weathered a tough test from the OUA's newest members, the Trent Excalibur, to come away with a 27-12 win at Back 10 Field Sunday.

Mac got tries from Jack McRogers, Jamie McNaughton, Matt Nicol and Ken Boyce, while Will Kelly led the team with seven points from two converts and a penalty goal.

On the other end, Nathan Hawkins and Pierre-William Gagné crossed the try line for the Excalibur, with Jesse Leadbetter converting one of the two scores.

The Marauders drew first blood in the opening half, with Kelly converting on two early tries to give the hosts a 14-0 lead.

Trying to swing the momentum, the Excalibur put the Marauders under enough pressure to break onto the score sheet through a penalty try, and Leadbetter made the convert to halve the Marauders lead at 14-7.

Responding well to the challenge, Mac broke through for their third try of the half, and while Kelly's attempt to stay perfect went wayward, the Marauders took a 19-7 lead into the break.

A lightning-quick series of passes from the hosts saw them break through the Trent defence early in the second half, scoring a fourth try and extending their advantage to a comfortable 17 points.

With one pretty trick left up their sleeves, the Excalibur executed a beautiful grubber to snatch a try out from under the Marauders defensive line, but it was too little, too late to seriously challenge the result on the afternoon.

UP NEXT: McMaster hosts the RMC Paladins at Back 10 Field on Saturday, September 17 … Trent travels to Waterloo to take on the Warriors at Columbia Ice Field on Sunday, September 18.

Source: McMaster Marauders

Mustangs bounce back with 53-5 victory over RMC

LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs bounced back from their season opening loss with a dominating 53-5 win over the RMC Paladins on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field.
 
Leading the way for the Mustangs was Glen Thomson Bullock with ten points from two tries, while Frederico Cisneros Sanchez picked up nine points off a try and two converts. On the other side of the scoresheet, Caleb Shaw led the Paladins after scoring their single try of the game.
 
"We got our attitudes right […] Today the guys were switched on right from warmup, taking care of the little things better," noted Mustangs head coach Tom Dolezel.
 
Cisneros Sanchez noted that the team had a slow start, but things quickly picked up as the game went on.
 
Western was first to put points on the board, with Thomson-Bullock recording a try for the Mustangs. Mark Denton secured two more points for Western with a successful convert, propelling the Mustangs to an early 7-0 lead over the Paladins.
 
RMC fired back with a try of their own from Shaw, putting up the Paladins' first and only points of the game. However, the Mustangs picked up the pace as they added an additional 17 points to the board before closing out the first half.
 
It only took eleven minutes after resuming play for the Mustangs to add another try to the board, with Justin Lam weaving through the Paladins to hit the in-goal area. The purple and white added another three tries and converts before the end of the game to secure the 53-5 win.
 
Western is back in action on Saturday, September 17, when they head to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues at 8 p.m. Looking forward to next week's matchup, the Mustangs already know what they need to do to secure their second win of the season.
 
"If we can get that intensity going from the very first kickoff, I think we can take any team in the league," said Cisneros.

Source: Western Mustangs