OUA recaps: Laurier pulls away late, Guelph & York win big (stats)

Laurier 37, Queens 18 

The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s football team scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat the Queen’s Gaels 37-18 in their home opener on Sunday afternoon at University Stadium.

The offensive outburst was highlighted by a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown from third year All-Canadian defensive back Godfrey Onyeka of Brampton, Ont.,  that gave the Hawks a 23-18 lead with 5:43 to play in the fourth. Laurier would find the endzone twice more following Onyeka’s major to pick up a win in their season opener for the third consecutive season.

“It wasn’t our prettiest win but it felt good to get the “W” out their today,” said head coach Michael Faulds after the contest. “We created turnovers, got sacks, Nathan Mesher hit a couple of big field goals, and then finally in the fourth quarter we made some plays on offence. We have a lot of work to do in key areas but we’ll get it sorted out and be better next week.”

Onyeka’s touchdown was fitting on an afternoon where the Golden Hawks defence was as dominant as advertised coming into the year. Laurier forced five turnovers by the Gaels, including two interceptions and three fumbles recovered, and recorded nine quarterback sacks, seven coming on Queen’s starter Nate Hobbs of Mississauga, Ont.

Leading the defensive charge was Onyeka’s cousin Nakas Onyeka of Brampton, Ont., who had nine total tackles, two sacks and three tackles for a loss. All-Canadian defensive end Kwaku Boateng of Milton, Ont., was dominant in the first game of his draft year as he had four total tackles, two sacks, three tackles for a loss, one forced fumble and one pass breakup.

Also recording sacks on the day were Robbie Smith of Brampton, Ont., who had two, along with singles by Jalen Price of Hamilton, Brandon Calver of London, Ont., and Yalkum Sakir of Kitchener, Ont.

“Our offence has to face them [our defence] every day, so we know exactly how good they are and it was great to see them play that well,” said Faulds praising the effort of his defence. “It starts up front with our defensive line. They’re able to get up on their quarterback and it makes it really tough on them. And then our secondary is really good too as you saw on that interception by Godfrey.”

For much of Sunday’s season opening contest, it was a defensive struggle as the teams went into halftime at a 9-8 scoreline in favour of the purple and gold. The lone bright spot in the opening half on offence for Laurier was second year kicker Nathan Mesher of Kitchener, Ont., who had two field goals, including a career-long 49 yarder to open the scoring, one yard shy of Laurier’s all-time long held by former kicker Ronnie Pfeffer.

Early in the third quarter, Queen’s would grab their first lead of the day as Matteo Del Brocco of Kingsville, Ont., scored on a 10-yard pass from Hobbs to stake the Gaels to a 15-9 lead.

Laurier responded with their first major of the season on a shovel pass from starting quarterback Julien John of Oakville, Ont., to Kurleigh Gittens Jr. of Ottawa. Gittens Jr. then showed off his speed scampering 31 yards for the touchdown to restore Laurier’s advantage.

After Queen’s retook the lead on the 31-yard field goal from Nick Liberatore (Dartmouth, N.S.) early in the fourth quarter,Godfrey Onyeka made his first big play of the season, recording Laurier’s second interception of the contest and finding the endzone for the major.

Godfrey Onyeka made his second big contribution of the game on the next play, forcing and recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, setting Laurier up on the Gaels 26-yard line. Two plays later, John found Mario Villamizar of Niagara Falls, Ont., for a 27-yard touchdown, the first of Villamizar’s career, giving the Hawks a 30-16 lead.

Two possessions later, following another fumble recovering by the purple and gold, starting running back Eric Guiltinan of London, Ont., put the game out of reach with a seven-yard touchdown run to cap off the scoring.

Guiltinan, making his first career start in his final year of eligibility, had an impressive debut for Laurier as he ran the ball 21 times for 85 yards and a touchdown. John, in  his first start at quarterback since 2013, struggled throwing four interceptions but finished strong as he had two touchdowns and 158 yards passing, completing 10-of-24 passing attempts.

For the Gaels, Hobbs completed 20-of-35 pass attempts for 187 yards and a touchdown but threw two interceptions. Receiver Chris Osei-Kusi of Brampton, Ont., was his favourite target as he had eight catches for 74 yards.

Up next, Laurier continues their two-game homestand to start the year as they host the York Lions (1-0) at University Stadium on Labour Day Monday, September 5. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: Laurier has now won back-to-back games against Queen’s for the first time since winning two-straight between 2009 and 2010…Queen’s lead in the all-time series now stands at 11-9 with Laurier having won three of the last four meetings at University Stadium…Boateng’s two sacks now give him 16 for his career, just two shy of setting a new all-time school record for career sacks…attendance at Sunday’s game was 1,144

 

York 57, Waterloo 13 

Second-year quarterback Brett Hunchak threw five touchdown passes to lead the York University Lions football team to a big 57-13 opening day win over the Waterloo Warriors at Alumni Field on Sunday (Aug. 28).

The starting pivot from Calgary went 17-for-25 for 331 yards and also threw one interception.

Two of his touchdown passes were to his brother, Colton Hunchak (Calgary), who finished with 149 yards on three receptions. His first TD was a beautiful 77-yard catch and run play up the sideline on the first play of the drive that made it 22-3 for the Lions, while his second came early in the third quarter and stretched York’s lead to 29-13.

Rookie receiver D’Saun Greenaway (Brampton, Ont.) also recorded two touchdowns on the afternoon. He caught his first on the final play of the opening quarter for a 32-yard score, and added a second in the fourth quarter for the final points of the game from back-up quarterback Matt Krason (Brantford, Ont.).

Krason, a rookie playing in his first game, added a pair of one-yard rushing touchdowns in the game, including the first score late in the opening quarter.

Jahmari Bennett (Mississauga, Ont.) and Nikola Kalinic (Mississauga, Ont.) also had touchdowns in the game.

Reigning OUA rookie of the year Jesse Amankwaa (Etobicoke, Ont.) was dominant to start the game, picking up 64 rushing yards on 12 carries and adding another 35 on three catches. Overall, seven different players rushed the ball for the Lions, with rookie running back Kayden Johnson (Kerrobert, Sask.) leading the team with 75 yards on nine carries.

The game remained scoreless for most of the first quarter, until Hunchak led his team down to the one-yard like and Krason punched it in for a 7-0 lead. They added another score right at the end of the quarter to make it 14-0.

After a rouge on a kick-off by Nick Naylor (Abbotsford, B.C.), Waterloo got on the board with a field goal by Caleb Girard (Waterford, Ont.) to make it 15-3, but less than one minute later the Hunchaks connected for a 22-3 lead.

The Warriors got their first major score with two minutes remaining in the half on a touchdown pass by Mitch Kernick (Elmira, Ont.), and nearly added another right before the end of the frame but had to settle for another Girard field goal, and the Lions led 22-13 at the break.

The Lions dominated after coming out of the locker room for the second half, scoring three touchdowns in the third quarter and another two in the fourth to round out the scoring. They finished with 546 yards and 30 first downs, while Waterloo amassed 414 yards and 23 first downs. The Warriors also benefited from some miss-timed penalties from the Lions, getting seven first downs as a result.

Waterloo quarterback Lucas McConnell (Waterford, Ont.) finished 17-of-40 for 283 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

The Lions will be on the road in Week 2 when they travel to Waterloo, Ont., to face the Laurier Golden Hawks on Monday, Sept. 5 at 7:30pm. The Warriors, meanwhile, play their home opener against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Monday at 1pm.

Guelph 41, Toronto 22 

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues football team dropped their 2016 season opener 41-22 to the Yates Cup defending champion Guelph Gryphons on Sunday, August 28 at Alumni Stadium.

Down 36-1 at halftime, the Blues rallied in the second half to outscore the Gryphons 21-5. The Blues are now 15-28-1 against the Gryphons in program history.

Fifth-year quarterback Marcus Hobbs was 19-of-35 for 261 yards and had one rushing touchdown, while fourth-year Florida Tech transfer Kaleb Leach racked up 149 all-purpose yards. Leach led the Blues with 79 rushing yards on five carries and one touchdown, made three kick returns for 64 yards and added one reception for six yards.

Fourth-year receiver Anthony Naccarato had a game-high 96 receiving yards on eight catches, while fellow veteran Rahul Madan made four receptions for 61 yards.

Veteran linebackers Adrian Bernard and Brittley Mokube led all players with 10 tackles each in the loss.

Down 39-1, Leach sparked the Blues offence with a 42-yard rushing touchdown 42 seconds into the fourth quarter. Two drives later, Hobbs connected a 39-yard strike with second-year receiver Kevin Collins to put the Blues on Guelph’s 1-yard line. Hobbs converted with the rushing major on the ensuing play.

Blues backup quarterback Calvin Vaughan then marched the Blues down the field and capped off a 7-play, 55-yard drive with a 1-yard rushing TD.

The Varsity Blues return to action on Monday, September 5 when they travel to Hamilton to take on the McMaster Marauders. The Labour Day Classic kicks off at 12 p.m. at Tim Horton’s Field.

U of T returns to Varsity Stadium on Saturday, September 10 when they host the Carleton Ravens in their 2016 home opener. Kick off is set for 1 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale here.

 

Source and Pictures: Toronto Athletics, Laurier Athletics, York Athletics

 

QUEENS GAELS vs. Laurier Golden Hawks at Waterloo, ON 8/28/2016 at 1:07PM
Queen’s 18	Laurier 37