Gee-Gees drop home opener to top-ranked Marauders

“We did some good things against an opponent that is obviously very good. I think we’ve gone a long way mentally and we’ve improved. But we didn’t come here to have moral victories; we came here to win on the scoreboard. That was disappointing but I liked the overall belief we had in ourselves,” said Gee-Gees head coach Gary Etcheverry.

Facing one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Kyle Quinlan, the Gee-Gees defence brought the pressure early, as a sack on Quinlan led to a fumble which was recovered by fourth-year linebacker Rob Griffiths (Burlington, Ont.). However, the turnover yielded no points as fifth-year kicker Matthew Falvo (Welland, Ont.) was just wide on a 41-yard field goal attempt. Eventually, the potent Marauders broke through Ottawa’s defence and engineered three touchdown-scoring drives in the first quarter.

Down 23-0 to start the second quarter, the Gee-Gees offence woke up with fourth-year quarterback Aaron Colbon (Orleans, Ont.) scoring on a 25-yard touchdown run. The Gee-Gees offence was given a chance to cut into the deficit further when the Marauders fumbled on the following kickoff and the ball was recovered by fourth-year receiver Simon Le Marquand (Gatineau, Qué.) at the McMaster 20 yard line. However, Colbon’s pass was intercepted on the next play which ended the threat.

Later in the second quarter, history was made when Falvo hit his 57th and 58th field goals of his career to break a school record for field goals made in a career. The second field goal was made possible due to a fumble recovery by third-year defensive end Andrew Randall (Rockland, Ont.). Ottawa’s strong second quarter meant they only trailed 26-13 at halftime.

“I really thought we could win this game and I wanted our players to believe that too. Now moving forward, we’ve seen all the things we’re capable of doing against any opponent,” said Etcheverry.

“Overall, I think we did improve a little bit and I think we were with them for the most of the game. Guys were upbeat and kept their heads up on the sideline and I think that’s a big positive, going forward,” added Colbon.
For a while, it seemed like the Gee-Gees’ positive momentum would carry into the second half as another field goal by Falvo shrunk McMaster’s lead to 26-16. But the rest of the quarter belonged to the Marauders as they stretched out their advantage to 40-16 heading into the final frame.

And there was no miraculous ending for the Gee-Gees on this day as Ottawa ended up losing by a final score of 45-16. uOttawa will now try to redeem themselves against the Laurier Golden Hawks at Beckwith Park on September 22.