PREVIEW: Gaels host Gee-Gees in home opener

The No.9 Gaels will host the Ottawa Gee-Gees in their OUA football home opener this Saturday at Richardson Stadium, game time is set for 1pm. Queen’s is coming off of a big road victory over the Windsor Lancers where the Gaels used the wind to their advantage to put up 15 points in the final quarter and take a 39-30 victory.

Quarterback Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) led the way for Queen’s as he threw for 259 yards completing 17 of 35 passes for three touchdowns in the win. Jesse Andrews (Arnprior, Ont.) finished with a strong game on the ground despite missing much of the second half for the Gaels with 93 yards and a touchdown while Doug Corby (Burlington, Ont.) had 125 yards receiving and a touchdown of his own. Michael Moore (Mississauga, Ont.) finished with a game high 12 tackles while rookie defensive back Jason Shamatutu (Coquitlam, B.C.) had a big debut on defence for the Gaels with 7.5 tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception late in the fourth.

The Gee-Gees enter the game this Saturday coming off a 51-7 thumping of the York Lions. Quarterback Derek Wendel threw four touchdowns in the win and Vincent Campbell returned a punt 72-yards for a touchdown.

The Gaels are currently a dominant home team and have been for the past few years. The Gaels have won their last 14 straight home games and will look to make it 15 on Saturday.

(Source:  Shawn MacDonald, Queen’s Sports Information)

The 1-0 uOttawa Gee-Gees visit the Queen’s Gaels, also 1-0, on Saturday for a tough week two matchup. 

On the heels of a 51-7 drubbing of York, the Gee-Gees will look to improve on the positives: an offence that racked up 591 yards, and a defence that held York to seven points, 177 yards, and no points in the second half – and work on the negatives: 170 yards and 14 points lost to penalties. 

 “As a team we are happy to get the season started on the right foot with a win, but have a long way to go to reach our full potential,” says running back Mack Tommy who ran for 105 yards and a recorded a touchdown against York. “We need to be more disciplined and can’t beat ourselves with penalties. We took nearly 200 yards off the board due to penalties, which will not continue.”

The Gaels came out on top 36-21 in last season’s meeting in Ottawa. 

 “On any given Saturday, the most prepared team that is able to execute usually wins,” added Tommy. “This 2014 team is one of the most cohesive units of players I’ve had the chance to play with, and we can’t wait to take the field Saturday against Queen’s.”

That cohesiveness will come in handy in attacking a traditionally strong Queen’s defence and replicating the pressure the Gee-Gees’ defence was able to put on the quarterback and used to slow down the York receivers last week.

Special teams showed its potential to contribute to the cause as well by adding 198 return yards and instant field position for the offence to work with. Not to mention a punt return major from OUA and CIS Special Teams Player of the Week, Vincent Campbell.

But the Gee-Gees won’t be assuming they’ll put up this type of numbers when they step onto the field against a Queen’s team who finished second in the 2013 OUA regular season and suffered just one defeat.

In a week one victory over Windsor that took a fourth quarter comeback, Queen’s put up 438 total offensive yards but gave up 400 yards through the air. That may be an area the Gee-Gees will look to exploit with the way the passing game clicked last week. Queen’s will likely want to address the number of penalties they’re taking as well. They gave up 100 yards themselves in week one. 

The teams kick off at 1 p.m. on Saturday from Queen’s and the game can be seen live on OUA.TV.

(Source:  Ottawa Gee-Gees Sports Information)