Queens goes to 4-1 with victory over Ottawa

With the victory, the Gaels move to 4-1 this season, while Ottawa remains winless at 0-5.

The Gee-Gees scored 18 straight points in the fourth quarter, and had possession in Queen’s territory trailing by seven with less than a minute to play. But the Gaels defence held when Luke Ball (Kingston, Ont.) stripped Gee-Gees quarterback Aaron Colbon (Ottawa, Ont.) of the football and John Miniaci (Toronto) recovered at the Queen’s 40 yard line to preserve the win.

After a sluggish first quarter that ended with Queen’s in front 4-0, the Gaels got the game’s first big play late in the second quarter when Chris Patrician (Toronto) fielded an Ottawa punt at his own 20-yard line, and returned it through the Gee-Gees coverage for a 91-yard touchdown. An Ottawa safety touch and a Dillon Wamsley (London, Ont.) field goal on the final play of the first half gave Queen’s a 16-0 lead at the break.

Ottawa got on the board when Colbon passed to Vincent Campbell (Gatineau, Que.) for a 9-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. But Queen’s got two points from a safety touch and two short touchdown runs by Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) to take a 32-7 lead after three.

Granberg led the Queen’s offence with 22 rushes for 112 yards. Quarterback Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) completed 14 of 26 passes for 173 yards with one interception. Giovanni Aprile (Scarborough, Ont.) was his favourite target, catching five passes for 91 yards.

The Gee-Gees got back in the game the fourth quarter on a field goal by Matt Falvo (Welland, Ont.) and then blocked a Queen’s punt, leading to a touchdown run by Brendan Gillanders (Orleans, Ont.). Gillanders had a game high of 137 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Ottawa turned a Queen’s safety, a fumble, and another blocked punt into eight more points, pulling to within 32-25 with less than two minutes to play. On its final drive, Ottawa reached the Queen’s 36 before Ball forced Colbon to fumble and Miniaci recovered with less than 30 seconds to play.

The Gaels play at Windsor and at Guelph the next two weeks, and will return home to face the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at Richardson Stadium on October 20, at 1 p.m. Ottawa visits Toronto next Saturday, October 6.

Ottawa Sports Info

The Queen’s Gaels held off a hard-charging Ottawa Gee-Gee team in the fourth quarter, relying on their large first half lead to carry them to a 32-25 win in Kingston on Saturday. The decisive blows for Queen’s came in the form of two third quarter rushing touchdowns, and while Ottawa blocked two punts in the fourth quarter to give air to their sails, their final drive was snuffed out.
Ottawa’s offence put together a number of lengthy drives over the course of the game, varying their lineups between a double-wing and shot gun start. They found success early despite poor field position which forced them to give up two rouges and a safety, accounting for Queen’s 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Gee-Gees brought a hybrid approach on their first substantial drive of the game as Aaron Colbon connected with Maxime Lepinay through the air and Brendan Gillanders did the running work up the middle. Holding penalties dragged the progress back as Ottawa had four first downs on 3 of 7 passing and 9 rush attempts in the first quarter.
Just over five minutes into the second quarter Queen’s hit pay dirt for the first time as Gaels punt return man Chris Patrician evaded several garnet jerseys on his 91-yard run down the sideline. Trying to respond, Gillanders able to turn the corner and walk the line for an exciting rush deep into Gaels territory, however it was one of many positive gains which were called back by a penalty. A determined Simon Le Marquand responded by charging through the middle of the field following a crisp pass reception. Le Marquand finished the day with 83 yards, however they were all in the first half as he was knocked out of the game attempting to catch a pass on the sideline in front of the Queen’s bench.
“Offensively although we didn’t score in the first half we were obviously trying to do some things differently and the thing on offence is that we took too many penalties, especially in the first half,” said Gee-Gee head coach Gary Etcheverry. “But down at the end of the game I think everybody on board felt that we could win.”
That end of game confidence was built on a series of big plays. Ottawa came out of the locker room for the second half focussed as they quickly put together a six-play, 81 yard scoring drive. Fullback Joey Onomo converted a key third and short run taking the ball to the nine yard line, setting up a Vincent Campbell touchdown at 2:06. Colbon rolled out to the right side and found Campbell with space in the endzone.
Matt Falvo kicked the longest field goal of his career with a 51 yard bomb to open the fourth quarter scoring for the Gee-Gees. It was also the longest field goal ever by a Gee-Gee, giving Falvo his second school record on the season. Falvo added two more field goals, including a 25 yarder which put the score at 32-22 following a Brendan Gillanders touchdown.
The Gee-Gees then blocked their second punt of the day, giving them the ball at the Queen’s 21. Falvo converted a field goal from 33 yards out, and the defence quickly got the ball back in the offence’s hands via a Trevor Seal sack and a Chris Daly pass knock down. Ottawa took ball back with 1:08, down 7 and in shot gun formation Aaron Colbon was able to get two first downs before the Queen’s offence stopped the drive.
The Gee-Gees finished the day with two blocked punts, one interception and one sack. Brendan Gillanders had 137 of Ottawa’s 177 rushing yards, while Aaron Colbon was 15-30 on his pass attempts. The Gaels improved their record to 4-1 while Ottawa falls to 0-5.
1   2   3   4   F
Ottawa 0   0   7   18    25
Queen’s    4   12    16    0   32