Queen’s football continues to shine, this time on a bright sunny day in Guelph.
The Gaels travelled to Guelph on Oct. 4 to take on the Guelph Gryphons in their annual homecoming game, coming away with the victory 27-17.
Guelph found an advantage in the boisterous home crowd early on, as the Guelph defence forced a fumble that swung the momentum to the Gryphons. Their offence came on the field, building off the newly formed swing, leading to a long drive that pushed Queen’s deep into their own territory. With their best chance to take an early lead, the Guelph field goal was missed wide left, and brought out of the end zone to keep the score tied.
Queen’s offence was stymied in the first couple of drives, as the Guelph defence was lively and smothering on every play, leading to back-to-back Gaels punts. Just as the second quarter started, the Gryphons continued to ride their momentum, grabbing the first lead of the day with a touchdown.
However, the Queen’s offence came alive thanks to a couple of huge plays by Alex Vreeken, Kin ’26, one of them being a 26-yard touchdown to Mateo Tuioti, ArtSci ’26, to tie the game. The Gaels defence would come up with a big stop, highlighted by a big second-down sack by DJ Ryan, ArtSci ’26.
The possession change, combined with a couple of costly penalties by the Gryphons—who are the most penalized team in the OUA—led to a successful field goal for the Gaels, giving them the 10-7 lead. The Gryphons would add a field goal of their own to tie the game up at 10-10 going into halftime.
In the third quarter, it was more of the same, as both teams didn’t hold on to the ball, trading punt after punt. A Vreeken interception threatened to turn this game in the Gryphons’ direction but was cleaned up by the Queen’s defence in their own territory. The defence came up big, stopping the Gryphons offence on third and short. After this game-shifting play, the Queen’s offence responded, pushing down the field and ultimately settling for a field goal and taking the 13-10 lead.
The fourth quarter was nothing short of dramatic, starting with a Gaels face-masking penalty that led to poor field position starting on Queen’s own 1 yard-line. The Queen’s offence battled through and got out of a tough situation. The Guelph offence came on the field and continued to chip away at the Queens defence, who kept them on the field for over six minutes. The drive led to a touchdown, as Guelph took a 17-13 lead with 6:41 left on the clock.
Queen’s offence came on the field needing to make a statement, and did they ever, with a 40-yard rush courtesy of Jared Chisari, MSc ’27. He then made three straight plays, including a huge touchdown, giving the Gaels a three-point lead late in the game. Another big stop by the Queen’s defence led to a 67-yard touchdown by Nathan Falconi, ArtSci ’26, icing the game at 27-17 with less than a minute left in the game.
Notably, Justin Pace, ArtSci ’26, didn’t play in the game, as his case is still under review by the OUA after his hit on Waterloo Warriors quarterback Nick Orr two weeks ago.
The Gaels will have a week off before playing their last game of the regular season against the Windsor Lancers on Oct. 18 at Richardson Stadium.
Tags
Alex Vreeken, DJ Ryan, Guelph Gryphons, Jared Chisari, Justin Pace, Mateo Tuioti, Nathan Falconi
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