The Queen’s Gaels Varsity Football team will look to improve on a very impressive season this year.
This past season saw tremendous success for the Gaels team, highlighted by beating the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks by a score of 30-27 to win the 117th Yates Cup. While they fell short in the Mitchell Bowl to the Saskatchewan Huskies, playing in the game alone was proof of the team’s talent and accomplishments.
Now that they’ve caught a glimpse of national glory, they’re hungry to go and win it, according to Head Coach Steve Snyder.
In an interview with The Journal, Snyder talked about the big expectations and urgency that this season brings with it. “We took a major step forward and accomplished one of our goals, but we still have our eyes set on something bigger. There’s still something that we haven’t accomplished, and we have a lot to prove, everybody, including myself,” Snyder said.
While Snyder is proud of his team’s success this past season, he made sure to emphasize that his team won’t rest on last year’s laurels. “We had a really good year, but the goal was to put it behind us and reset and build a new team and just establish right away that we weren’t going to be defending a Yates Cup,” Synder said on his team’s mentality. “We’re just going to be chasing and attacking another [Yates Cup].”
It’s been a busy offseason for the Gaels in terms of training and gatherings. Snyder has been impressed with his teams near perfect attendance throughout the winter and spring months for both the workouts and team social events. Most players have been choosing to stay in Kingston to train over the summer at the team facilities.
The head coach also understands the additional practice and commitment needed to overcome the extra attention opposing teams are giving them due to their reigning champions status. “I think a lot of the league has probably been watching us for the last couple of months, trying to learn everything about us,” Snyder said. “We can’t assume that we can go out and do exactly what we did last year, that would be a big mistake because people have watched that closely.”
Lots of key departures from the team is another factor that won’t make it easy for the team to repeat last year’s success.
On the offensive end, the Gaels will be without running-back Jared Chisari, MSc ’26, linemen Jas Khaira, Comm ’26, and Niklas Henning ArtSci ’26, the latter of which earned a contract with the Los Angeles Raiders. Snyder is still optimistic about his team’s offense and stated that it will be a team effort to fill the gaps created by the departures. He emphasized quarterback Alex Vreeken, ArtSci ’27, receiver Logan Walton, ArtSci ‘28, and running-back Jayden Gurzi-MacDonald, ArtSci ’28, as the individuals he believes will have big impacts on the team next season.
On the defensive side, the team won’t have the steady linebacker Justin Pace, Kin ’26, and defensive-back Ashton Miller-Melancon, ArtSci ’26, who now play for the Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. Snyder will look towards linebacker Jeremy Hiscox, ArtSci ’27, and defensive-back Iain St. Arnault, ArtSci ’27, to replace the holes on defense, as well as several other players who have been with team for a while.“We have a number of players that have been in our program for two or three years that have been backups to these great older players, they got a lot to prove now because it’s going to be their opportunity,” Snyder said.
The Gaels will play a preseason game on the Aug. 22 when they host the University of Laval Rouge et Or Football team at Richardson Stadium. They will kick off their regular season on the road on Aug. 30 when they take on the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues. Their home opener is against Waterloo on Sept. 12 at Richardson Stadium. “Waterloo is going to be very fired up to play us. If we can all band together, the students, the fans, the players and the coaches, and work together, because fans do make an impact, we can make Richardson a place where opponents have a real difficult time coming,” Snyder said.
Other notable dates include the annual Homecoming game on Oct. 17 against Guelph, as well as their season closer a week later at McMaster Univsersity. The OUA playoffs will begin in November, where the Gaels will get a chance to defend their Yates Cup championship and, perhaps, chase something bigger.
Tags
CFL, NFL, Queen's football, Season Previews
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