All photos by Gar FitzGerald
Young Guelph Gryphons toppled by sixth-ranked Laurier
GUELPH – This OUA football season has become one of learning for the young Guelph Gryphons. The hope the main lesson is learning how to lose.
The Gryphs suffered their second consecutive one-sided loss Saturday when they were downed 60-21 at Alumni Stadium by the sixth-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks at Alumni Stadium.
Laurier Golden Hawks 60 Guelph Gryphons 21
That loss followed a 41-18 setback to the Windsor Lancers that moved the Lancers to 10th in the national rankings.
“There’s always learning to do and I feel that whenever we’re in a situation like this where we’re put back, that only motivates us to do better in the future and the next game,” said third-year Gryphon receiver Vyshonne Janusas who was a first-team OUA all-star last year.
“They look like a formidable playoff team and that’s two weeks in a row against playoff teams from last year and they look like they grew a notch,” Gryphon head coach Ryan Sheahan said. “We’re still growing as a team. The young nucleus is taking it on the chin a little bit, but at times I saw a bright future ahead.”
Now the Gryphon coaching staff will try to keep the team, led by two freshmen quarterbacks, positive and upbeat.
“That’s always challenging when you’re young,” Sheahan said. “Unfortunately, sometimes losses are a part of the journey, too. It’s tough to get rid of the emotional part of a loss, but we have to do that quickly because we have an all-important game against McMaster who’s also a good football team, who’s hungry and who’s battling back and who had a great effort against Western last week in a game — I’ve seen the film — they could’ve won it. We’ve got our work cut out for us on the road, but we always get ready for Saturdays the same way. We treat everybody with respect and I know we’ll bounce back.”
Saturday at home, the Gryphons kept it close for a quarter before Laurier pulled away. The Golden Hawks led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, 39-13 at halftime and 53-13 after the third quarter.
“Execution, it’s as simple as that,” Janusas said. “Every play counts. If one guy makes a mistake, that could stop a potential touchdown so that’s all it really is.”
Janusas led the Gryphon scorers as he caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Tristan Aboud early in the fourth quarter then hauled in a two-point convert pass from Aboud on the following play.
Quarterback Marshall McCray scored the other TD for the Gryphons, running around the right side for a score from a yard out late in the first quarter.
Freshman place kicker Gabe Canabrava scored all the other points for the Gryphs as he kicked field goals of 22 and 28 yards and also converted McCray’s TD.
The two losses for the Gryphs followed a season-opening 33-10 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues at Alumni Stadium Aug. 26. The Varsity Blues also participated in the OUA playoffs last year.
“I thought the Toronto game instilled some confidence in some young players to show that they can play at this level,” Sheahan said. “Now the competition level changed in Week 2 and Week 3. They were very, very good football teams and they’ve obviously done some growing from their playoff experience from last year whereas we didn’t have that. We’re still a team going through some changeover, but one of these days we’re going to get our footing and bounce back and deliver a good product in all three phases of the game.”
The Gryphs collected 31 first downs in the Laurier game and had 486 yards of total offence. They were 1-of-6 on third-down conversions.
The Golden Hawks had 33 first downs and 601 yards of total offence and never attempted to convert a third down.
Aboud completed 22 of 31 pass attempts for 277 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked four times. McCray completed two of five pass attempts for 20 yards and was sacked once.
They were also two of the leading rushers for the Gryphs as McCray gained 80 yards on seven carries and Aboud gained 54 yards on five carries. Running back Donavin Milloy led with 84 yards on 12 carries.
Willem Arseneau caught five passes for 91 yards while Janusas had five receptions for 65 yards and Kaine Stevenson hauled in six passes for 41 yards.
Jack Cobb had eight tackles for the Gryphs while Miles La Foucade had 7.5 and Braeden MacDougall had 6.5.
For Laurier, quarterback Taylor Elgersma tied a school record with six touchdown tosses as he found Raidan Thorne (35 and 33 yards) and Ethan Jordan (29 yards and 25 yards) twice each for TDs.
The other TD tosses were caught by Nico McCarthy (16 yards) and Jace Atkinson (25 yards). Elgersma also scored a touchdown on a one-yard play as did Guelph native Tanner Nelmes while place kicker Dawson Hodge converted all eight TDs.
Laurier’s other points came on a pair of safeties conceded by the Gryphons.
Laurier, Western Mustangs and Windsor are all at 3-0 following Saturday’s games while the Ottawa Gee-Gees are at 2-0 and the Queen’s Gaels are at 1-1. The Gryphs, McMaster Marauders and Waterloo Warriors are all at 1-2 while the Carleton Ravens are at 0-2 and Toronto and the York Lions are both at 0-3. Top seven qualify for the playoffs.
The Gryphs are to play the Marauders at McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton next Saturday (Sept. 16) before hosting York in the annual Homecoming Game Sept. 23 at Alumni Stadium. Both games carry 1 p.m. starting times.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Young Guelph Gryphons toppled by sixth-ranked Laurier
GUELPH – This OUA football season has become one of learning for the young Guelph Gryphons. The hope the main lesson is learning how to lose.
The Gryphs suffered their second consecutive one-sided loss Saturday when they were downed 60-21 at Alumni Stadium by the sixth-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks at Alumni Stadium.
Laurier Golden Hawks 60
Guelph Gryphons 21
That loss followed a 41-18 setback to the Windsor Lancers that moved the Lancers to 10th in the national rankings.
“There’s always learning to do and I feel that whenever we’re in a situation like this where we’re put back, that only motivates us to do better in the future and the next game,” said third-year Gryphon receiver Vyshonne Janusas who was a first-team OUA all-star last year.
“They look like a formidable playoff team and that’s two weeks in a row against playoff teams from last year and they look like they grew a notch,” Gryphon head coach Ryan Sheahan said. “We’re still growing as a team. The young nucleus is taking it on the chin a little bit, but at times I saw a bright future ahead.”
Now the Gryphon coaching staff will try to keep the team, led by two freshmen quarterbacks, positive and upbeat.
“That’s always challenging when you’re young,” Sheahan said. “Unfortunately, sometimes losses are a part of the journey, too. It’s tough to get rid of the emotional part of a loss, but we have to do that quickly because we have an all-important game against McMaster who’s also a good football team, who’s hungry and who’s battling back and who had a great effort against Western last week in a game — I’ve seen the film — they could’ve won it. We’ve got our work cut out for us on the road, but we always get ready for Saturdays the same way. We treat everybody with respect and I know we’ll bounce back.”
Saturday at home, the Gryphons kept it close for a quarter before Laurier pulled away. The Golden Hawks led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, 39-13 at halftime and 53-13 after the third quarter.
“Execution, it’s as simple as that,” Janusas said. “Every play counts. If one guy makes a mistake, that could stop a potential touchdown so that’s all it really is.”
Janusas led the Gryphon scorers as he caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Tristan Aboud early in the fourth quarter then hauled in a two-point convert pass from Aboud on the following play.
Quarterback Marshall McCray scored the other TD for the Gryphons, running around the right side for a score from a yard out late in the first quarter.
Freshman place kicker Gabe Canabrava scored all the other points for the Gryphs as he kicked field goals of 22 and 28 yards and also converted McCray’s TD.
The two losses for the Gryphs followed a season-opening 33-10 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues at Alumni Stadium Aug. 26. The Varsity Blues also participated in the OUA playoffs last year.
“I thought the Toronto game instilled some confidence in some young players to show that they can play at this level,” Sheahan said. “Now the competition level changed in Week 2 and Week 3. They were very, very good football teams and they’ve obviously done some growing from their playoff experience from last year whereas we didn’t have that. We’re still a team going through some changeover, but one of these days we’re going to get our footing and bounce back and deliver a good product in all three phases of the game.”
The Gryphs collected 31 first downs in the Laurier game and had 486 yards of total offence. They were 1-of-6 on third-down conversions.
The Golden Hawks had 33 first downs and 601 yards of total offence and never attempted to convert a third down.
Aboud completed 22 of 31 pass attempts for 277 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked four times. McCray completed two of five pass attempts for 20 yards and was sacked once.
They were also two of the leading rushers for the Gryphs as McCray gained 80 yards on seven carries and Aboud gained 54 yards on five carries. Running back Donavin Milloy led with 84 yards on 12 carries.
Willem Arseneau caught five passes for 91 yards while Janusas had five receptions for 65 yards and Kaine Stevenson hauled in six passes for 41 yards.
Jack Cobb had eight tackles for the Gryphs while Miles La Foucade had 7.5 and Braeden MacDougall had 6.5.
For Laurier, quarterback Taylor Elgersma tied a school record with six touchdown tosses as he found Raidan Thorne (35 and 33 yards) and Ethan Jordan (29 yards and 25 yards) twice each for TDs.
The other TD tosses were caught by Nico McCarthy (16 yards) and Jace Atkinson (25 yards). Elgersma also scored a touchdown on a one-yard play as did Guelph native Tanner Nelmes while place kicker Dawson Hodge converted all eight TDs.
Laurier’s other points came on a pair of safeties conceded by the Gryphons.
Laurier, Western Mustangs and Windsor are all at 3-0 following Saturday’s games while the Ottawa Gee-Gees are at 2-0 and the Queen’s Gaels are at 1-1. The Gryphs, McMaster Marauders and Waterloo Warriors are all at 1-2 while the Carleton Ravens are at 0-2 and Toronto and the York Lions are both at 0-3. Top seven qualify for the playoffs.
The Gryphs are to play the Marauders at McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton next Saturday (Sept. 16) before hosting York in the annual Homecoming Game Sept. 23 at Alumni Stadium. Both games carry 1 p.m. starting times.
- Guelph Sports Journal
