Ottawa defeats Windsor to secure no. 5 playoff position
The regular season came to a close at Gee-Gees Field on Saturday, October 19. Fans braved the rainy weather to witness the Gee-Gees football team (5-3) conquer the Lancers (4-4) finishing with a 45-15 final score. The win secured a fifth-place finish in the OUA regular season standings, setting up a first round playoff at McMaster as the Marauders defeated Carleton to finish in fourth spot.
Next week's OUA quarter-final game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet East, Ontario, and Pacific with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
Head coach Jamie Barresi was especially impressed with the hustle put on by his defensive line. "I don't want to name names, because I'm going to leave somebody out," he says. "When they needed to, they really got after these guys and I give them a lot of credit."
Ottawa kept Windsor's offense at bay for the entirety of the first half letting no man get into the end zone. In the first quarter, linebacker Ettore Lattanzio got his first of three sacks on Lancer quarterback Austin Kennedy. Lattanzio is currently in a three-way tie for the CIS lead, sitting at 9 on the season.
The penalty-ridden game saw Lattanzio hoping that his team can put a stop to this trend heading into the playoffs. "We're driving hard every play, and these penalties take us back. It's definitely a way of cutting off our supply," he admits. "It's something we have to improve on."
Although thrilled to be in the playoffs, Coach Barresi is the first to agree on this point and is upset with the 125 yards lost and a total of 13 penalties at the game. "We only had one week where we had four penalties," he says. "We can't give the ball up like that."
On offense, Gee-Gee quarterback Aaron Colbon got a touchdown to kickoff the scoring momentum for his team. Sixth in the CIS with 65 points, kicker Lewis Ward was consistently gaining points after every touchdown and obtained two field goals throughout the game.
By halftime, Ottawa had secured 23 first downs while finishing the game with 31. In comparison, at halftime Windsor had 3. In the second half, the Lancers were much more efficient and propelled their first downs to 24 thanks to aggressive rushing by running back Mitch Dender, who finished with 52 yards on the ground.
To start things off for Ottawa, Aaron Colbon reached Nicolas Dagher to secure a 27-yard pass. Colbon subsequently passed 38 yards to Andrew Mullings for a touchdown play. Domenic Bellardini scored a rouge, while teammate Ward scored a field goal in the following minutes. The score stood at 18-0 at halftime.
Adding to his impressive 2,490 yards passing total on the season, Colbon connected with receiver Simon Le Marquand for an Ottawa touchdown in the third quarter.
In response, the Lancers put up two touchdowns of their own in the second half. Kennedy's first strike was to star wide receiver Evan Pszczonak in the third frame. Pszczonak averages 92.3 receiving yards per game, but Ottawa kept him at under par with 63 on Saturday. Lancer Clark Grace scored the second touchdown of the day for Windsor at the start of the fourth quarter, giving the team some hope of a comeback. However, the Ottawa defence kicked back into gear and continued to hound Kennedy, stifling the Lancers for the remainder of the game.
Quarterback for the Gee-Gees in the fourth, Derek Wendel got his fourth touchdown of the season while running back Mack Tommy broke into a run for the end zone in the final moments of the game getting one of his own.
Topping the receiving charts for both teams totaling 114 yards, rookie Nicolas Dagher was all smiles after the big win and is feeling great with the 5-3 turnout this season. "It was good to get a win today," he says. "Especially for all the seniors, this being the last time playing in front of all their people."