RECAP: Show stopping touchdowns lead to win for #9 Gee-Gees over #10 Gryphons

The ninth-ranked Gee-Gees football team took advantage of several big plays and some stingy defence to top the tenth-ranked Guelph Gryphons 46-10 at TD Place Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Five different Gee-Gees found the end zone, while the Ottawa defence forced three turnovers in the game.

"We learned a lot from our last game at home," said Gee-Gees head coach Marcel Bellefeuille. "When you're a young team, sometimes it's harder to play at home. We talked about trying to revisit that feeling we had at Mac [last week] – that focus and eliminating all the distractions – and I felt like they did a good job of that today."

The teams were scoreless through the first quarter, but the offences found their footing in the second.

The Gee-Gees opened the scoring with Willy-Pierre Dimbongi outmuscling a defensive back for a jump ball and darting into the end zone. Guelph responded with a score of their own, but a Campbell Fair field goal restored order for Ottawa.

With just two minutes remaining in the first half, Ben Maracle dropped a dime in the end zone to Nicholas Gendron for a slick touchdown. Another field goal from Fair gave the Gee-Gees a 19-7 advantage at the halftime break. 

The third quarter has typically been tough for Ottawa this season, but the offensive onslaught continued into the second half. Daniel Oladejo rolled the highlight reels by hauling in a jump ball on the goal line, and Amlicar Polk pushed a Gryphon defender off him en route to a 42-yard touchdown run. 

The fourth quarter saw Ottawa remain in control, shutting out the Gryphons, who fall to 1-3 on the season. J-P Cimankinda, a Guelph transfer, capped off the scoring by running in for a touchdown after another former Gryphon, A.K. Ismail, picked off a Jake Helfrich pass.

Gee-Gees quarterback Ben Maracle had statistically his best game of the season, passing for 303 yards and three touchdowns in a clean performance. Polk and Cimankinda both rushed for over 100 yards (116 and 108, respectively) while Daniel Oladejo led the team with 124 receiving yards. 

"What feels great is having everyone come together and play a complete game," said Maracle, who also ran for 13 yards. "The passing, protection, everything came together. To put points on the board, you need to dominate in all three phases of the game, so to do that is really something special."

Helfrich went 18-for36 for 169 yards and the two interceptions. Isaiah Smith ran for 101 yards for Guelph.

Ottawa hits the road next week to take on Wilfrid Laurier (2-1) on Saturday, Sept. 24. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed on OUA.tv.

The Gee-Gees return to Ottawa for the annual Panda Game against the Carleton Ravens (2-2) in two weeks' time on Saturday, Oct. 1.