RECAP: Gendron, stingy defence, helps #7 Gee-Gees football to win in 53rd Panda Game

A huge game for receiver Nicholas Gendron and some characteristically stingy defence by the University of Ottawa led the Gee-Gees football team to a 37-7 victory over the Carleton Ravens in the Panda Game at TD Place. 

The 53^rd edition of the storied rivalry game drew a sellout crowd of 24,000, the fifth consecutive sellout for the annual matchup. 

"We have a motto, 'you don't react to adversity, you respond to it,'" said Gee-Gees head coach Marcel Bellefeuille. "They made a couple of plays, but our offence came back on the field and scored. That team resiliency is something that we talk about quite a bit." 

Gendron stole the headlines on the day, catching eight passes for 211 yards and a touchdown. His 211 receiving yards is the fourth highest total for a Gee-Gee in a single game in the 141-year history of the program. 

"Being able to get the win means so much," said Gendron, a Gatineau, Que., product who attended Cégep de l'Outaouais. "When the ball's in the air, it's kind of silent. But when the ball is in your hands and the crowd erupts, it's just so special. The o-line did such a great job protecting for Ben too." 

Carleton started the game with a bang, scoring a touchdown on their first offensive possession, but it was all Gee-Gees the rest of the way. 

Gendron got the Garnet and Grey faithful on their feet with an 81-yard catch-and-run touchdown off a deep bomb from Ben Maracle. A Campbell Fair field goal led to the score being 10-7 at the break. 

As they have in recent weeks, Ottawa came out of halftime on a tear, finding the end zone early in the third quarter with Willy-Pierre Dimbongi hauling in his team-leading third receiving touchdown of the year. 

It was a sea of Garnet and Grey the rest of the way, with J-P Cimankinda getting a pair of touchdowns and Fair hitting two more field goals from over 40 yards out. 

"I spoke with [Ravens head coach Corey Grant] after the game and he's doing a great job," said Bellefeuille of his opposition. "I told him his program is on the way up and he's getting it going. We're looking forward to seeing them again." 

Ottawa improves to 36-17 all-time in the Panda Game and are now on a four-game winning streak. It's their first winning streak of four-or-more games since 1995-98. Bellefeuille is now 3-0 all-time in Pandas as Gee-Gees head coach. 

Maracle turned in yet another clean performance, going 20-for-23 for 354 yards and two touchdowns. He hasn't thrown an interception since Week 2 against Queen's and wasn't sacked Saturday.

His counterpart from Carleton, Tanner DeJong, threw for 125 yards, a touchdown, and an interception to Emmanuel Aboagye-Gyan. Carleton was paced offensively by Josh Ferguson (62 rushing yards) and Kaseem Ferdinand (61 receiving yards and a touchdown). 

Cimankinda led the game in rushing yards with 166 yards – his fifth game of over 100 all-purpose yards this season. 

Gendron missed the record for receiving yards in the Panda Game by 65 yards. The record is held by Carleton's Nate Behar, who had 276 in 2014.

The Gee-Gees (5-1) will enjoy a well-earned bye week before travelling to Toronto to face the York Lions (1-5) on Saturday, Oct. 15. They'll return to TD Place on Oct. 22 to take on the number-one ranked Western Mustangs.

Tickets for the Western game, and all Gee-Gees home games, are on sale at tickets.geegees.ca.