RECAP: Gee-Gees fall in season opener to Western

The Gee-Gees football team opened their 2024 season with a 38-11 loss to the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon at TD Place.

Ottawa's defence held strong early in the game, holding the defending Yates Cup champions to only field goals, with their lone major coming from a blocked punt return.

Early in the second quarter, Gee-Gees running back Charles Asselin ripped off a 75-yard touchdown to put Ottawa within four points at 14-10. Western went into the half up 19-10.

In the second half, Western had success running the ball and capitalizing on Ottawa's turnovers to secure the season-opening win.

Asselin had a busy day at the office finished with 119 yards rushing on seven carries, 23 yards receiving, and 145 yards returning to finish with 287 all-purpose yards on the afternoon. Souleymane Camara also had a productive 56 yards on nine carries before exiting the game with an injury.

Behind centre, Josh Janssen finished with 92 yards and three interceptions. Ben Maracle dressed for the game, less than a year after a season-ending injury, but has yet to return to game action.

On defence, Marc Djonay Rondeau and Braeden Cruji racked up 8.5 and 7.5 total tackles respectively. Riley Hildebrandt had the Gee-Gees lone sack of the afternoon.

What They're Saying:

"It's a good wakeup call for us. We started off against a good opponent and I think it was a good thing because we're going to come off these next few weeks firing on all cylinders." – Charles Asselin

Up Next:

The Gee-Gees will travel to Toronto to take on the new-look York Lions, who had a week one bye. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at York Lions Stadium, tickets are available HERE and the game will be streaming live on OUA.tv.