As 7 p.m. loomed on Saturday, pink skies fell upon the backdrop of trees opposite the press deck at University Stadium in Waterloo, where the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks were set to defend their 1-0 2025 season record against the visiting Windsor Lancers, who had not beaten Laurier since 2015.
There was a chill in the air that intensified as the night progressed, but it was a welcome reminder that football season was truly here.
The Golden Hawks kicked off to Windsor to open things up in a game that would become more and more one-sided as the night progressed. The Windsor offence, led by quarterback Nick Dimovski, drove down the field and kicked a field goal to open up the scoring at 3-0 in the first quarter.
Dimovski would have an underwhelming game overall, finishing 18 for 32 in his passes with 224 yards, no touchdowns, and a late interception in the second half.
The 6'2", 215-pound signal-caller had his bright moments on Saturday, but for the most part, struggled.
On the flip side, with 2024 Hec Crighton winner Taylor Elgersma in attendance, Laurier's Callum Wither seemed very much in command of his team, despite the two interceptions he threw off tipped passes.
He appeared in his element with the home crowd cheering him on as the ball was coming out of his hand, lightning-quick.
Laurier answered right back on the next drive in the game; however, a couple of Windsor penalties certainly aided them.
As the Golden Hawks steadily marched down to the goal line, they would find themselves staring at a big third down and goal with a chance to score after Jace Atkinson's strong catch put them in excellent scoring position.
Wither, a week after his fantastic performance against Guelph, was taken out for backup quarterback Will Russell to sneak the ball on third down for an opening touchdown to take a 7-3 lead after a Dawson Hodge extra point.
Windsor's next drive would end in a sack by Matteo Laquintana before Wither and the offence took the field for the second time for a drive that would eat up the rest of the first quarter.
As the second quarter began, Laurier found themselves deep in Lancer territory, where the drive was punctuated by a second straight Golden Hawk quarterback rushing touchdown, this time by Wither as he shouldered a Windsor defender on his way in.
Wither's rush and the extra point made the score 14-3 for the Golden Hawks in the second quarter. Windsor's next drive would end in a conceded safety to extend Laurier's lead to 16-3 with just over eight minutes to go in the first half.
The Lancers would ride their rushing attack for the rest of the second quarter, with Weagbe Mombo (six rushes, 44 yards) and Andrew Delaney (seven rushes, 47 yards) pounding forward to set up two more Windsor field goals to make the score 16-9 with under two minutes to go before halftime.
The Golden Hawks got set up on offence with time winding down and began driving down the field.
Runs from Tayshaun Jackson (16 rushes, 84 yards) and a beautiful pass to Ethan Jordan on the sidelines (10 catches, 105 yards) helped set up Wither to throw an endzone strike to Ryan Hughes for another Laurier touchdown to make the score 23-9.
The second half was epitomized by defence as the Golden Hawks prioritized not letting up any more points against Windsor, while the Lancers were swarming to every ball carrier within a matter of seconds.
The third quarter got started with Laurier receiving the ball, and the offence picked right back up where they left off with a second Wither-to-Hughes touchdown pass as the signal-caller aired out a beautiful ball to his wide-open receiver in stride.
Hodge's extra point made the lead 30-9 for Laurier at the start of the third quarter.
As the third quarter was winding down, with about five minutes to play, Dimovski and the Lancer offence found themselves driving down the field and were eager to score some points to reverse the momentum a bit.
On a key second-down play, Dimovski took the snap, threw a bomb down the sideline, intended for Tyler Hopwood, and was picked off by fifth-year boundary cornerback Maliek Cote for the first interception of his entire U SPORTS career.
It was a tremendous display of athleticism as Cote was running in front of Hopwood and tracked the ball down like a receiver would.
To complement Cote's excellent interception at the end of the third, Windsor's first offensive drive of the fourth ended in a Joseph Edlington sack.
There would not be any more points scored in the game as the Windsor defence tightened up significantly in the fourth quarter.
They were tackling violently and forced two tipped-pass interceptions by 2024 Lancer interception leader Robert Springer and second-year linebacker Marco Piccioni, respectively.
It was a nice win for the Golden Hawks, even with some efficiency issues to tweak on offence.
When they were hot, the offence looked great as all of the team's most significant elements on that side of the ball, from the offensive line, to receivers and running backs, to Wither and Russell executing when they needed to, came together as a group to get the job done.
Defensively, they were great as they did not allow a single touchdown and kept Windsor to under 10 points on the scoreboard. It was a better improvement from week one's near second-half comeback, which Laurier almost let slip against Guelph.
Laurier will head to Kingston next to take on the Queen's Gaels, fresh off a 38-4 drubbing over McMaster, on Friday at 6:30 pm.
The Lancers will host the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday at 7:00 pm.
Top performers of the game
QB - Callum Wither, Laurier, (20-of-29, 237 yds, two TDs, two INTs)
I know this may be controversial since Wither threw two picks, but they both came off heavily tipped passes from the Lancer defensive line. All in all, his performance was great; the ball was firing out of his hands, and he led multiple drives down the field in an excellent display of leadership.
WR - Ryan Hughes, Laurier, (four receptions, 74 yds, two TDs)
Hughes was on fire all night as he ran great routes, which put him in position to score his two touchdowns of the game. The foundation of what could become one of the nation’s most feared QB-WR duos — Wither and Hughes — is being laid before our eyes, giving defensive coordinators nightmares for 2025
WR - Tyriq Quayson, Windsor (four receptions, 66 yds)
The former Laurier Golden Hawk indoor track athlete impressed in his first game as a Lancer. Even though he did not score, the 6'2", 200-pound freakish receiver was instrumental in putting together solid offensive drives all night and finished as the team's leading receiver in the game.
DB - Maliek Cote, Laurier (five and a half tackles, one interception) Lastly, who else could it be but the uber-talented Golden Hawks' safety that secured his first career interception on Saturday night? The fifth-year defensive back was in the mix constantly for the Golden Hawk defence, breaking up passes and causing havoc for the Lancer offence.