Friday, the city of Kingston will be witness to a second marquee OUA football matchup in the opening three weeks of the season, this time between the 1-1 hometown Queen's Gaels and the visiting 2-0 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
Both teams remain firmly entrenched at the top of the OUA hierarchy and are coming off wins where they were able to flex their proverbial muscles in a dominant fashion.
Last weekend, Queen's, on the road, took it to the McMaster Marauders by besting them 38-4, a week after their thrilling near-victory over the Western Mustangs in four overtimes.
On the flip side, the Golden Hawks held their own at home, beating the Windsor Lancers 30-9.
Since September 2007, Laurier and Queen's have traded wins and losses, with the Golden Hawks holding the upper hand, sitting at 11-7 with a dominant 6-2 home record.
Queen's has held its own at Richardson Memorial Stadium with a 5-5 record against Laurier; however, the last time they beat the Golden Hawks was in 2022, and before that, in 2013.
This game holds great importance to both programs as they navigate the tumultuous OUA football landscape.
Not only do the implications of this game hold significant importance in the short term, given that after Week 3, teams will be that much closer to the midpoint of the season, but this game can also be quite momentous in deciphering the playoff picture in 2025 as the season progresses.
Just as has been the case in both of these programs' marquee week one matchups, with Queen's falling just short of defeating Western for the first time since 2012 and Laurier escaping a late comeback from Guelph to win 33-28, this game appears to have offence written all over it.
Therefore, whichever team's defence can hold up under the potential offensive barrages that may be seen between the Gaels and Golden Hawks, will likely be the key to victory.
Leading the charge for both offences are two quarterbacks who have come out of the gate firing in 2025.
Queen's Alex Vreeken and Laurier's Callum Wither both rank in the top five in Canada for passing touchdowns through two games, with Vreeken tied for third nationally (four) and Wither tied for second (five).
Each quarterback is utterly spoiled with pass-catchers galore as Queen's Nathan Falconi (157 yards) and the Golden Hawks' Ethan Jordan (228 yards) are top ten in Canada for receiving yards.
Laurier's Ryan Hughes and Queen's Mateo Tuioti, along with Jordan, are among a small contingent of U SPORTS receivers to have caught more than one touchdown so far, and will be significant factors in this game, along with other effective receivers like Layomi Ojutulayo and Cedric Smith.
Even though they rank high in the nation's passing touchdowns list, both Wither and Vreeken do not have the gaudy passing yards numbers of, say, Toronto's Scott Barnett (433.5 yards/game) or Carleton's Elijah Barnes (423.0 yards/game), because their teams are so loaded with rushing talent and great blocking that they do not need to force success through the air.
The Gaels' Jared Chisari and Laurier's Tayshaun Jackson are premier running backs in Ontario who will likely be significantly used in this game.
Chisari, a former NCAA D1 player at the University of Massachusetts and current fifth-year back with the Gaels, sports a brilliant blend of power and speed in the way he runs with the football.
He is coming off a 115-yard day with a rushing touchdown against the Marauders. He has 137 yards rushing through two games, while Jackson, a lethal athlete with great twitch, agility, and speed, has accumulated 160 yards rushing.
Ethan Dahl and Quentin Scott will likely also be heavily featured presences, as both Laurier and Queen's have given up substantial rushing yardage amounts. The Golden Hawks have relinquished 270.0 yards on the ground per game so far, compared to Queen's 244.0 in 2025.
In a further endorsement of this game's great offensive capabilities, through two games against some good quality defences, both Laurier and Queen's rank in the top ten in all of Canada for total offence.
As for the defences, continuity is key. Both the Gaels and Golden Hawks have a win where they held their opponents to under ten points. They have also both played in thrillers to start 2025, where defence was not as much of a factor.
For the Gaels, defence is epitomized by Justin Pace and Keegan Vanek. Pace, the fourth-year tackling machine, has had an authoritative presence so far, as he has racked up 15.5 total tackles through two games, which places him at third in all of Canada for total tackles.
Vanek, already sitting pretty with an interception in back-to-back games, is a ball hawk at the halfback position and is more than capable of nullifying a receiver's total impact on a game.
He is the leader of a pass defence that has helped Queen's become one of five teams nationally to give up less than 200 passing yards per game in 2025.
The Gael's defensive line is also worth mentioning as they inflicted numerous pressures in their week two win over McMaster by combining power with freakish speed, shedding blocks. Oliver Jackson, Steven Kpehe, and Eric Johnston are all very talented and form a great unit, with a penchant for making impactful plays.
Those are some solid defensive anchors that the Golden Hawks will need to contend with, but fortunately, they possess some great defenders of their own.
Joseph Edlington and Marcus Tenney, two exceptional Golden Hawk defensive linemen, each have two sacks through two games, with Matteo Laquintana being the third Laurier lineman with a sack.
Andre Bute, standing at 6'3" and 274 pounds, provides a ridiculous frame for offences to deal with and is a near cheat code for tipping passes and stuffing the run.
For the secondary, both Maliek Cote and Johari Hastings are coming off of great performances against Windsor that will need to carry over for Laurier to win this game against Queen's.
Cote, a fifth-year boundary cornerback, secured his first career interception by picking off Lancer quarterback Nick Dimovski on a sideline deep shot that required great ball-tracking and hands to intercept.
He was also the team's leader in total tackles in the game with five and a half. Hastings, the boundary-half, was Laurier's second-leading tackler in the game with three and a half and broke up two passes as well.
Both players are athletic enough to blanket top receivers, but are also physically sufficient to break up contested throws and bring down ball carriers well.
All in all, this will be a competitive game until the end, as both teams need this win to sustain their momentum and status in the OUA.
It will also likely be instrumental in assessing the playoff seeding in Ontario as the season winds on, since both Queen's and Laurier are on the shortlist of legitimate Yates Cup contenders in 2025. Each team needs this win just as badly as the other does.
Five performers to look out for in the game
QB - Callum Wither, Laurier: This game will be a test for the Golden Hawks' new signal-caller, as it will be the best pass defence that he has faced in his U SPORTS career so far. Coming off a two-touchdown game with two picks last Saturday night, expect Wither to be very focused in this one as he travels to his second hostile game environment in three weeks, looking for a big win.
LB - Justin Pace, Queen's: Anytime number 44 is on the field, eyes are glued to him and his charisma. Pace is coming off a ten-tackle game against McMaster, where he blew up plays everywhere, and will look to do the same against Laurier. If his past performances are an indicator, Pace will not be hard to spot when the Gaels are on defence.
RB - Ethan Jordan, Laurier: Back-to-back 100-yard receiving games have helped propel the great Ethan Jordan into the country's top five list for receiving yards so far in 2025. Jordan is great at stretching the field and finding open space for Wither to hit him in stride. Even though Queen's has a stellar pass-defence, Laurier has so much offensive talent that the Gaels are bound to have their hands full at some point. You can hope to minimize his impact on the game, but there is no true way to take Ethan Jordan out of the game.
DB - Keegan Vanek, Queen's: Vanek has been a staple of the Gael's defence for a while now, and he has not lost a step whatsoever, as evidenced by his two interceptions through merely two games in 2025. A 5'10"195-pound pitbull of a halfback, Vanek is scrappy and does not let receivers come down with catches without a fight. His presence and effect on the game will be incredibly crucial for Queen's if they end up winning this game.
K - Dawson Hodge + Tyler Mullan: Both Hodge and Mullan are included here for the simple possibility of this game coming down to the wire and requiring a kick of fate to decide it in the closing seconds. Listen, I know that the Western game might have been a one-off, given that it went to four overtimes and ended the way it did. But these two teams, Queen's and Laurier, remain some of the best in Ontario, and the best often compete tightly against each other. Don't be surprised if this game comes down to a kick or another singular moment of great importance, for that matter.
Score prediction:
Laurier 37, Queen's 34