The Laurier Golden Hawks bent but never broke against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Saturday afternoon, improving to 5-0 on the season under a blue sky with no clouds in sight.
The Gee-Gees fall to 3-2 with the loss, but now enter a bye week before the Panda Game with confidence that they can hang with the OUA’s best.
Both offences came to play, except the Golden Hawks showed up a lot earlier, and then hit an Irish goodbye in the second half, as their 30 first-half points would be enough to fend off a late Gee-Gees comeback.
After moving the chains twice on their opening drive, the Golden Hawks punter Dawson Hodge would send a perfect punt out of bounds at the one-yard line. Valentine Adedeji would get into the backfield and earn two points and the ball back.
Cal Wither would find Jaxon Stebbings with room to run, and the Golden Hawks led 10-0 early. Touchdowns from Ethan Jordan and Darion Bacik-Hadden followed, while the Gee-Gees got on the board with a score from Noah Avery and a field goal from Zach Copeland.
Just before halftime, Wither would air it out down the middle of the field to a wide-open Jordan, who would have no issues turning the reception into six points.
Jordan finished with eight receptions for 182 yards along with the two touchdowns, strengthening his bid for a Player of the Year award.
But in the second half, that 20-point lead was whittled away by the Gee-Gees. Time after time, the Gees’ defence was able to stop Laurier on second downs, with linebacker Jaxxon Brashear (eight tackles, one sack) and defensive lineman Riley Hildebrandt (3.5 tackles) leading the way.
“The chemistry keeps [building],” said Brashear regarding the Gee-Gees success holding their opponents from gaining first downs.
“We played together last year, we just had to build it up the first half of the year, and now we’re in full form and we’ll be ready for playoffs.”
Offensively, the second half saw the Gee-Gees turn a corner. The ball was being spread around excellently by Josh Janssen, with nine different receivers recording receptions.
Noah Avery (eight catches, 135 yards, one touchdown) led the way once again, but Robin Collioud (four catches, 76 yards) and Regis Kodua (four catches, 44 yards) each had possibly their strongest performances of the year so far.
Vieux Montréal product Derrick Garraud-Boucard recorded the first two catches of his U SPORTS career, while tight end Thomas Frizzarin poured in a timely 38-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter.
After Charles Asselin punched in a touchdown in the third quarter to get the Gees within 12, Copeland added another field goal following a 48-yard punt return from Denny Ferdinand.
Ferdinand made an incredible leaping interception just a few players into the next drive, on what looked like a sure touchdown for Laurier.
After trading punts, the Gee-Gees thought they had closed the gap to two points when Janssen found Robin Collioud at the back of the endzone. But the officials ruled otherwise.
After a big stop on Callum Wither’s rush attempt on third-and-one, the Gees got the ball back at midfield with a chance to win the game. After a chunk completion to Collioud, they would be stopped three times in side the four-yard line by the Golden Hawks, who would kneel it out to remain undefeated.
“We knew it was going to be a tough fight,” said Brashear after the game. “The first half wasn’t the best, but in the second half, we held them down just like we wanted to. We did what we wanted, and we’ll have to take them on in the playoffs.”
A controversial incompletion
It’s never good when officiating becomes a topic after an incredible game. But it’s hard not to feel like the Gee-Gees were robbed of a touchdown with just over two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, forcing them to instead settle for a field goal.
Gees head coach Marcel Bellefeuille didn’t let the game be defined by the call (or two pass interference calls on Nicolas Dion and Ferdinand that extended Laurier drives), but did note that he had some thoughts he would send to the league on the plays.
A timely bye
After a gauntlet of games against Western, Guelph, and Laurier, the Gees have a week off before Panda on Oct. 5.
“These guys need some rest,” said Bellefeuille after the game. “Lots of them are banged up, we’ve been going pretty hard, and there’s been lots of road trips early in the year. So we’ll let them get healthy and then we’ll be ready to go.”
Brashear agreed that the bye week will help the Gee-Gees recover. “Panda’s going to be great, it’s going to be a hell of a battle, but our mindset is ready for playoffs. We’re ready to get going.”
Other notes
With three makes on four attempts, Copeland now leads the country in field goals made, with 14. Kickers from the OUA make up the six highest totals in Canada (Brady Lidster, Sam Henke, Tyler Mullan, Evan Astolfo, and Brian Garrity).
With 433 yards, Janssen moves into second place in the country with 1480 passing yards through five games. With 379 yards, Wither moves into third place with 1421. Both still trail Varsity Blues quarterback Scott Barnett.
Jordan now leads the country in receiving yards (724) and touchdowns (eight). For the record, he would be my Hec Creighton favourite if the race was decided today.
Golden Hawks offensive lineman Josh Rietveld was injured in the first half and helped off the field.
Gee-Gees linebacker Marc Djonay Rondeau forced a fumble from Ryan Hughes in the second quarter.
Gee-Gees fullback Raphael Huot caught his first pass of the season, a 25-yard catch-and-run right up the middle in the first quarter.
The Golden Hawks welcome the Varsity Blues to Waterloo next Saturday in Laurier’s first game of the year at a renovated University Stadium.