Toronto at Queen's - 20121020
Photos of the Queen's Golden Gaels vs. the Toronto Varsity Blues at Richardson Stadium, Kingston, ON on October 20, 2012.
All photos are by Jeff Chan. Jeff is past Chairman of the Vanier Cup - Canada's University Football Championship and the Premier University Event in Canada, and was a member of the Canadian College Bowl Board and Vanier Cup Organizing Committee from 1978-2000.
All photos are Copyright (c) Jeff Chan 2000-2012, and may be used for personal non-commercial applications including by Queen's University, the CIS and its member conferences, so long as photo credits are shown or the photos are otherwise attributed to Jeff Chan. All other rights, including for all corporate use, are reserved.
===================================================================================================
QUEEN'S 35, TORONTO 7
===================================================================================================
GAELS CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON WITH WIN OVER U OF T
By John Edward,s Queen's Sports Information
A pair of touchdown passes by Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) led the No. 6-ranked Queen's Gaels to a 35-7 win over the U of T Varsity Blues in OUA football action at Richardson Stadium, Saturday.
The third-year quarterback completed scoring passes to Curtis Carmichael (Scarborough, Ont.) in the second quarter and Alex Carroll (Victoria, B.C.) in the third quarter and went 14-for-18 for 182 yards, as the Gaels picked up their sixth win of the season.
The Gaels had previously clinched third place in the OUA, and home field in the quarterfinal round
Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) opened the scoring for Queen's with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, as the Gaels led 14-0 after the first quarter and 14-3 at halftime. The other Queen's major came on an 83-yard punt return by Chris Patrician (Toronto, Ont.) with less than two minutes to go. A field goal by Dillon Wamsley (London, Ont.) and a pair of safety touches rounded out the scoring for Queen's.
Toronto responded with a 33-yard field goal by Andrew Lomasney (Toronto, Ont.) on the last play of the first half and a pair of fourth-quarter safety touches.
Granberg finished with 25 carries for 95 yards to lead all rushers. Giovanni Aprile (Toronto, Ont.) led the Gaels' receivers with five catches for 84 yards.
For Toronto, Simon Nassar (Toronto, Ont. went 13-for-35 for 140 yards. Ashton Nelson (Brampton, Ont.) led the Blues rushers with eight carries for 31 yards.
The Gaels outgained Toronto 260-165, and made 19 first downs, to the Blues' 11. The Gaels limited Toronto to only 66 rushing yards.
Defensively, Queen's was led by Sam Sabourin (Stittsville, Ont.), who had 5.5 tackles, including a tackle for loss The Gaels made five sacks, led by 2.5 by Will Moodie (Calgary, Alta.)
GAELS WIN GAME, LOSE GRANBERG
By Claude Scilley, Kingston Whig-Standard
Queen’s Golden Gaels will play the Laurier Golden Hawks in an Ontario University Athletics football quarter-final Saturday, but they might have to play it without Ryan Granberg.
The fourth-year tailback who was second in the conference this year with 966 yards rushing, Granberg was hit hard on the second-last play of the Gaels’ 35-7 win Saturday over the Toronto Blues.
A hushed crowd at Richardson Stadium watched while Granberg lay motionless near midfield for more than a minute. Helped to his feet, Granberg tried to come off the field under his own steam but he staggered and had to be carried the rest of the way to the sideline.
Last night Queen's coach Pat Sheahan said Granberg is feeling better but the degree of his injury won't be known for a couple of days.
Immediately after the game Sheahan bristled when a reporter asked if he regretted leaving Granberg in the game to the end, a game that meant nothing in terms of playoff position whose outcome was no longer in doubt.
Conventional wisdom suggests that where possible, front-line players come out of games in such circumstances, not just to give understudies an opportunity to play, but to protect starters who may be growing weary from getting hurt. Quarterback Billy McPhee, for instance, came out of the game after one series in the fourth quarter.
At the time Granberg went out for the final series, which began with 27 seconds on the clock, he was about 40 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season.
Sheahan said it would have been a source of pride for the offensive linemen, and a terrific boost for their morale, to be able to say they had a hand in the rare achievement, one that has been attained only three times in modern Queen’s history, once by Granberg himself last year.
“It was a very conservative play,” Sheahan said. “We had double tight ends and … you don’t often get a wallop like that on that kind of play (in that formation).
“If he can’t play next week, yes, I will regret (leaving him in the game)."
Toronto’s Greg Gary supported his fellow coach.
“I’ve got to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s football. You can’t predict what’s going to happen. He was competing. They were trying to make plays, we were trying to score.
“He did what he had to do. It’s football.”
Though Toronto, 2-6, will not be in the playoffs, the Blues did have a say in who the Gaels’ next opponent will be. That’s because Wilfrid Laurier, 53-0 loser to undefeated McMaster Saturday, and Windsor, a surprise 48-29 loser to Waterloo, finished in a tie at 3-5.
Since Windsor and Laurier didn’t meet in the regular year, to break ties the OUA compares records against mutual opponents, starting from the top. Since both teams lost to everyone ahead of them, that regression got as far as the 2-6 Varsity Blues and Windsor got the nod since the Lancers beat Toronto but Laurier lost.
In next Saturday’s other quarter-final, Windsor will play at Western. The Mustangs got a 32-yard field goal from Lirim Hajrullahu with four seconds left to edge the Ottawa Gee-Gees 32-29. It was Hajrullahu’s fifth field goal of the game and it enabled the Mustangs to finish fourth with a 5-3 record.
With a crowd of 2,432 gathered on a crisp, windy day, Granberg’s injury put a damper on a game from which Queen’s could take a lot of positives. The Gaels scored three offensive touchdowns despite missing five regulars, including three on the line, where the Gaels started two freshmen and another rookie.
There was an 88-yard punt return for touchdown by Chris Patrician, his second of the year and the third by Queen’s, the only team in the conference to have any this season.
Quarterback Billy McPhee completed 14 of 18 passes for 162 yards, including touchdown plays of 15 and seven yards to Curtis Carmichael and Alex Carroll, respectively.
The Queen’s defence was stellar, holding the Varsity Blues to just 165 yards of offence and a field goal by Andrew Lomasney on the final play of the first half.
It was the play of the offensive line, however, that had to provide the most encouragement. With Josh Prinsen and Matt Kendrick, the starting tackles, and starting centre Mike Sullivan out of the lineup, and Nick Romanchuk, the No. 1 reserve, also sidelined by injury, from tackle to tackle the Gaels started freshman Erick Lessard, veteran Blake Sirio, rookie Matt Lapointe, freshman Marco Ciallella and Derek Morris, the fifth-year man from Napanee who was playing a position that, until last week, he hadn’t played in two years.
Morris, in particular, drew praise from Sheahan.
“He took the leadership role there and kind of rallied the boys,” Sheahan said. “It was a different Derek Morris this week. There was a sense of urgency in him. He needed to be a rallying point for those guys and he was.
“Although I thought we would run the ball a little bit better under normal circumstances, what we got today was pretty good. What I was even more pleased about was the pass protection was pretty good.”
In fact at the end of the game, Sheahan said, when Patrician was dancing down the far sideline with his long punt return, the offensive linemen were more than casual observers.
“They’re all saying, ‘Step out of bounds, step out of bounds!’" Sheahan said. "They wanted to get a chance to go out there when there was still two minutes left in the game. It became a point of a little bit of fun on the sideline. They wanted to get back out there.”
Queen’s: Improves to 6-2 with TDs by Curtis Carmichael and Alex Carroll, on passes from Billy McPhee, Ryan Granberg, on a three-yard run, and Chris Patrician, on an 88-yard punt return; Dillon Wamsley converts all four and boots a 40-yard FG.
Toronto: Two safeties and a 33-yard FG by Andrew Lomasney are all the Blues can muster.
The game: Each of Queen’s first two possessions result in a score, after drives of 76 and 51 yards; Varsity manages just 92 yards of offence in the first half and only scores after Queen’s fumbles near midfield.
Good defence or bad offence? At the times the game was quite nondescript — in the first nine minutes of the second quarter the teams combined for five net yards; in the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter, on a clear and dry day the two offences collectively went backwards nine yards.
Maybe it was good defence: Varsity had just 165 yards of total offence, the third game in a row the Queen’s defence held an opponent to fewer than 270 total yards.
JC NOTES: This would have a good day to buy a program, as the Gaels walking/limping wounded outnumbered the remaining starters from Game 1. MIA included Mike Sullivan, Andrew Lue, Cory Dyer, Josh Prinsen, Matt Kendrick, Nick Romanchuk, Justin Chapdelaine, Scott MacDonell, and Evan Sequeira. Good thing we have the largest training staff in memory. Gaels overcame a major turnover ratio differential after fumbling 5 times and recovering only 2. First starts for Marco Ciallella and Erik Lessard on the makeshift OL on which only Blake Sirio is still in his original position. 2nd punt return for a TD by Chris Patrician. Ryan Granberg finished season with 966 yards, but was carried off near the end of the game before he could crack the 1,000 yard mark and take over the OUA rushing lead.
Lest this be overlooked, Kudos to the Golden Gaels for their a capella version of O Canada. Stepping in for Meredith Slack's replacement during a PA system failure, they used every key in the playbook, simultaneously, to belt out the anthem. On that "note", why doesn't the Queen's Bands play the anthem anymore?
Read MoreAll photos are by Jeff Chan. Jeff is past Chairman of the Vanier Cup - Canada's University Football Championship and the Premier University Event in Canada, and was a member of the Canadian College Bowl Board and Vanier Cup Organizing Committee from 1978-2000.
All photos are Copyright (c) Jeff Chan 2000-2012, and may be used for personal non-commercial applications including by Queen's University, the CIS and its member conferences, so long as photo credits are shown or the photos are otherwise attributed to Jeff Chan. All other rights, including for all corporate use, are reserved.
===================================================================================================
QUEEN'S 35, TORONTO 7
===================================================================================================
GAELS CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON WITH WIN OVER U OF T
By John Edward,s Queen's Sports Information
A pair of touchdown passes by Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) led the No. 6-ranked Queen's Gaels to a 35-7 win over the U of T Varsity Blues in OUA football action at Richardson Stadium, Saturday.
The third-year quarterback completed scoring passes to Curtis Carmichael (Scarborough, Ont.) in the second quarter and Alex Carroll (Victoria, B.C.) in the third quarter and went 14-for-18 for 182 yards, as the Gaels picked up their sixth win of the season.
The Gaels had previously clinched third place in the OUA, and home field in the quarterfinal round
Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) opened the scoring for Queen's with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, as the Gaels led 14-0 after the first quarter and 14-3 at halftime. The other Queen's major came on an 83-yard punt return by Chris Patrician (Toronto, Ont.) with less than two minutes to go. A field goal by Dillon Wamsley (London, Ont.) and a pair of safety touches rounded out the scoring for Queen's.
Toronto responded with a 33-yard field goal by Andrew Lomasney (Toronto, Ont.) on the last play of the first half and a pair of fourth-quarter safety touches.
Granberg finished with 25 carries for 95 yards to lead all rushers. Giovanni Aprile (Toronto, Ont.) led the Gaels' receivers with five catches for 84 yards.
For Toronto, Simon Nassar (Toronto, Ont. went 13-for-35 for 140 yards. Ashton Nelson (Brampton, Ont.) led the Blues rushers with eight carries for 31 yards.
The Gaels outgained Toronto 260-165, and made 19 first downs, to the Blues' 11. The Gaels limited Toronto to only 66 rushing yards.
Defensively, Queen's was led by Sam Sabourin (Stittsville, Ont.), who had 5.5 tackles, including a tackle for loss The Gaels made five sacks, led by 2.5 by Will Moodie (Calgary, Alta.)
GAELS WIN GAME, LOSE GRANBERG
By Claude Scilley, Kingston Whig-Standard
Queen’s Golden Gaels will play the Laurier Golden Hawks in an Ontario University Athletics football quarter-final Saturday, but they might have to play it without Ryan Granberg.
The fourth-year tailback who was second in the conference this year with 966 yards rushing, Granberg was hit hard on the second-last play of the Gaels’ 35-7 win Saturday over the Toronto Blues.
A hushed crowd at Richardson Stadium watched while Granberg lay motionless near midfield for more than a minute. Helped to his feet, Granberg tried to come off the field under his own steam but he staggered and had to be carried the rest of the way to the sideline.
Last night Queen's coach Pat Sheahan said Granberg is feeling better but the degree of his injury won't be known for a couple of days.
Immediately after the game Sheahan bristled when a reporter asked if he regretted leaving Granberg in the game to the end, a game that meant nothing in terms of playoff position whose outcome was no longer in doubt.
Conventional wisdom suggests that where possible, front-line players come out of games in such circumstances, not just to give understudies an opportunity to play, but to protect starters who may be growing weary from getting hurt. Quarterback Billy McPhee, for instance, came out of the game after one series in the fourth quarter.
At the time Granberg went out for the final series, which began with 27 seconds on the clock, he was about 40 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season.
Sheahan said it would have been a source of pride for the offensive linemen, and a terrific boost for their morale, to be able to say they had a hand in the rare achievement, one that has been attained only three times in modern Queen’s history, once by Granberg himself last year.
“It was a very conservative play,” Sheahan said. “We had double tight ends and … you don’t often get a wallop like that on that kind of play (in that formation).
“If he can’t play next week, yes, I will regret (leaving him in the game)."
Toronto’s Greg Gary supported his fellow coach.
“I’ve got to be honest with you,” he said. “It’s football. You can’t predict what’s going to happen. He was competing. They were trying to make plays, we were trying to score.
“He did what he had to do. It’s football.”
Though Toronto, 2-6, will not be in the playoffs, the Blues did have a say in who the Gaels’ next opponent will be. That’s because Wilfrid Laurier, 53-0 loser to undefeated McMaster Saturday, and Windsor, a surprise 48-29 loser to Waterloo, finished in a tie at 3-5.
Since Windsor and Laurier didn’t meet in the regular year, to break ties the OUA compares records against mutual opponents, starting from the top. Since both teams lost to everyone ahead of them, that regression got as far as the 2-6 Varsity Blues and Windsor got the nod since the Lancers beat Toronto but Laurier lost.
In next Saturday’s other quarter-final, Windsor will play at Western. The Mustangs got a 32-yard field goal from Lirim Hajrullahu with four seconds left to edge the Ottawa Gee-Gees 32-29. It was Hajrullahu’s fifth field goal of the game and it enabled the Mustangs to finish fourth with a 5-3 record.
With a crowd of 2,432 gathered on a crisp, windy day, Granberg’s injury put a damper on a game from which Queen’s could take a lot of positives. The Gaels scored three offensive touchdowns despite missing five regulars, including three on the line, where the Gaels started two freshmen and another rookie.
There was an 88-yard punt return for touchdown by Chris Patrician, his second of the year and the third by Queen’s, the only team in the conference to have any this season.
Quarterback Billy McPhee completed 14 of 18 passes for 162 yards, including touchdown plays of 15 and seven yards to Curtis Carmichael and Alex Carroll, respectively.
The Queen’s defence was stellar, holding the Varsity Blues to just 165 yards of offence and a field goal by Andrew Lomasney on the final play of the first half.
It was the play of the offensive line, however, that had to provide the most encouragement. With Josh Prinsen and Matt Kendrick, the starting tackles, and starting centre Mike Sullivan out of the lineup, and Nick Romanchuk, the No. 1 reserve, also sidelined by injury, from tackle to tackle the Gaels started freshman Erick Lessard, veteran Blake Sirio, rookie Matt Lapointe, freshman Marco Ciallella and Derek Morris, the fifth-year man from Napanee who was playing a position that, until last week, he hadn’t played in two years.
Morris, in particular, drew praise from Sheahan.
“He took the leadership role there and kind of rallied the boys,” Sheahan said. “It was a different Derek Morris this week. There was a sense of urgency in him. He needed to be a rallying point for those guys and he was.
“Although I thought we would run the ball a little bit better under normal circumstances, what we got today was pretty good. What I was even more pleased about was the pass protection was pretty good.”
In fact at the end of the game, Sheahan said, when Patrician was dancing down the far sideline with his long punt return, the offensive linemen were more than casual observers.
“They’re all saying, ‘Step out of bounds, step out of bounds!’" Sheahan said. "They wanted to get a chance to go out there when there was still two minutes left in the game. It became a point of a little bit of fun on the sideline. They wanted to get back out there.”
Queen’s: Improves to 6-2 with TDs by Curtis Carmichael and Alex Carroll, on passes from Billy McPhee, Ryan Granberg, on a three-yard run, and Chris Patrician, on an 88-yard punt return; Dillon Wamsley converts all four and boots a 40-yard FG.
Toronto: Two safeties and a 33-yard FG by Andrew Lomasney are all the Blues can muster.
The game: Each of Queen’s first two possessions result in a score, after drives of 76 and 51 yards; Varsity manages just 92 yards of offence in the first half and only scores after Queen’s fumbles near midfield.
Good defence or bad offence? At the times the game was quite nondescript — in the first nine minutes of the second quarter the teams combined for five net yards; in the first 13 minutes of the fourth quarter, on a clear and dry day the two offences collectively went backwards nine yards.
Maybe it was good defence: Varsity had just 165 yards of total offence, the third game in a row the Queen’s defence held an opponent to fewer than 270 total yards.
JC NOTES: This would have a good day to buy a program, as the Gaels walking/limping wounded outnumbered the remaining starters from Game 1. MIA included Mike Sullivan, Andrew Lue, Cory Dyer, Josh Prinsen, Matt Kendrick, Nick Romanchuk, Justin Chapdelaine, Scott MacDonell, and Evan Sequeira. Good thing we have the largest training staff in memory. Gaels overcame a major turnover ratio differential after fumbling 5 times and recovering only 2. First starts for Marco Ciallella and Erik Lessard on the makeshift OL on which only Blake Sirio is still in his original position. 2nd punt return for a TD by Chris Patrician. Ryan Granberg finished season with 966 yards, but was carried off near the end of the game before he could crack the 1,000 yard mark and take over the OUA rushing lead.
Lest this be overlooked, Kudos to the Golden Gaels for their a capella version of O Canada. Stepping in for Meredith Slack's replacement during a PA system failure, they used every key in the playbook, simultaneously, to belt out the anthem. On that "note", why doesn't the Queen's Bands play the anthem anymore?
