University of Guelph

FOOTBALL - Gryphons defeat York Lions 66-8

• September 12, 2009

 

 

 

 

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FOOTBALL – Gryphons dominate Lions in home opener, 66-8
- Savoie and Gryphon’s defence dominate in lopsided affair -

GUELPH , Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons football team defeated the York Lions 66-8 on Saturday (Sept. 12) at Alumni Stadium in front of 1,300 fans at the Gryphon home opener. It started early and it never stopped as the Gryphons dominated from start to finish.

Defensive halfback James Savoie (Niagara Falls, ON) had an outstanding game picking off a Nick Coutu (St. Catherines, ON) pass as well as recovering a fumble and taking a blocked field goal 72 yards to the endzone. On the offensive side of the ball fourth-year running back Nick FitzGibbon (Puslinch, ON) scored two touchdowns in which the Gryphon running back ran for one score and added his second through the air.

The Gryphon defence made its presence known early on in the game when defensive end Jeff Cain (Carlisle, ON) tipped a Coutu pass that landed in the hands of Savoie who ended up inches shy of his first defensive touchdown of the season. Quarterback Justin Dunk fed off this momentum when he snuck the ball in from a yard out to make the score 8-0 in favour of Guelph.

Under three minutes later Dunk went right back to work finding a streaking Jamie Shaw (Mississauga, ON) wide open for a big 45 yard touchdown reception. The former Gryphon safety of four years now has touchdowns in each of his first two games at the wide receiver position.

The second quarter saw much more of the same one-sided affair after Jedd Gardner (Niagara Falls, ON) made a beautiful catch down the right sideline for a 30 yard gain. This led to a 20-yard Fitzgibbon touchdown scamper in which coach Kyle Walters elected for some trickery on the ensuing p.a.t, having the holder Gardner sprint into the endzone for two points.

Although the Lions did find themselves in field goal position at about the 6:15 mark, a great effort by Ryan Bomben (Burlington, ON) allowed the versatile offensive lineman to block the kick. It only got worse for the Lions following this as Fitzgibbon turned on the jets for a huge 85-yard sprint that would have been a touchdown if it weren’t for a great effort to make the tackle by York cornerback Keenan Redmon (Amhurst, N.Y). However, Dunk took advantage on the next play and scrambled into the endzone for his third trip of the day. Two straight Rob Maver (Brampton, ON) field goals ended the first half at 39-0.

The second half of the football game started off with a bang as Dunk tossed up a huge pass to a wide-open Fitzgibbon for an 83-yard catch-and-run score. With the score at 46-0 the Lions defence still performed admirably as safety Jason Marshall (Innisfil, ON) made a great effort to pick off Dunk’s first interception of the year.

In the fourth quarter, running back Josh McCreight (Perth, ON) had several good runs which led to back-up quarterback Kurtis Dance (Guelph, ON) tossing a short pass to the fifth year back who proceeded to take it 30 yards to the house. This was just three minutes after Savoie got his hands on a blocked field goal attempt and ran 72 yards the other way for a monstrous special team’s touchdown.

With the score now at 66-0 the lions did manage to put points on the board as wideout William Austin (St.Catherines, ON) hauled in a nice touch pass as well as the following two-point convert on an identical play.

Both teams headed to the locker rooms when the final whistle went after a one-sided but entertaining day at Alumni Stadium. The Gryphons travel to the University of Toronto this Friday night (Sept. 19) to take on the Varsity Blues. Game time is set for 7:00 PM.

Written by Joseph Czikk