The Golden Gaels football team honoured a fallen teammate on Saturday by decisively winning a game in his name. The Gaels began their contest against the York Lions on a somber note, after a ceremony dedicated the game to teammate Justin Schwieg, who was killed last March in an unprovoked attack at A.J.’s Hangar.
The team and the approximately 2,000 fans in attendance ed Schwieg’s family and friends, as well as players he coached in the Ontario Provincial Police Football Program, to the former Gaels defensive back by permanently retiring his number 25 jersey.
“Nobody will ever wear number 25,” said a tearful head coach Pat Sheahan, one of several friends and family to address the crowd.
Memory bracelets were sold for five dollars to minor league football in Kingston through the Justin Schwieg Foundation. The bracelets sold out very early in the game.
The ceremony seemed to spark a Queen’s team that had looked lackluster a week earlier in a 45-0 loss to Laurier. They proceeded to notch a convincing 40-7 victory over the Lions.
“[The ceremony] added a lot of emotion,” said team captain Ryan Freeman, a fourth-year offensive lineman who switched to the right guard position late last season.
“This team’s really close, and it definitely pulls the heartstrings,” he said.
Sheahan said the ceremony had been a good thing for the team, both as motivation for the game and as an important gesture.
“Those things are difficult to predict in of the effect they will have on the emotional ebb of the game,” he said. “[The ceremony] was very melancholy, but appropriate. I thought we were in the right emotional frame of mind.”
York came up with the first big play of the game when they forced an early fumble by Andrew Joyner and recovered the ball at the Gaels’ 43-yard line. The defence stood tall, however, forcing the Lions to go two-and-out, and the momentum swung to the Gaels for good.
Later in the first quarter, York’s star running back and biggest weapon, Andre Durie, was injured on a third-and-one carry, and did not return. He had just 10 yards on three carries.
Not having to for Durie, who was second in the OUA in rushing last year with 1,367 yards and 15 touchdowns, was a definite advantage for the Gaels, but Freeman downplayed the importance of the injury.
“I don’t think the defence really cared if he was in the game or not,” he said. “They prepared really well. He’s an exceptional athlete, and obviously you don’t want to see him take it to the house, but we were ready.”
On the last play of the first quarter, wide receiver Alex Vanags blocked a punt which the Gaels recovered at York’s three-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing quarter, the Gaels scored their first points of the season as rookie Mike Giffin punched the ball in for his first career touchdown—and first of two scores on the day—to give Queen’s a 7-0 lead.
Vanags, who notched 124 yards in catches as well as the blocked punt, caught a from quarterback Danny Brannagan and took it inside York’s five-yard line. Dave Weese plunged into the end-zone and the Gaels doubled their lead to 14-0.
Queen’s added a field goal and a 53-yard touchdown by Scott Valberg on a dazzling by Brannagan to earn a 26-0 lead by halftime.
Brannagan made the most of his somewhat surprising start. Having performed well in the fourth quarter of the previous game against Laurier, and with last year’s starter Ali Clarkson struggling, Brannagan completed 21 of 31 es for 341 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his first career start.
When Brannagan did make a mistake, throwing his lone interception, the team rallied behind him as Ryan Bechmanis earned an interception of his own on the ensuing drive to regain possession and deny York a scoring opportunity.
Quarterbacks coach Warren Goldie said the decision to start Brannagan over Clarkson was based on their performance.
“We let the two of them compete,” he said. “Ali was missing some reads, and Dan played very well [against Laurier]. He earned the start.”
Goldie said the two are still very much in competition.
“[Brannagan] also still struggles with his reads—he’s young—but he was pretty bang on today.”
Sheahan agreed that Brannagan deserved his start, but said Clarkson is waiting in the wings.
“[Clarkson] wants to do well,” he said. “But Danny did enough to earn the opportunity. To [Clarkson’s] credit, he took the decision like a champ. It’s all part of creating a competitive environment.”
Despite Brannagan’s impressive performance, the credit should be spread widely, Sheahan said. He was pleased with most of the keys he looks at each game.
“Did we run the football effectively? Yes, I think we did,” he said. “Did we protect our quarterback? Yes, he was able to stand in there and make plays. Did we make good decisions? In many cases, yes. The defence played well. We got ’em down and kept ’em down.”
Freeman agreed that the Gaels were firing on all cylinders.
“The [offensive] line was flowing really well, the [quarterbacks] were making their reads, the receivers were running their routes well—everything’s clicking,” he said.
The turnaround from the Laurier game is all the more impressive because of the short week of practice necessitated by last Monday’s Labour Day game.
The Gaels now look to their trip to Windsor this weekend.
“They’re a pesky, tenacious club,” Sheahan said. “They pressured the life out of us last year, and it took McMaster all 15 rounds to beat them. It’s going to be a challenging road trip.”
Sheahan will be looking for the Gaels to repeat last week’s performance.
“From the word go, it was all business.”
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