Strong winds on Saturday made for a challenging football game.
The Queen’s team was as far south-west as they could go for an afternoon meeting with the University of Windsor Lancer. After a close first half, the Gaels prevailed 42-13.
The win was the result of a strong special team performance, with kicker Dan Village tallying 18 points and returner Jimmy Allin running for a 51-yard touchdown off a punt for his third major of the season.
The game wasn’t as much of a blowout as the score might suggest. The Gaels only led by five points at the half.
Head coach Pat Sheahan said the effects of the eight-and-a-half-hour trip were evident in the first half.
“It was almost another Windsor nightmare,” he said. “Whenever your team comes out and they appear to be substandard in the first half you have to wonder what’s the cause of it. Eight hours on the bus all day yesterday does take its toll.”
Sheahan said other technicalities could have distracted the Gaels, but they pulled through.
“We just kind of kept her together,” he said. “They were hassling us about the socks. They were bothering [tight-end] Chris Ioannides about how his uniform was not covering his shoulder pads. Things like that can be a little unnerving.”
Quarterback Danny Brannagan continued his strong season, ing for 401 yards on the day to close the gap for the all-time CIS career ing yards record, currently at 10,445 yards and held by McGill University’s Matt Connell, set between 2003 and 2008. Brannagan has racked up 9,094 yards in his five years at Queen’s, and has to for 1,351 yards during the Gaels’ three remaining regular season games, averaging out to about 450 yards per game.
Sheahan said the Lancer defence threatened what’s been working for his Gaels’ offence.
“They played an in-your-face type coverage,” he said. “The short-to-intermediate ing game that we’ve been so successful with in the past few weeks, they covered down on that.”
Queen’s Thanksgiving match this weekend is against the Waterloo Warriors and Sheahan said he didn’t offer his team any laurels to rest on for next week.
“I thought we could play better,” he said. “As I addressed the team after, although I was proud of victory and happy with the win we also recognize we’re not sitting here beating our chest. We have room to improve.”
Saturday’s game marked the end of the Gaels’ three-game streak without allowing a touchdown. Allin said he isn’t worried.
“We’ll start a new one.”
—With files from Jamie Howieson, Queen’s Athletics amd Recreation
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