Gee-Gees score decisive win over Queen’s

The Ottawa Gee-Gees opened their new football stadium in 2013 with a 34-10 win against the Toronto Varsity Blues.

On Saturday, they won their seventh consecutive home opener at the stadium you can see while driving along Highway 417, downing the Queen’s Gaels 44-27 in Ontario University Athletics action in front of a large crowd.

The victory evened the GeeGees’ season record at 1-1, while the Gaels fell to 0-3.

“It was a must-win and we all knew it going in. We couldn’t drop to 0-2, especially with having a game at home. We love when we get our crowd here and we feed off the energy,” said defensive back Cody Cranston, who returned a fumble 61 yards for a touchdown that gave the Gee-Gees a 17-point lead with less than two minutes to play.

“It felt like about 200 yards, but I had a lot of good blocks from the guys.

“I saw the ball and I knew that I had to pick it up because I didn’t want to fall on it in that situation, so I picked it up and headed to the corner of the end zone.

“After that, we knew it was over.” Cranston’s touchdown created the biggest lead of the game for either team and allowed the GeeGees a chance to breathe easier during a game they were fortunate to be leading considering they turned the ball over four times, producing 17 points for the Gaels.

“Coming off last week, where we had six picks, we really tried to emphasize this week on the turnovers, so going forward that will continue to be our emphasis,” said quarterback Ben Maracle, who threw three interceptions on Saturday, but also threw three touchdown passes.

He finished with 21 completions on 31 attempts for 290 yards.

“I have a lot of things to work on. I’m new to the game at this level, so I think I have a lot of work to do to be successful in the future,” Maracle said after his first OUA start.

Two of his TD passes were from 11 yards, both in the second half. He connected with Daniel Oladojo early in the third quarter for a 2313 lead, and then threw another to Carter Matheson for a 30-20 advantage.

The key play of the game came late in the fourth quarter, when the Gee-Gees elected to gamble on third-and-one at midfield. Although the play wasn’t executed as planned, it was successful, and two plays later Amlicar Polk ran the ball across the goal-line from five yards out for a 37-27.

“The quarterback didn’t do it right. He should have been under the centre and as soon as I saw him line up, I was like, ‘Oh God’,” Gee-Gees head coach Jamie Barresi said.

“We kind of felt we had the edge with that play and we had it in our hip pocket and we needed to keep the defence off the field. It was a risk, but keeping the defence off the field was key.”

The Gee-Gees led 16-13 at halftime thanks to a seven-yard touchdown run by Maracle, a 38-yard TD pass to Kalem Beaver and a conceded safety by the Gaels.

The Gaels received a 10-yard touchdown run from James Keehan and two Nick Liberatore field goals in the first half. In the second, they had a six-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Licandro to Marko Xidos and a 13-yard rushing score by Rasheed Tucker.

“Give the kids credit. They played with a lot of heart and were relentless and they made plays. We still have a lot to fix,” Barresi said.

“The difference between winning and losing is small.

“It’s not going to be easy and we keep preaching about the tough situations.

“It’s easy to do it in practice, but you kind of have to live for the tough moments. We talk about it a lot and we tell them about, but they were relentless.”

The Gee-Gees play host to the Laurier Golden Hawks next Saturday.