Gryphons spoil Laurier Homecoming

In front of a Homecoming crowd of 9,231, the Wilfrid Laurier men’s football team just couldn’t catch a break.

With 14 seconds left, the Guelph Gryphons secured their win with a nine-yard field goal to go ahead 22-19.

Guelph improves to 4-1 on the season while Laurier falls to 2-3, which will make their contention for the playoffs harder as the season goes on.

“We’re extremely disappointed,” head coach Gary Jeffries said. “Our kids played their hearts out and that’s all we could ever ask of them.”

The game started out with a one-point lead for Guelph after a punt that went through the endzone. The Hawks battled back to gain three points off kicker Ronnie Pfeffer’s first field goal of the day.

In the second quarter, Laurier’s running back Josh Pirie caught a pass from Steven Fantham to push the Hawks ahead 10-1. However, Guelph would retaliate with two touchdowns, a field goal and another one-point score off a field goal before the end of the half to lead 19-10.

Pfeffer would complete two more field goals in the third quarter to pull the Hawks within three. He would complete four on six attempts throughout the game.

But despite the final attempts by the Hawks to try to find the endzone, the Gryphons’ rushing game was too strong. Running back Robert Farquharson totaled 178 yards during the game.

Guelph quarterback Jazz Lindsay completed 20 of his 32 attempted passes on the day, while Laurier’s Fantham completed 19 of his 35 attempts.

“A couple plays. A couple plays were big plays for us,” Jeffries said. “I thought we played the first 20 minutes as good as you could ever play. But I’m proud of them.”

Sitting at 2-3, Laurier will hope to improve their record when they host the Waterloo Warriors on Thursday night.