The Golden Hawks football team took steps in the rankings this week, earning the seventh spot on the national rankings.
The team had a blow out win last week winning 74-3 against the York Lions. The team is going into their bye week, 2-0.
Head coach, Michael Faulds, is thrilled to have his team on to such a fast start.
“I think we have a lot of confidence; I think we had that even before a 2-0 start. The key is just corralling it and using that confidence and motivation and how hard we work every single day,” Faulds said.
The Golden Hawks team played a complete game dominating all three phases of the game.
They rushed for 575 yards, the second highest game in OUA history.
“[It] felt really good, you know, to finally play all three phases that well. Look how many running backs got touches and got touchdowns.
You look at our defence with another defensive touchdown by Malcom Thompson. And then on special teams getting a Carson Ouellette touchdown late. So when all three phases are rolling like that, that’s a complete team,” said Faulds.
The rushing attack was spearheaded by lead back Eric Guiltinan who posted 180-yards on the ground.
Also, fellow running back Levondre Gordon was the team’s other 100-yard rusher and he, like Guiltinan, had a career high game.
“We just started clicking as the offence for once. We ran the ground after the first quarter; we just got the monkey off our back with E.G. opening up the run game for all of our [running backs] and just opened everything else up in our offensive playbook,” said Gordon.
Running backs are so vital to the life of an offence.
Their success is almost always correlated with the success of the offence, as a whole. That’s why it’s important to have so many of them.
Not only all good players, but players with different skill sets for different situations.
Faulds elaborated on the different roles of the Golden Hawk back field.
“They all differ. You look at Darian Waite and Osayi, they’re a little bit thicker backs. Eric Guiltinan and Elijah Fera are a little bit shiftier. And then Trey Nicholson and Levondre Gordon are our speedsters. So it’s a great change of pace.”
“Any time you get it rolling in the second half and you can just rotate those guys in, they’re all fresh, they’re all hungry to get some yardage,” Faulds continued.
For the second week in a row, the Laurier football team has been the benefactors of a defensive touchdown.
Last week, it was Godfrey Onyeka. This week, it was Malcom Thompson with the 70-yard interception return.
Many different things have to fall into place for a big play like this to happen.
It starts with the pressure upfront, forcing an error from the quarterback.
Next, it falls on the defensive back to read the quarterback and make the correct break on the ball.
Lastly, it takes the rest of the defence to lay the blocking to spring him free.
Defensive touchdowns are rare and do so much for the momentum of a game. That’s why Faulds stressed capitalizing on the opportunities from turnovers.
“I know Coach VanMoerkerke does a turnover circuit drill. He does that about once a week at practice. So the guys are constantly thinking if we get turnovers, whether it’s an interception or fumble recoveries, what we can do to make the most of it?” said Faulds.
The offence looks to build off the performance and the defense looks to keep the tempo after two weeks of dominance.
The team looks to leave Carleton 3-0 on September 17th where the two sides will battle it out at MNP Park.