Waterloo, Ont. (October 18, 2008) – Queen's secured a perfect regular season record on Saturday moving to an unblemished 8-0 with a 38-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors. The Gaels now have a week off in preparation for the OUA Semi-Final set for November 1st in Kingston, Ont.
Dan Brannagan of Burlington, Ont. threw for 342-yards and three touchdowns leading the Gaels while
Scott Valberg of Kingston, Ont. became the schools fourth receiver go over 1,000-yards receiving. Valberg finished the game with nine receptions, 142-yards and two touchdowns.
His effort earned him 1,013 receiving yards for the season which ranks him third on the school's all-time list in a single season. He is also only the 10th person in the CIS to go over 1,000-yards receiving in a single season.
The game opened with a hush for Queen's as Hec Creighton hopeful
Mike Giffin of Kingston, Ont. went down during the first play of the game with leg injury. Reports from the training staff indicate that the injury is minor and he will be reevaluated later this week by team doctors.
Marty Gordon of Kingston, Ont. and
Jimmy Therrien of Montreal combined to replace Giffin putting up solid numbers. Gordon was the Gaels leading rusher notching 10 attempts for 103-yards rushing and scoring once. Therrien posted 74-yards and a touchdown.
This is the eighth time the Gaels have recorded a perfect regular season record since starting its program in 1882. Queen's undefeated regular seasons came in 1923 (4-0), 1924 (4-0), 1925 (4-0), 1963 (6-0), 1964 (6-0), 1978 (6-0) and 1989 (7-0).
The 2008 edition of the Gaels are the first-ever to record eight victories in a single season. Prior to 1995, the Gaels never played eight games in the regular season and in that time frame Queen's registered seven wins twice (2002 7-1 and 2003 7-1).
The final OUA standings see the Gaels unbeaten in first place, while Western finished at 7-1 claiming the second seed. Western's only loss was to Queen's during homecoming weekend on September 27. Laurier earned third place at 6-2 while Guelph ranks fourth. Ottawa secured fifth place beating Toronto today and McMaster takes the sixth seed with a win over Windsor.
Next week the playoffs open with Laurier hosting McMaster while Ottawa visits Guelph. Both matchups are scheduled to kick off at 1:00pm. Queen's and Western have earned a bye through the first round.
With the virtue of its first place finish Queen's will play the lowest ranked seed still remaining on November 1st in the OUA Semi-Final matchup. The likely opponent is Ottawa or Guelph, but if McMaster upsets Laurier they could visit Richardson Stadium seeking a Yates Cup berth. All three teams have registered losses against the Gaels this season.
Tickets for the OUA Semi Final match are already on sale and available for purchase at the Physical Education Centre Customer Service Counter or by calling 613.533.2500. Prices range from $5.00-$15.00
NOTES: Brannagan tied Tom Denison's (2003) mark of most touchdowns in an OUA season with 24…. The 2008 Gaels offence now ranks as the most productive in Queen's history. With the 38 point today, they broke the previous mark of 361 recorded in 2003. They finished with 374 points… The Gaels finished the regular season by averaging over 47 points per game. In all eight victories they posted 35 points or more and only relinquished more than 16 points twice.
