KINGSTON, Ont. (August 19, 2017) – The Gaels took down their longtime rival McGill 38-24 in exhibition play at Richardson Stadium, renewing one of football's oldest Canadian rivalries.
GAME FLOW
After McGill was first on the board with an early field goal, Queen's went to work and put up 28 points in the first half against the Redmen.
A Gaels turnover in the opening minutes of the first quarter saw McGill convert the field goal, but Queen's quickly responded as Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) connected with Connor Weir (Waterloo, Ont.) for a 14-yard touchdown. Gaels kicker Nick Liberatore (Dartmouth, N.S.) converted the extra point for a 7-3 lead over the Redmen.
A few minutes later, a McGill missed field goal attempt from the 33-yard line saw Wesley Mann (Almonte, Ont.) with a 44-yard return in the closing minutes of the opening quarter.
Queen's continued to roll thanks to a boost from the defence. Zac Sauer (Ayr, Ont.) got pressure on the McGill signal caller with a sack that resulted in a fumble. James Donald recovered and got the ball to the McGill four-yard line. From there, Hobbs hooked up with Matteo Del Brocco (Kingsville, Ont.) for a four-yard score making it 14-3. After McGill scored their first touchdown of the game on a 21-yard haul by Joel Soucy, the Gaels stacked up a pair of one-run scores from Marquis Richards (Brampton, Ont.) and Jake Puskas (Thunder Bay, Ont.) to open things up.
The Gaels went into halftime with a 31-17 lead over McGill.
Backup Queen's quarterback Kyle Gouveia (Brampton, Ont.) scored on a quarterback sneak late in the third, giving Queen's a 38-17 lead. The Redmen tacked on another score in the fourth to bring the game to a 38-24 final in favour of the home side.
FINAL SAY
"We had a quality opponent, McGill is a good scrappy team. I thought our kids did a great job. We made some big plays, and it was a big improvement over last year's exhibition game. When you're looking at a season where we want to see improvement, that was it." - Pat Sheahan, Head Coach
BY THE NUMBERS
225 - Passing yards by quarterback Nate Hobbs
45 - The Gaels held McGill to just 45 rushing yards
102 - Rushing yards from McGill's Mathieu Soucy
50 - Longest punt of the game from Nick Liberatore
5.5 - Chris Mackey led the Gaels with 5.5 tackles
UP NEXT
The Gaels return to Richardson Stadium next Saturday when they open their OUA season against the Carleton Ravens at 1 pm. For tickets head to www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets.
