Kingston, Ont. (September 27, 2008)- Fourteen points in 24 seconds, and four turnovers in 30 minutes. That's all it took as the Queen's Gaels defeated the Western Mustangs 43-16 in raining weather at Richardson Stadium in front of 10,778 fans during Homecoming Weekend at Queen's University.

With the win No. 4 Queen's moves to 5-0 which they have not done since 1989 and remain the only undefeated team in the OUA. No. 2 Western falls to 4-1.

Mike Giffin (Kingston, Ont.) scored three touchdowns and ran for 69-yards in what turned out to be a lopsided Gaels victory. With the three touchdowns, Giffin now becomes Queen's all-time leading touchdown scorer with 31 career majors passing Queen's alumnus Paul Correale (1995-99).

The key play of the game came in the second quarter with Queen's up 9-1 and Western charging. Gaels free-safety Alex Daprato (Toronto) intercepted a Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) pss on the goal-line and returned the ball 94-yards. That set-up Giffin second of the game and put momentum on Queen's side.

“It was the consequence of being at the right place at the right time,” said Daprato. “Definitely a momentum changer.”

“Daprato's interception was the TSN turning point in my mind,” continued Sheahan. “It's going to be 9-8 if they scored. He turned it around and we go up 16-1. That was a huge play in the ball game.”

On the next series with T.J. Leeper (London, Ont.) recovered a Faulds' fumbled, forced by Osi Ukwuoma (Mississauga, Ont.) setting up a Dan Brannagan (Burlington, Ont) touchdown pass to Chris Ioannides (Toronto) to make it 23-1 Queen's at the half.

Western rebounded in the second-half with John Lackie of Georgetown, Ont. scoring twice to make the score 23-14 early in the fourth quarter.

Later, with Dan Village of Abbotsford, B.C. set to make a 41-yard field goal, Head Coach Pat Sheahan opted to run a fake. Jimmy Allin of Belleville, Ont. took the snap on the fake and ran for a first down with just under seven minutes left. Scott Stinson of North Bay, Ont. scored two plays later on Brannagan's second touchdown pass to put the nail in the coffin.

Village added two field goals while Giffin recorded his third and record breaking touchdown to make the final score 43-16.

Brannagan finished the day 16 for 36 with 148 yards passing and no interceptions. He also scrambled four times for a total of 32-yards

Faulds had a difficult day for the Mustangs going 30 for 57 with 386-yards passing, but more importantly was sacked four times and threw four interceptions.

Turnovers spelled defeat for the Mustangs as they Queen's defence forced five fumbles (recovering three), had four interceptions and stopped the Mustangs five times on third down conversions.

“Unbelievable defence today,” said Sheahan. “Our kids knew we weren't going to shut them down, it was more slow them down… bend but not break.”

Queen's homecoming crowd was an undeniably the thirteenth player in a nationally televised game. Whether it was the boom from the bagpipes or the roar of the crowd, Western could not swing the momentum in their favour.

The home-field advantage was undeniable. Whether it was boom from the bagpipes in the background or the roar of the crowd, Western could not swing the momentum in their favour.

After five games, Queen's holds sole possession of first place, while Western is alone at 4-1 in second place. Ottawa, Wilfrid Laurier and Windsor are all 3-2. McMaster, Toronto and Guelph are all 2-3. Waterloo is 1-4 and York is 0-5.

Next week Queen's will travel to Toronto to play York on Saturday, October 4. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:00pm

NOTES: Giffin's regular season streak of 100-yards or more comes to an end at 14. Ironically Western held Giffin to 49-yards in last year's playoff loss…. Queen's has now scored 35 points or more in each of its five victories this season. Western held Queen's off the board in the third quarter, marking the only time this season the Gaels have been rendered pointless in any quarter… The last time Western lost by 20 or more points in the regular season was in 2004 against McMaster, a 53-32 regular season loss in the season opener.