The Queen's football team (0-3) will be looking to pick up their first win on the road this Saturday as they travel to London to take on No.4 Western (4-0) at 7 pm.
This week marks the third straight game that Queen's will have faced a nationally ranked opponent having taken on No.9 Ottawa, No.5 Laurier and now No.4 Western.
The Gaels will look to bounce back from their 40-17 loss to No. 5 Wilfred Laurier at Richardson Stadium last Saturday and clinch a victory at TD Stadium in London.
Last weekend, the Gaels fell to the defending Yates Cup Champions, the Golden Hawks in front of an impressive home crowd of 4,657. The Hawks were first on the scoreboard with a touchdown, but the Gaels quickly responded with a 42-yard throw from
Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) that found
Jeremy Pendergast (Kingston, Ont.). On Laurier's one-yard line,
Jaeden Washington (Woodbridge, Ont.) bulldozed his way into the end zone for a Gaels touchdown, and
Nick Liberatore (Dartmouth, N.S.) converted the extra point to give the Gaels a 7-6 edge in the closing minutes of the opening quarter.
Despite the strong start, the Hawks were able to answer back with a series of touchdowns and a 52-yard field goal to edge the Gaels 40-17 by the end of the fourth quarter.
Comparatively, Western had a very different game than the Gaels last weekend. The Mustangs toppled the Windsor Lancers 59-7 on the road to stay undefeated and remain tied for first in the OUA conference.
Western's offence put up 697 yards in the win, including 320 yards passing from Chris Merchant who completed 20 of 30 passes with one touchdown and one interception. The quarterback led the Mustangs passing attack and finished with 90 rushing yards and one touchdown. The Lancers were only able to get on the scoreboard late in the fourth during their 59-7 defeat.
The Queen's and Western matchup Saturday will be under the lights with a 7 pm start as the Old Four rivals renew their rivalry.
Despite a pair of close games that could have easily fallen in Queen's favour, the Gaels are winless so far this season. The Gaels hunt for a victory will extend into Mustangs territory where they will look to upset Western on the road.
The last time these two teams met was during the Gaels first home game of the 2016 season in the revitalized Richardson Stadium – a game that was spoiled for tricolour fans by rain and a loss. While Queen's held Western to 65 yards through the air, the Mustangs were able to run the ball for 329 yards on 54 rushes to defeat the Gaels 27-13.
This weekend marks the 93rd meeting between these two teams. The Gaels and the Mustangs are square in the all-time series at 45-45-2.
Look for
Nelkas Kwemo to have another big game defensively for the Gaels as the CFL prospect currently sits third in the OUA in average tackles per game at 7.8.
Head coach
Pat Sheahan is narrowing in on a couple of milestones in the win department, with 95 regular season and playoff wins at Queen's, and 149 regular season and playoff wins in his career. A win would put the current longest-serving U SPORTS football coach at the 150 mark.
Watch the game live at 7 pm Saturday on OUA.tv.
