KINGSTON, Ont. (Aug. 20, 2022) - First year running back Jaden Blackman scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter and Dawson Matthews-Reid secured the win with an interception at Queen's one yard line as the Gaels defeated the McGill Redbirds 19-12 in a pre-season tilt Saturday at Richardson Stadium.

Blackman (London, Ont.) led the Gaels offensively, finishing the game with nine carries for 107 yards and a touchdown. Queen's finished with 194 yards rushing in the 170th meeting of the two historic rivals. Anthony Soles (Pointe Claire, Que.) added six carries for 22 yards and a touchdown while Greg Jones Sealy (Markham, Ont.) finished with six carries for 41 yards, and starting quarterback James Keenan recorded 16 rushing yards on four carries.

Keenan (Ottawa, Ont.) was 5-8 for 37 yards throwing the ball, while Alex Vreeken (Kingston, Ont.) finished the game 10-16 for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Queen's Football Head Coach Steve Snyder said the pre-season win was a strong overall team performance.

"I'm proud of the team for pulling out a victory," said Snyder. "We dressed eighty four players and almost all of them played. There were a lot of guys who have only been here a couple days at Queen's, in their first year. And a lot of guys that have worked hard for the last two or three years who haven't yet played. And they represented us really well. It was a great overall team win."

While the Redbirds finished with a combined 296 yards passing, the Gaels defence finished the game with three interceptions, with Mitchell Keuhl (Kingston, Ont.) and Emmanuel Ogunmefun (Brampton, Ont.) adding picks to Matthews-Reid's late game-sealing interception.

Queen's also finished with seven sacks, with Tanner Hawley (Kingston, Ont.) leading the way with two. Brady Spafford (Oshawa, Ont.), Jalen Grabell (Stouffville, Ont.), Silas Hubert (Hastings, Ont.), Parsa Heydarzadeh (Vancouver, BC), and Tyson Fletcher (Kingston, Ont.) each added one sack in the win.

The Gaels held McGill to just 28 yards rushing in the win as well.

Queen's will open the OUA regular season next Saturday with their home opener against another historic rival, the Toronto Varsity Blues, Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. at Richardson Stadium. The Gaels' regular season opener is also Community day at Richardson Stadium, and single-game tickets are on sale now here.