Heading into this weekend's matchup against the York Lions, Queen's football looked for another win at home after their victory against the McMaster Marauders on Sept. 1. The Gaels were victorious and took down the Lions 52-19.

In the win, defensive back Iain St Arnault (Economics) successfully returned York's two missed field goals to the Lion's end zone. St Arnault set a U SPORTS record with 296 punt return yards in the win.

The Gaels started the first as a dominant presence on the field; they found the first touchdown of the game in their first possession, with short pass from Alex Vreeken (Kinesiology) to Nathan Falconi (Health Studies).

Falconi went on to lead the Gaels in receiving yards, accruing 115, as well as receptions, with seven.

"Nathan Falconi got involved really early and then kept it going with some phenomenal catches and yards after catches," Head Coach Steve Snyder said.

Defensive Lineman, Silas Hubert (Environmental Studies) also bagged a touchdown in the first after capitalizing on a York fumble, recovering it and heading to the end zone.

Hubert also had a standout game defensively with 4.5 tackles—4 of which were for a loss—and 3 sacks.
 

St Arnault added his first touchdown of the match at the end of the first, receiving York's missed field goal and easily outrunning the Lion's defense for 119 yards.  

"Iain just did a great job of taking the ball to the open space and just using his speed to finish it off," Snyder said. "He's an outstanding athlete with outstanding ball skills. He's a great defensive back for us and has really emerged as our primary returner. He can do a lot of things. He's just a really skilled athlete."

The Gaels slowed down in the second, finding their sole points from a field goal from Tyler Mullan (Arts & Science).

In the second, Queen's conceded a rouge and 2 safeties, with York also scoring their first touchdown of the game.

After the half-time break, the Gaels came back reinvigorated. Jared Chisari (School of Graduate Studies) nabbed a three-yard running touchdown. Nathan Falconi (Health Studies) followed it up with a passing touchdown, bringing the score to 38-12.

St Arnault also found his second touchdown in the third, returning another missed York field goal attempt, lighting up the scoreboard once again.
 
"A missed field goal is one of the biggest opportunities for a touchdown, one of the biggest opportunities that we have in our game, but you typically don't see two of them in one game," Snyder remarked.

"You get a little bit of butterflies. You're never really expect it – you expect the best but you never really see it happen until it happens. When you actually get that opportunity to make it happen, you're like it's actually happening! I've practiced this so many times, but now it's happening," St Arnault said, reflecting on his touchdowns.

Running Back Jayden Gurzi-MacDonald (Economics) added the final touchdown for the Gaels with a 52-yard run in the fourth.

The Gaels continue their season next weekend on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 3:00pm, where they head to Ottawa to take on the Gee-Gees.