The Varsity Blues took the field looking for their first victory of the year against the Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday afternoon in Toronto. The sky was grey, a cold drizzle fell throughout the afternoon, the engineering band didn’t suck as much as usual, and the Laurier cheerleaders outnumbered and outmatched the Varsity cheerleading squad.
All of these things had little to do with football, but one could be forgiven for being distracted by them throughout the slow, predictable game that basically ended before it started. It was wet, cold, and dismal, and the hopes of the Varsity Blues seemed to go the way of the weather right from the outset.
Playing in front of their largest home crowd of the year, the Blues could do little to prevent the seventh ranked team in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) from rolling up a 62-7 victory. The Golden Hawks running attack, led by CIS All-Canadian candidate Derek Medler, went for over 350 yards against the Blues defense, which has proven throughout the season it cannot stop a strong ground game.
Laurier running back Bryon Hickey led the scoring for the Hawks with four touchdowns on five carries, while Medler finished with 191 yards on 24 carries. The Golden Hawks ran up 42 points in the first half, with two quick touchdowns coming in the first five minutes of the game, sealing their victory early.
The Blues offence continued to prove it could move the football, but also that once it got within sniffing distance of the Laurier goal-line, it could routinely turn the ball over. Fifth-year running back Roger Makhlouf, filling in for injured Blues starter Templar Iga, had a productive day, breaking off a few decent runs to finish with 98 yards rushing.
Quarterback Carter Livingstone, enjoying a renaissance of sorts by averaging well over 200 passing yards/game for the past few weeks, again failed to find the end zone through the air. He tossed three interceptions to end long, impressive Blues drives.
Livingstone did add a touchdown on a QB sneak late in the game, capping the only interesting sidebar all day. Inside the Laurier five-yard line, the Blues took roughly seven plays to score, aided by two questionable Laurier penalties. Finally, Coach Steve Howlett sent in a heavy goal-line formation and Livingstone was able to sneak the ball across the goal line, breaking the Laurier shutout.
The Blues season thus ends, with the team going 0-8 under Coach Howlett. Despite the many program changes, this edition of the Blues broke the OUA all-time record for most points given up in a season, held by the 2002 Blues team. The 2003 edition gave up a record 394 points, breaking the Blues’ old record by 30 points. The Blues head into the off-season in exactly the same situation as this time last year, re-evaluating and examining a losing season.
