Varsity Blues fans braved the cold on Friday night, coming out to support their football team as they battled against the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Varsity Stadium. In a 35-15 loss, the Blues demonstrated that they may be starting a trend where they open strong but fall short in the second half.
The game got off to a positive start with a back-and-forth struggle to dominate the field. Neither team could truly get their offence going or the scoreboard moving. At the end of the first quarter, the Blues were leading 3-0 thanks to a 15-yard field goal from second-year kicker Andrew Lomasney.
However, the Gee-Gees picked up the pace in the second quarter as they quickly took over the scoreboard with two field goals by Matt Falvo, and a touchdown scored off of a one-yard run from Matt Todd that was successfully converted. The Gee-Gees went up by two more points, scoring off of a safety when they conceded.
Just when it looked as if the game had taken a turn for the worst, the Blues called a time out and made a daring comeback in the last minute of the half. Quarterback Andrew Gillis made his first touchdown pass of the season to rookie slotback Paul de Pass, who scored in the final seconds of play to bring the Blues back into contention. At halftime, the Gee-Gees led only 15-9.
Despite a strong defensive effort by the Blues, the third quarter brought two more field goals from Ottawa’s kicker, Falvo. But the fourth quarter was when the game really got interesting.
In just over a minute of play, Gee-Gees’ Cyril Adjeity scored a touchdown when he received a 71-yard pass from quarterback Bradley Sinopoli. Shortly after, he did it again when he connected with Sinopoli’s 66-yard pass. The game’s top scorer, Falvo converted both touchdowns.
The Blues, however, did go out with a bang. As the game was dying and supporters began to slowly filter out due to the plummeting temperature, Toronto back-up quarterback Jansen Shrubb struck first-year wide receiver Ben Sharpe with an outstanding 83-yard touchdown pass to narrow the gap on the scoreboard by six points in the closing minutes.
“When I go in there, I know I’m not going to do much running, so it’s the passing attack,” conceded Shrubb after the game. The “passing attack” strategy contributed to the Blues ability to control the clock for the majority of the fourth quarter. Shrubb’s ability to connect with his receivers was evident last week as well when he made a 64-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Wright.
Despite a few spectacular offensive plays against the Gee-Gees, the Blues are quite a new team. They rely rather heavily on their more solidified defensive counterparts. “The defence has been there all year, and we’re very appreciative of it,” acknowledged veteran slotback Drew Meerveld. “[The Blues] had a good game plan coming in; it was just a matter of being able to execute [it].”
Despite this being their fourth loss of the season, the Blues have made progress in their team dynamics. The Laurier Golden Hawks blanked them 36-0 in their season opener, at which point coach Greg Laval had no comments beyond, “Yeah, [they] steamrolled us. We definitely lost the physical battle today.” Against the Windsor Lancers, the Blues made it onto the scoreboard, falling 30-3. Last weekend, they scored their first touchdown of the season, losing 53-25 to the Guelph Gryphons.
The Blues are looking to improve their team cohesion and to play a complete game. They recognize that they have fallen into the trend of playing a strong first half that they then fail to maintain.
Although the score may seem bleak in the eyes of many U of T supporters, the Blues have shown that they are steadily improving, and they’re not giving up hope. Meerveld was firm when he said that the team does not want to get used to losing. “It’s back to the drawing board for next week,” he said.
