Highway 7 rivalry heads to gridiron for Ontario University Athletics semifinal

Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph will face off on the gridiron this weekend. CTV’s Colton Wiens has a preview of the match.

A Highway 7 rivalry is heading to the gridiron this weekend as the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks host the University of Guelph Gryphons in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) football semifinals on Saturday.

It’s a do-or-die game, with the loser’s season coming to an abrupt end.

“We just do what we’ve been doing all season and that is be in the moment,” Michael Faulds, head coach of the Golden Hawks said. “Focus on ourselves, focus on us and us playing our football, and doing what we need to do in that moment on each play, all 12 of us, to be successful,” Cal Wither, Golden Hawks’ quarterback, said.

While Laurier enters the matchup undefeated and as the top ranked team in the country, Guelph has some confidence coming off a wild win over Western University last week. In the dying seconds of the quarterfinal matchup, Guelph freshmen kicker Trey Thompson missed a field goal that ended in a one-point rouge and Western couldn’t get back out of the endzone.

“It missed, but it ended up being a rouge, and it’s Canadian football, so we won the game at the end of the day, so I couldn’t really be too mad. I just had to smile,” Thomson said.

The Gryphons’ head coach said it was a thrilling moment.

“My brother played for McMaster [University] in 2012 in the Vanier Cup. [McMaster] lost to Montreal and part of the learning from that is they told the kicker at the time to go for the rouge. So, it came out a little lower and it got blocked,” Gryphons head coach Mark Surya said. “While we practiced that play all the time, we don’t want to confuse the kicker. Tell them go for it, but knowing that we’ve got to go down to cover for the rouge. So, [it is] an exciting play. I mean, we would love for it to be less exciting, but it’s good for everybody to see.”

Despite knowing they could score a rouge, Surya said punting seemed too far.

“You’re adding 15 yards to the kick and now you’ve got to carry it. If you look at it, we were on the 25-yard line, so 40 yards, you’ve got to carry it at least 60 [yards] to get to the back of the end zone. I just think it’s tough for a freshman kicker at that point to kick a 60-yard punt versus a field goal that if he makes it, great, and we have two shots at it if he misses,” Surya said.

Before that walk-off rouge, Guelph made a major comeback in the fourth quarter that gave them the chance to win.

“Down 17-3. Eight minutes left, that was a huge win for us. I was happy everyone rallied together,” Tristan Aboud, quarterback for the Gryphons, said.

“Our season ended there last year, so it’s been 12 months in the making. Really proud of the way the guys played,” Surya said.

Stopping a Gryphons comeback is exactly what’s on the minds of Laurier’s squad. When the two teams met in August, Guelph scored four touchdowns in the second half and almost won it on a last second Hail Mary.

“Work on communication. I feel like that’s the baseline for everything,” Johari Hastings, a defensive back for the Golden Hawks, said. “That’s what happened in that game in the second half, there was some lapse communication a bit. So, we’ve grown a lot, especially with eight games having passed for us. The result will be what it is. We worked on our communication, we worked on our chemistry together and especially in the back end. It’ll be good.”

“I think a lot of people see that Guelph was three and five throughout the year and think, you know what? This isn’t a match up. But all we’re thinking about is that week one performance they had against us and how close it was. So, we’re going to respect them. They’ve got a great quarterback in Tristan Aboud, Marshall McCray makes a lot of plays, we’re familiar with their coaching staff. So, Coach Surya is going to have them ready to go. And we’re going to make sure Laurier is ready to go,” Faulds said.

Surya spent several years with Laurier and despite playing in enemy territory on Saturday, he said there’s a level of comfort playing in Waterloo.

“It’s nice for our guys, they get to sleep in their own beds. It’s only 45 minutes down the road. Every year we play them in the offseason, so, it is a very familiar place and we’ve played there a ton. And then for me, I was there for five years, six years. I know that staff and that place very well and the visitor room and all that stuff. It feels familiar for us. Which is great,” Surya said. “We’re calling ourselves the road warriors, because every game from here on out is going to be on the road. But we embrace that. I got a tough, resilient team that I’m happy to coach.”

Kickoff at University Stadium is at one in the afternoon on Saturday.