GUELPH, Ont. – Labour Day football. There's a long tradition of it in Canada and a special holiday game is the perfect way for the Guelph Gryphons to kick off their OUA home schedule. Alumni Stadium will come alive Monday when the York Lions pay a visit for an afternoon matchup (1 pm). 

For the Gryphons, it's an important opportunity. Teams can fall behind the pack quickly in the OUA and Guelph will be hungry for its first win after dropping a 16-15 nailbiter on the road to the No. 7-ranked team in the nation, the McMaster Marauders. But there's no time for the Gryphons to dwell on the loss. Especially with a chance to get back on track in this key Labour Day matchup.
 
"The focus this week has been cleaning up parts of our game," said head coach Todd Galloway, noting that the energy has been excellent at practices. "We just need to execute our game plan."
 
Guelph will need to kickstart the offence, which had plenty of success with 160 yards on the ground against McMaster last week, including a team-high 59, and the only touchdown, from quarterback Theo Landers. It's the passing game where Galloway would like to see some improvement. His fourth-year pivot should have better success in the air against a York team that gave up 320 passing yards and 42 points in its opener with Queen's.

 
"Our O-line played really well and controlled the line of scrimmage," Galloway said of the performance at McMaster. "We just had some miscommunications and execution errors in our passing game but after one day of practice, it looked like it was starting to correct itself."
 
The Gryphons manufactured a solid defensive performance against McMaster despite being unable to hang on in the decisive fourth quarter. They'll have to contain the Lions' talented senior quarterback Brett Hunchak, who has trained with the Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions in the U SPORTS/CFL quarterback development program each of the last three years. Hunchak was razor-sharp in last week's loss to Queen's, completing 33 of 49 attempts for 370 yards and two TDs. Twelve of those completions, and one of the touchdowns, went to Hunchak's favourite target, his brother Colton. The sibling combination will definitely test Guelph's revamped but talented secondary with starters like Akeem Knowles, Graham Brodie, and Dotun Aketepe ready for the challenge.
 
"He's quick getting the ball out," Galloway said of the York quarterback. "We have to take away their first read and try make them go elsewhere with the football."
 
When the defence does make stops, Guelph's special teams unit has to make an impact and give the offence short fields to work with. The return game was strong last week in Hamilton, led by rookie receiver Kiondre Smith. The explosive Toronto, ON native was named the Gryphon Special Teams Player of the Game after returning seven punts for 109 yards and one kickoff for an additional 27 yards.
 
The Gryphons have high expectations for the holiday Monday game.
 
"The guys have rebounded well," said Galloway. "They understand that we came out of our last week thinking that was a game we could have won. The energy and focus as been good. It's a Labour Day Monday game and a home opener so the crowd should be big. We want to add excitement and focus on having great energy."
 

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