GUELPH, Ont. – The setting was idyllic – a beautiful Guelph afternoon, with thousands of fans and alumni descending on the University of Guelph campus for an almost perfect Homecoming experience. The Guelph Gryphon football team would provide their supporters with some incredible memories. Unfortunately, a storybook finish was agonizingly incomplete. Guelph scored 25 consecutive second-half points but fell just short in a heartbreaking 33-32 loss to the Queen's Gaels in front a packed crowd at Alumni Stadium.
 
The Gryphons seemed poised to manufacture a comeback for the ages after trailing 33-7 late in the third quarter. The opportunity for a victory was there but with just 9.2 seconds left on the clock in a 33-31 game, a 32-yard field goal attempt from All-Canadian kicker Gabe Ferraro would sail just left of the uprights.
 
"I'm proud of the heart they showed and the effort they put in," head coach Todd Galloway said of his players. "I just feel awful for these kids because they worked so hard for a better result."
 
Fourth-year quarterback Theo Landers orchestrated the comeback attempt with the best game of his young Gryphon career. The Maple Ridge, BC native completed 26 of 35 passes for 318 yards and three second-half touchdown strikes. Landers also added a game-high 85 rushing yards and another score on the ground, a 15-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter that was much needed after Queen's jumped out to a 14-0 lead.
 
On the heels of a standout halftime show by The Reklaws, the Alumni Stadium crowd was in a frenzy.

Guelph came up with a big goal-line stand early in the third quarter to further ignite the supporters but the hosts were still in trouble. The Gryphons' strong defensive unit initially had trouble controlling OUA Second-team All-star quarterback Nate Hobbs, who finished the game with 306 passing yards, a touchdown, and 42 rushing yards, with another score on the ground. The Gaels looked like they had the game sewn up when kicker Nick Liberatore hit a 20-yard field goal at 13:37 of the third quarter to put Guelph in a massive hole down 33-7.
 
That's when Landers put his stamp on the game, spreading the ball around to his talented corps of receivers. It started with a perfect pass to Zeph Fraser down the left sideline, resulting in a 45-yard touchdown on the final play of the quarter. Kian Schaffer-Baker (game highs of eight catches and 130 receiving yards) then came down with a 22-yard touchdown 2:55 into the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 33-21. Landers struck again just under five minutes later, this time finding Kade Belyk from four yards out for an incredible 33-28 scoreline midway through the quarter.
 
Ferraro hit a 29-yard field goal with 1:55 left on the clock to give the rabid Homecoming crowd even more belief. The final drive began on Guelph's 52-yard line and a Belyk first down helped get the ball into Queen's territory. The Gryphons rushed it a few times and made it down to the 25-yard line, before calling out the field goal unit on 2nd and 4 to attempt the winning kick.
 
Landers was understandably gutted but he loved how his team dug so deep in the second half.
 
"We all just looked at each other and believed," said Landers. "We thought we could do this. We just had to go out and prove it.
 
"We just need to see that the whole game. I think if we do that, this thing wouldn't have been as close as it was. We all just need to be better as a group. I'm proud of the guys to fight back in that second half."
 

Galloway said the halftime talk, when Guelph was down 23-7, was all about uniting.
 
"That's all we talked about, that we had to come together," the coach said. "We made some individual plays but we needed to play like a team and I thought in the second half, we did that."
 
"We put our playmakers in a position where we thought the matchups were pretty good. We took the reins off Theo because we were down. We had to open it up, throw the ball a little more to get back and this game and he stepped up. He showed that he can be a great quarterback in the OUA."
 
The fans were treated to an amazing afternoon despite the loss. For many alumni, the opportunity to be back on campus was reason enough to be happy. Former Gryphon football player George Bortolato was one of them. The Burlington, ON resident was a defensive back for the Gryphons from 1988 to 1991.
 
"The nicest thing about today is seeing the great turnout of friends, teammates, and alumni," Bortolato said, with his young sons Grady and Holden alongside him. "It's awesome to see the campus and the facilities. It feels very big time and you get a real sense of pride coming back."
 
While it was almost an historic day in program history, the pain of the result will have to be put aside for a Gryphon team in a dogfight for an OUA playoff spot. Guelph travels to Waterloo next week to take on the Laurier Golden Hawks Saturday afternoon at University Stadium.
 
"We don't have too much time to keep our heads down about this one," Galloway said. "We have a big game to play next week."