OTTAWA, Ont. – Sunday night in the nation's capital, the Guelph Gryphons earned an impressive 37-20 road win over the No. 8-nationally-ranked Carleton Ravens. And it was the Gryphon defence and special teams leading the way.
For a second consecutive week, rookie
Clark Barnes took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, and the University of Guelph defence recorded a pair of defensive touchdowns to propel the visiting Gryphons to a 17-point road win over the Ravens. With the win, the Gryphons improve to 1-1 on the season and will now return home on Saturday, September 7 for a 1pm kickoff versus the York Lions.
Two weeks ago, Clark Barnes was not a familiar name around OUA football circles. It sure is now.
The rookie receiver from Brampton has stole the spotlight through the first two weeks of his OUA career.
Clark Barnes picks up his 2nd kickoff return for a TD of the season
A week ago, Barnes provided the fireworks in Guelph's season opening game against McMaster, taking the opening kickoff back 100-yards for a touchdown on the game's opening play. Seven days later, Clark Barnes did the unthinkable by repeating the feat.
Barnes would quiet the sold out Carleton crowd at MNP Park by taking the game's opening kickoff back 106-yards for his second kickoff return for a touchdown in as many games to give the visiting Gryphs a 7-0 lead right out of the gates.
The No. 8-ranked Ravens would respond midway through the opening quarter with a big play of their own on a 91-yard touchdown pass from Tanner DeJong to Quinton Soares to tie the game at 7-7. From there, Carleton would go on to build up a 17-13 lead late into the opening half, but the momentum would shift in Guelph's favour right before the half thanks to a big play from the U of G defence.
With just over a minute remaining in the 2nd quarter, Gryphon third-year linebacker
Jared Beeksma would sniff out a Carleton screen and intercept the Tanner DeJong pass and take it back 31-yards the other way for the first touchdown of his university career.
The defensive score gave Guelph a 20-17 lead heading to the 3rd quarter.
With the game tied at 20-20 late in the 3rd, Beeksma would come up big once again, this time coming untouched off the edge and delivering a huge hit on Ravens quarterback Tanner DeJong. The hit from Beeksma knocked the ball loose and right into the hands of fourth-year defensive end
A.J. Allen, who would cruise 25-yards the other way for Guelph's second defensive score of the game to put the Gryphons up 27-20.
The lone offensive touchdown of the game for the Gryphons would come late in the 4th quarter. A 5-play, 53-yard drive, which included an outstanding 36-yard catch from
Jordan Terrio, would be capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run from
Theo Landers to punctuate the Gryphons 37-20 road win. Terrio was the standout player on the Gryphon offence on the night, hauling in 5 receptions for 100 yards.
Aside from the two, game-changing defensive scores, the Gryphon defence also shut down one of the top running backs in the OUA in Carleton's Nathan Carter. Carter, who a season ago rushed for nearly 800 yards and 5 touchdowns, had no room to run on Sunday night versus the Gryphons, finishing the game with 28-yards rushing on 10 carries.
The win marks the first of the head coaching career for Ryan Sheahan, with the 38-year-old Montreal native taking over the University of Guelph football program in January of 2019.
"It was good to get
our first win, not my first win. We fought hard," said Sheahan. "The defence played sensational. (defensive coordinator) Dennis McPhee and the staff has those boys flying around. Clark Barnes is already showing that he's a force on special teams, and Coach Carter's (special teams coordinator Donnavan Carter) schemes have been solid two weeks in a row. On offence, we continue to struggle to find our identity. We are just going to continue to rework the puzzle so we can start to see the big picture. We'll stay stubborn with it and see if we can come up with a better effort for York next week."
The Gryphons will now play three of their next four games at home, beginning with York on Saturday (Sept. 7).
