GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphon football team returns to Alumni Stadium for their 2022 home opener on Labour Day Monday (September 5, 2022) as they play host the Windsor Lancers at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium. Both teams enter Week 2 of the 2022 OUA football season looking to crack the win column, with Guelph falling on the road a week ago to the No. 1-ranked team in the country, the Western Mustangs, while the Lancers came out on the wrong end of a tightly contested 19-16 game versus the Ottawa Gee-Gees under the lights last Saturday night (Aug. 27) in Windsor.




A season ago, it was the Lancers who shocked the Gryphons in a Week 2 matchup, with Windsor edging the Gryphons 14--12 in a low-scoring affair back on October 2, 2021. But the Gryphons have been one of the toughest teams in the country to defeat on their home field in recent years, with Guelph going undefeated at home a season ago, winning all three of their 2021 regular season games played at Alumni Stadium. Since head coach Ryan Sheahan took over the program in 2019, the Gryphons have posted a 6-2 record on their homefield, including an OUA quarterfinal playoff win over Carleton in 2019, as well as a win over No. 1-ranked Western on September 25, 2021. The Gryphons will now look to continue their impressive play on their home field on Labour Day, with Windsor set to make their first trip to Guelph since the 2017 season, when the Gryphons put up a school-record 81 points on the Lancers.
 
"This week is all about execution and focusing on what we need to do ourselves in order to be successful," says head coach Ryan Sheahan, now in his fourth season in charge of the Gryphon football program and third season of on-field action following the cancellation of the 2020 campaign.
 
"Last week in London, we definitely had some chances to make some plays, but we were unfortunately unable to take advantage of those, and when you are playing in big games like that, the room for error is very small. The Lancers are very athletic and tough on the defensive side of the ball, and offensively they have a very good rushing attack, so we will have to be sharp in all areas of our game."
 
The Windsor rushing attack is led by a rookie from south of the border, with Joey Zorn (Flint, Michigan) impressing in his OUA debut last week, rushing for 111 yards on just 12 carries (9.3 average) and 1 touchdown versus the Gee-Gees. Monday afternoon's game will mark the first of four home games for the Gryphon football team this season, with the OUA returning to a traditional eight-game regular season format. The Gryphons will also host Queen's (Sept. 24), McMaster (Oct. 7) and Carleton (Oct. 22). Gates open at 11:30am on Monday, with kickoff set for 1pm. Tickets are available online at gryphons.ca/tickets. Fans unable to make it to Alumni Stadium on Monday can also watch the game live online by tuning into www.oua.tv.
 

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