GUELPH, Ont. - This weekend, under the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor the Guelph Gryphons football team will take on the Lancers in a Week 2 matchup between a pair of teams looking to start their season with a winning streak.
Location: Windsor Alumni Field
Date: Sunday, September 3, 2023
Time: 7pm
How to watch: oua.tv
The Gryphons (1-0) are coming off of a 33-10 win over the U of T Varsity Blues in Week 1, when they put on an impressive performance in front of 1,219 fans at Alumni Stadium. The team will now look to improve to 2-0 this weekend for the first time since the 2015 season, a season that saw the Gryphons hoist the Yates Cup.
On the other side of the field, the Gryphons will see the blue and gold of the Lancers who are also coming off of a Week 1 win. Windsor took down the McMaster Marauders, the Gryphons Week 4 opponent, 21-17 in a closely contested affair. In 2023 the Lancer offence is led by a quarterback-running back pair returning to the Windsor backfield in Danny Skelton and Joey Zorn. Skelton finished the 2022 season as the OUA's 7th leading passer with 1,212 yards in addition to three TDs and a 62% completion percentage. Skelton opened up the season going 18-of-29 for 198 yards with a pair of TDs and INTs. Zorn meanwhile carried the ball 12 times for 68 yards in the Lancers Week 1 win. Last season, Zorn averaged just over 100 yards per game, finishing as the conferences 4th leading rusher with 856 yards and 7 TDs.
The last meeting between the Gryphons and Lancers came 367 days prior to this year's matchup, with Windsor coming to Guelph for the U of G 'O-Week' game on Monday, September 5, 2023. The Lancers were able to take a 28-24 victory after a back-and-forth contest. The Gryphons have dropped the last two meetings with the Lancers but lead the overall series 25-10-1 and are 6-4 in their last 10 meetings.
Despite the two teams seeing each other often in the regular season they have only met once in the playoffs, an OUA quarterfinal matchup in 2013 that saw the Gryphons take a 31-21 win.
The Gryphons will look to recreate strong performances from rookie quarterbacks
Tristan Aboud and
Marshall McCray after the pair made their U SPORTS debut last week. Aboud threw 26 times, completing 19 passes for 200 yards with one TD and one INT. McCray, featured primarily in short-yardage situations, completed one pass for a touchdown and picked up 57 rushing yards on four carries. Following the loss of OUA Rookie of the Year running back Isiah Smith, the team will look to
Donavin Milloy,
Mason Duvall, and
Craig Sherrington to carry the run game. The trio combined for 80 yards rushing on 18 touches in Week 1 and should see plenty of opportunities this weekend after the Gryphons averaged 6.2 yards per carry against the Lancers in 2022. On the other side of the ball the U of G defence will look continue their impressive play into Week 2 after they held the Varsity Blue offence to just 190 total yards and 10 points last week.
Sunday's matchup in Windsor can be seen live online at
ww.oua.tv. Gryphon fans can also follow along on Twitter (@guelph_gryphons) with live, in-game updates and highlights from the action in Windsor.
Following the Gryphons matchup with the Lancers the team will return to Alumni Stadium in Week 3 for the annual 'O-Week' game, with this year's edition being played against the U SPORTS No. 6-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks. Tickets for the Week 3, September 9th game are available at
gryphons.ca/tickets.
