November 2019
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The Gryphons’ Lair Issue 34 - November 2019 What Happened in October? Game 7 vs. Queen’s The Guelph Gryphons travelled to Kingston, Ontario to take on the Queen’s Gaels in a Thursday night, pre-Thanksgiving match-up. The entire game was very back and forth throughout, with the Gryphons tying up the game late in the fourth quarter, bringing us to overtime. With a defensive stop on Queen’s overtime drive, Guelph was able to respond and get the ball to the 26-yard line, setting up Kicker, Eric Stranz, to kick the winning field goal. Our Offensive Player of the Game was Running Back, Juwan Jeffrey. Our Defensive Player of the Game was Defensive End/Linebacker, AJ Allen. Lastly, our Special Teams Player of the Game was second-year Kicker, Eric Stranz, who has been 13-of-15 on field goals at this point in the season. To read more on our Players of the Game, please click here. To read more on this game, please click here. Thanksgiving Weekend After a Thursday night win in Kingston, the team had the Thanksgiving weekend off to spend time with family and friends. As many members of our team come from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the trek home was just not doable. That’s when Gryphon Football’s POP Group leader, Bruna Ferraro, stepped in to host the boys at a Thanksgiving dinner and made them feel at home during the long weekend. Thank you, Bruna and the Ferraro's for hosting our boys. Game 8 vs. U of T On Saturday, October 19th, the Guelph Gryphons took on the Toronto Varsity Blues in the last regular season game of the year. Guelph had a great offensive game, with a season-high 369 yards rushing, with three of our players surpassing the 100-yard mark. Running backs Kwame Osei and Juwan Jeffrey had 129 yards and 117 yards, respectively. Quarterback, Theo Landers had 113 yards. This win ended our regular season with a 6-2 record, tied for second place with McMaster University. Due to our loss against Mac in week one, McMaster was awarded the quarterfinal bye, along with the first place, undefeated, Western Mustangs. Fourth-year Offensive Lineman, Coulter Woodmansey was our Offensive Player of the Game. Woodmansey played a huge role in helping to open up massive running lanes throughout the game, which was essential to our running success. Fifth-year Linebacker, Job Reinhart was our Defensive Player of the Game with 3 tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble throughout the game. Lastly, AJ Allen earned himself a Player of the Game spot for the second week in a row, this time as our Special Teams Player of the Game. This game was dedicated to Jazmin Terrio, younger sister of fourth-year Receiver, Jordan Terrio, who unfortunately lost her battle with a rare disorder earlier that week. Despite this massive loss, Jordan travelled to Toronto with the team and played in honour of his sister. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Terrio family throughout this extremely difficult time. To read more on our Players of the Game, please click here. To read more on this game, please click here. To read more on the cohesiveness and adjustments that the offensive coaching staff have had to make in preparation for this season, please click here. Highlight: Watch Fourth-Year Free Safety, Dotun Aketepe’s incredible interception from the game here. Quarterfinals vs. Carleton On Saturday, October 26th, the Guelph Gryphons took on the Carleton Ravens in a Quarterfinal match-up. The back and forth game found the Gryphons trailing 17-16 with 1:04 left in the game. With the Gryphons’ life on the line, Freshman Defensive Back, Harrison Bagayogo, made a miracle play and blocked Carleton’s punt, recovering the ball in the Carleton end-zone. This put Guelph up 22-17 to end the game and made Harrison the Special Teams Player of the Game. The other Players of the Game include Fifth Year Receiver, Kade Belyk for Offense and Third Year Defensive Lineman, Alain Cimankinda for Defense. Belyk had 6 receptions for 67 yards versus Carleton. Defensively, Cimankinda came out hungry, getting four of the team’s six sacks against the Ravens. The Gryphons will take on the McMaster Marauders this upcoming Saturday, November 2nd at Ron Joyce Stadium. The game can be streamed by clicking this link. To read more on this game and to watch the play that saved the season, please click here. To read more on the Players of the Game, please click here. To watch a short, playoff hype video, please click here. Thank You Seniors! Our quarterfinal game against Carleton was an opportunity for us to highlight our senior players as well. Thank you, seniors, for being great leaders for our program both on and off the field! Our seniors took the time to thank the program, coaches, family, fans and the university for helping to make their experience at Gryphon Football a memorable one. Click here to watch the 2019 Senior video. New Twitter Account Last month, we made a new Twitter account. Please follow our account, @footballgryphon, for all things Gryphon Football! #NEXT GRYPHON Our incoming family continued to grow last month with the addition of six new recruits to our #NextGryphon Recruiting Class. Ben Lane is a 6’0, 185lb Kicker/Punter from Puslinch, Ontario. Ben has played for Team Ontario and Centennial High School in Guelph. Ben and will be a great addition to our kicking team under Coach Daniel Ferraro. Daniel Hocevar is a 6’4, 265lb Offensive Tackle from Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. Daniel will be having his signing shortly. Click here to watch Daniel’s highlight tape. Jacob Sherk is a 6’3, 270lb Defensive Tackle from Toronto, Ontario. Click here to watch Jacob’s 2018 highlight tape. Kobi Ofuokwu is a 6’1, 190lb Linebacker from St. Thomas More Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. Click here to watch Kobi’s highlight tape. Ethan Monaghan is 5’11, 180lb Defensive Back from St. Thomas More Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. Click here to watch Ethan’s highlight tape. Last but not least, we have another commit from St. Thomas More Secondary School! Welcome 6’2, 170lb Quarterback, Evan Hillock. Click here to watch Evan’s highlight tape. The STM commits will be having a collective signing shortly at St. Thomas More school. Stay tuned for photos. Left to right: Ethan Monaghan, Evan Hillock, Kristian Stewart, Spencer Kennedy, Yusuf Al- Khaldi, and Kobi Ofuokwu. GRYPHONS IN THE COMMUNITY Thanksgiving Food Drive During the week leading up to the Thanksgiving weekend, the Gryphon Football team held a food drive, collecting canned goods. The food collected was then brought to the local Guelph Food Bank to support those in need for the Thanksgiving weekend. Great job boys! Breast Cancer Awareness Month October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and our Gryphon Football program once again rose to the occasion to support the cause. Unfortunately, we did not have a home game in October this year and therefore had to take our annual “Pink” game on the road to Toronto, but that did not stop our fundraising! In the week leading up to the game, our players volunteered in the University Centre at our Think Pink booth. Here, they sold a variety of Breast Cancer Awareness mitts and hats for a minimum $10 donation. We also had our Pink wall, where people who donated could put the name of a loved one on a sticker and stick it to the wall. Our Offensive Line raised their own donations to support the cause. Offensive Line Coach, Mike MacDonald, matched the amount that his players raised. Lastly, our Parents of Players group sold pink Gryphon Football sweaters in Toronto before the game. Money raised was matched by the Advancement team up to $2500. We are SO proud to say that throughout all of the collective efforts, our team raised a total of $7000 for Breast Cancer Awareness in one week! This is $2500 more than the amount raised last year. Thank you so much to all of the students. faculty, players, coaches, parents and friends who donated to this amazing cause, and thank you to all of those who volunteered to take part in the fundraising. We are so proud! To read more on our Breast Cancer Awareness efforts, please click here. Gryphon’s Community Involvement The Gryphon Football program prides itself on its consistent focus on giving back to the community. Through camps, fundraisers, and acknowledging community heroes, this program is more than just a football team. Writer, David DiCenzo, spoke with some of our community liaisons and members of the community with whom we have partnered. To read more on our involvement and what it means to the community, please click here. CELEBRATION Gryphons Ranked Third in the Nation The Guelph Gryphons football team is now ranked third in the country, the best national ranking we have had since 1997! In first place is Western, with Laval in second place. Congratulations to Coach Sheahan and the team for this accomplishment. We’re not done yet... Reinhart Plays 100th-Career Game Gryphon Football alumnus and Guelph local, Jake Reinhart, celebrated his 100th-career game with the Toronto Argos last month. Reinhart is the Longsnapper for the Argos and has been with the team since 2014. Congratulations Jake, we are so proud of you and can’t wait to continue to watch you grow in the CFL. To read the full story, please click here.