Moments before the 5 p.m. start for the game between the Queen’s Gaels and the University of Waterloo Warriors at Richardson Stadium, the team’s lined up for an opening kick-off and instead of cheers rising from the crowd, a hush fell over the venue.
Instead of the Warriors running up to the line and their kicker hammering the teed-up ball, they stood still. Instead of the girding themselves for the run-back, the Queen’s return unit remained in place as if in a freeze frame.
The teams were paying their respects to Daniel Molla, a Warrior offensive lineman and second-year biochemistry student who died on Sept. 7. The Kitchener-born Molla was just 19 years old.
“Daniel was an outstanding young man in the classroom, on the field and especially as a teammate to his football brothers,” Waterloo coach Chris Bertoia said in a bereavement notice on the university’s website.
The players on the Warriors’ side of the field Saturday had attended Molla’s funeral the day before. Around their dressing room at Richardson Stadium before the game, the Warriors were far more subdued than other squads with a game minutes away. At least a few found quiet spaces to kneel, pray and remember their teammate.
The school did not cite a cause of death and provided no further details when officials released an announcement on Sept. 10.
When the OUA schedule was announced earlier this year, the match-up had been expected to be one charged with emotion after the Gaels rolled over Waterloo at the Warriors’ homecoming game last September. In that game, Waterloo quarterback Nick Orr was taken away by ambulance after a devastating hit by Gaels linebacker Justin Pace, who was ejected on the play and suspended for the balance of the regular season.
Though Pace has moved on and landed with the Edmonton Elks, the Warriors would have circled or highlighted the game in Kingston. In an awful moment, however, Molla’s death changed the emotional tenor of the match-up.
On the Queen’s sideline the emotions of the moment ran deep.
“We found out earlier in the week and we let the team know when [the University of Waterloo] made its statement,” Gaels head coach Steve Snyder said. “Our team knew Thursday. It’s scary stuff.”
Further weighing down the moment was the recent death of another 19-year-old OUA player: Nathan Guizzetti, a University of Windsor second-year running back, had died just days after playing in the Lancers’ season opener.
“It was a week for lessons and speaking to the players about life, about how much people love you,” Snyder said. “With so much going on we just hit on a theme of everyone protecting each other, looking after each other.”
Snyder said he had been in the same position five years ago when the Gaels faced the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees who were mourning the sudden death of a teammate just days before. “We had the same pre-game tribute for the young man,” Snyder said. “We showed the connection of the football family in this country and I’m sure they would have done the same thing for us in [a similar circumstances].”
Gaels quarterback Alex Vreeken sought out his Waterloo counterpart Orr after the game to talk about the Waterloo team’s dealing with Molla’s death. “Nick has done a good job bringing his teammates together and we’ve tried to do the same thing when we got the news,” Vreeken said.
“We try to bring everyone in and talk as openly as we can. Being a university student isn’t always the easiest thing. Being a university athlete is also not always the easiest. Any time you have a tragedy like that, it’s hard to flip the switch and play football. You get out there with the sport of your brothers on the team.”
gjoyce@postmedia.com
