In a showdown of the OUA’s two still-undefeated teams and a match-up of the loop’s two top quarterbacks, Queen’s prevailed at Western and Gaels pivot Alex Vreeken outshone his Mustangs counterpart Jerome Rancourt.
With the 41-20 victory Saturday , the defending Yates Cup champions Gaels raise their record to 5-0 for the season. Western falls to 4-1 and second place in the OUA standings.
The Mustangs led only once at Western Alumni Stadium, 29-27 at the end of the third quarter. Queen’s rallied in the final 15 minutes, with a 16-yard touchdown catch by Cedric Smith and a two-point conversion putting the visitors ahead for good.
Down the stretch Tyler Mullan hit two clutch field goals down the stretch to put the game out of reach for the home team. The Mustangs had come into the game as No. 3 in U Sports’ national rankings, with Queen’s one slot below. Doubtless, the Gaels will at least pass Western when U Sports releases its list next week and it remains an open question whether they will be inserted into the conversation about the top two ranked squads, the undefeated Laval Rouge et Or and once-defeated Montreal Carabins, the defending Vanier Cup champions.
The quarterback showcase Saturday wasn’t particularly close.
Vreeken completed 17 of 22 pass attempts for 266 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone. Both touchdowns in that stretch were to his fellow five-year Gael Russell Weir. Vreeken’s numbers would be even gaudier if not for a chop-block penalty that wiped a 60-yard touchdown catch by Logan Walton. At game’s end Vreeken racked up 404 yards in the air.
And while Rancourt was considered the greater run threat, Vreeken twice scrambled out of the pocket under pressure and broke into the open field to pick up first downs, stuff he’d scrupulously avoided through the first half of the season.
Vreeken’s numbers for first half fairly outstripped Rancourt’s for 60 minutes: 17 completions in 31 pass attempts for 276 yards.
Rancourt’s two touchdown passes were offset by three interceptions, none more painful than a second-quarter pick by James Gillingham in the end zone after Western had driven down the field to the Queen’s five-yard line.
Only an official scorer’s decision deprived the Gaels’ defence of a fourth interception. In the third quarter, with the Queen’s line collapsing the Western pocket, Rancourt let loose a throw that travelled only a matter of inches into the waiting hands of linebacker Daniel Mikwete.
The scorer ruled Mikwete’s play a fumble, but there was no burying the impact of Western’s four turnovers on the game—the lone Queen’s giveaway was Vreeken’s second interception of the season, an unlucky bounce off a defender’s helmet that wound up a jump ball,
Western had a statistical advantage on the ground game, gaining 144 rushing yards to Queen’s 83, but in the fourth quarter two Mustangs drives stalled when the Gaels stuffed the home team’s attempts to run for first downs in short yardage situations.
A common theme through the Queen’s season has been untimely penalties, but even on this count events for the Gaels unfolded as if designed.
The visitors had but four penalties for 35 yards—even if one of them scrubbed Walton’s major.
The Mustangs had six flags for 69 yards but by far the worst was an offside call on Tyler Mullan chip-shot field goal in the first quarter. The penalty gave Queen’s a first down on the Western nine-yard line and running back jayce Baldwin ran through traffic on the next play for the touchdown that with the conversion gave the Gaels a 10-3.
A potential game-changer came on the very next play when Dasani McIntosh returned the kickoff 98 yards for a game-tying touchdown.
But Rancourt’s struggles didn’t allow the Mustangs to gather any real momentum until much later and Vreeken’s consistency and spreading the ball around to nine different receivers on the day kept the game almost entirely in the Gaels’ control.
Queen’s hosts the Windsor Lancers at Richardson Stadium next Saturday. The teams split their two games last year, Windsor winning in the last game of the Gaels’ regular season and then Queen’s rebounding with a win on the road in the playoffs.
gjoyce@postmedia.com
