Box Score
Gryphon Football vs. Western 2012 Gallery

With 23.2 seconds left on the clock, Giuliano Tropea (Niagara Falls, Ont.) hit a 27 yard field goal to give Guelph their first victory over the Western Mustangs since 2007 today (Oct 6) at Alumni Stadium.  Today's win marks the fifth consecutive victory to put the CIS No. 9 Gryphons at 5-1 while dropping the Mustangs to 3-3 in the 2012 season.
 
Gryphon head coach Stu Lang was elated after the game and talked about the confidence this win gives his team.
 
"This feels great, the whole thing we are trying to accomplish is to become an elite football team that is successful all the time and in order to get there we have to experience games like today. We built a tremendous amount of character in the guys today.  If we're ever in another last second close game again, we know we have pulled out the win before and we can do it again."
 
Today's win secures the Gryphons a home playoff game, an advantage the Gryphons have not enjoyed since 2008.
 
"It feels fantastic to know we'll get to host a playoff game in front of our fans. This is one of our goals on the way to the Yates Cup.  But we now have Queens at home next and we're just looking to take it one game at a time."
 
Leading the offence in front of a thanksgiving crowd of 945, Jazz Lindsey (Markham, Ont.) completed 20 attempts of 31 for 219 yards and three majors on the day.  Robert Farquharson (Niagara Falls, Ont) added another 134 yards to the effort in 21 carries.
 
Complimenting the offensive success on defence was John Rush (Niagara Falls, Ont) and Bryan Dunjko (Aurora, Ont) with 9.5 and eight tackles apiece.  Both players, along with Zachary Androschuk(Sarnia, Ont) and Jarryd Baines (Ottawa, Ont) recorded individual interceptions on the day.
  Rob Farquharson would start things off for the Gryphons by moving the chains on two consecutive 15 yard rushes to put the Gryphons within striking distance.  A pass to Dillon Dimitroff (Burlington, Ont.) brought the Gryphons into the Mustang redzone where a deep pass from Jazz Lindsey to brother Saxon Lindsey (Markham, Ont.) capped off an impressive 74 yard drive with Guelph's first trip to the endzone.  Tropea would tack on the extra point to put Guelph up 7-0 early on. Guelph came up with the ball on the ensuing kick to put the ball back in Lindsey's hands on the 30 yard line.  Despite the strong momentum in Guelph's favour, the drive stalled at the 15 yard line to set Tropea up for a 22-field goal to put Guelph up 10-0.
 
Starting in place of Donnie Marshall (London, Ont) who suffered an injury last week in Western's game against McMaster was rookie quarterback Blake Huggins (London, Ont).  On his debut appearance, things didn't go exactly as planned with his first pass being intercepted by John Rush who was able to get into the Western red-zone to give Lindsey an opportunity to extend the lead.  Less than a minute later, Lindsey did just that by connecting deep with Michael Fortino for a 14-yard touchdown.  Tropea's point after attempt was good to extend the lead 17-0.
 
The dominant Gryphon defence proved to be relentless with a second interception, this time from Western's second-string quarterback, Will Finch (Burlington, Ont).  This time Lindsey would found Carl Trivieri wide open in the end zone to jump to 23-0.
 
Following two strong runs by CIS leading rusher, Garrett Sanvido (Vancouver, B.C.), the Western offence finally showed signs of life by opening an impressive drive to get within scoring distance.  Will Finch would take it in himself on a 1-yard QB sneak to put Western on the board.  Lirim Hajrullahu added the extra point to bring the game to within 16 to end the quarter.
 
Western recovered possession only to find themselves drop to a second and long situation.  Gryphon pass rushing forced Will Finch to look deep into double coverage only to give Bryan Dunjko his second pick on the season.  Dunjko was able to bring it back to the Western 20 yard line to put Guelph in excellent scoring position. 
 
Gryphon quarterback Lucas Nangle (London, Ont). then entered the game and was able to connect with Jake Reinhart(Guelph, Ont) on his only pass of the day to put Guelph up 30-7 with Tropea's successful conversion.
 
Once again Western found some momentum through the rushing game as Will Finch and Brian Marshall (London, Ont) brought the Mustangs into scoring position.  Electing to switch to the air attack, Will Finch put it up only to have Jarryd Baines come down with the ball in the dying minutes of the half.  Guelph was able to march down the field where Tropea hit an impressive 41-yard field goal to put Guelph up 33-7 going into the half.
 
Despite the explosive first half for the Gryphons, momentum quickly vanished as Guelph found themselves at the mercy of the Western offence as the Mustangs went on an uncontested 29 point scoring spree to take the lead with a 36-33 score with 11 minutes left in the game.   Garrett Sanvido was able to rake in three rushing touchdowns while Blake Huggins found Matt Uren (London, Ont) for the only passing touchdown for the Mustangs.  Lirim Hajrullahu converted all three conversion attempts while adding another rouge point to the board.
 
Forced to punt the ball away with eight minutes left on the clock, Western looked to their defence to maintain the lead.  Yet an impressive return by A'dre Fraser (Halifax, N.S.) combined with a Western face-mask put the Gryphons in excellent field position.  A minute later the drive would be stalled by the Mustang defence, but Tropea would continue his perfect streak by hitting a 32-yard field goal to tie the game at 36.
 
The ensuing Western drive was stopped dead less than a minute later with an Androschuk interception to put the ball back in Lindsey's capable hands.  On the next play, a fantastic acrobatic effort by Saxon Lindsey put the Gryphons back in field goal range.  With just over four minutes left on the clock, Tropea hit his game-day high with a 42-yard field goal to regain the Gryphon lead.  
The Mustangs came back strong with a deep pass to Matt Uren to set them up inside Guelph territory.  The next play found Garrett Sanvido tacking on four yards to bring up a second and six situation for the Mustangs.  Placing their faith again in Sanvido's hands, the Mustangs would be disappointed as a huge play by defensive captain Mike Millar (Port Colborne, Ont) stopped the Mustang drive in its tracks.  Lirim Hajrullahu would come out on the field to hit the game tying field goal from 32 yards.
 
With just over two minutes left on the clock, Lindsey rallied his offence to march down the field with passes to Trivieri and Farquharson to bring them close to midfield. Guiliano Tropea once again found himself in scoring position, as he lined up for an easy 27-yard field goal attempt which was successful and the final score of the game. 
 
The Gryphons look to continue their dominance next week against the Queen's Gaels team at Alumni Stadium.