The Guelph Gryphons might have a tough time deciding what to focus on during a short week of practice following a 28-24 loss to the Windsor Lancers in front of a sold-out crowd at Alumni Stadium their OUA football home opener Monday afternoon.
The offence sputtered, the defence gave up big plays and special teams were kept in check.
“There's many plays in the ball game where we had a huge error, either on special teams, on offence and on defence. We really need to take a look at this (game) film with a close eye and start to look for answers,” Gryphons head coach Ryan Sheahan said.
“We had some guys today that did not compete and just thought that this would be just a regular season game. Windsor came correct. They played well and they made the least amount of mistake and that's what won them the ball game. They ran the ball when they needed to and they didn't make errors in the second half. We're going to have to move forward and fix things as a team because we have a game in a couple of days.”
The Gryphons’ next outing is Saturday afternoon in Waterloo against the Waterloo Warriors, the team that had the bye on the Labour Day weekend.
“It's a short week and Waterloo's a well-coached team and they had the bye this weekend,” Sheahan said. “They've got a little bit of a jump on us. We need to heal rapidly and then get back to work.”
Windsor won most offensive categories with eight more first downs, 127 more yards of total offence, 23 more offensive plays, 98 more kickoff return yards and the Lancers had possession of the ball for 12 minutes and 21 seconds longer than their hosts.
The Gryphon defence was on the field too long, although they did respond with four sacks and an interception that Franck Kemayou returned 40 yards for a touchdown.
That play gave the Gryphs a three-point lead (24-21) early in the fourth quarter, but Windsor responded three and a half minutes later with the winning touchdown, running back Christopher John shaking off three or four would-be Gryphon tacklers before diving into the end zone to complete a six-yard scoring run.
Jake Helfrich from Charlotte, N.C., had his first start at quarterback since transferring from the University of South Carolina where he’d made the team as a walk-on, but didn’t see any playing time with the Gamecocks last year as a redshirt freshman due to having heart surgery shortly after joining the team. The surgery was to correct a condition he’d had since birth.
He completed 10 of 22 pass attempts for 117 yards, but didn’t want to concentrate on his stats.
“It's not about me, it's about the team,” Helfrich said. “Really, all three phases of football -- offence, defence and special teams -- we've just got to learn from today and get better. That's all it is. It's not about one person. Not one person lost the game or could've won the game. It's about the team and collectively, we've got to get better.”
The Gryphons were also whistled for 10 penalties for a loss of 148 yards and fumbled twice, losing possession of both.
On defence, Guelph native Brandon Ferigo led the Gryphons but wasn’t about to boast about his five solo tackles and nine assisted tackles.
“Solo stuff doesn't matter much, it's all about the team victories,” he said. “We didn't win as a team and that's pretty disappointing.”
Isiah Smith scored two touchdowns rushing for the Gryphons, the first one on a 67-yard play and the second one on a two-yard plunge. Guelph’s other points came from the foot of Eric Stranz who booted three converts and a 40-yard field goal.
Josh Shim on a one-yard run and Joey Zorn on an 80-yard run scored the other touchdowns for Windsor while Brady Lidster had three converts and 12- and 43-yard field goals. The Lancers also had a rouge.
The loss leaves the Gryphons tied with the York Lions at 0-2 while the Laurier Golden Hawks are also winless, having dropped their season opener to the Western Mustangs on the weekend.
“We've just got to tighten up,” Sheahan said. “We're a young nucleus and unfortunately these past two losses, there's a lot of lessons. We've got to look at the film with a critical eye and everybody's got to get better from it.”
All the other eight teams have at least one win while Western and the Queen’s Gaels have two. Waterloo also won its season opener Aug. 27 at York.
“We've got to regroup,” Ferigo said. “We've got a short week this week so we've got to regroup, we've got to get back to practising and we've just got to focus on the next game.”
Game time Saturday at Warrior Stadium is 1 p.m.
