Guelph Gryphons kicker Gabriel Ferraro tied a record for made field goals in a single season during today’s upset 24-14 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks. Ferraro now shares the record — with his brother Daniel.
Daniel set the U SPORTS record of 26 made field goals when he played for the Gryphons in 2014.
Coming into today’s game against Wilfred Laurier, Gabriel was at 21 for the season, but made 5 field goals in the contest at Alumni Stadium and ended with 17 points in total.
“I started kicking because (Daniel) was a kicker, then over years he has always been my mentor, my idol, someone I look up to. I just always wanted to be as good as him and kick as well as him, so this is an awesome feeling,” said Gabriel immediately after Saturday’s win.
At half time, the Gryphons were up 10-0 over Laurier, with all of those points coming from Ferraro.
In the 3rd Quarter, receiver Jacob Scarfone returned a on a blocked field goal attempt by Laurier for 122 yards and the touchdown.
Scarfone said it was a character win for the team.
“It was nice to finally come up on top of one of those close games,” he said.
Ferrao kicked for the extra point on Scarfone’s run and made two more field goals in the 2nd Half.
Nick Parisotto returned on an interception for 34 yards, and Johnny Augustine rushed for 176 yards for the Gryphons, while defensive back Royce Metchie made a key play, reaching to deflect a Laurier pass to the end zone, preventing a possible touchdown.
Metchie said the theme of the last two weeks was focus.
“Especially coming off that bye week, having those two weeks to prepare, it made it even that much more important. It showed we can take the week off and come back with the same focus,” said Metchie.
The Golden Hawks twice scored on 1 yard runs, but came up short in the end.
The Gryphons have now won their last two games and are 2-1 since first string quarterback James Roberts was injured late in the First Half of the Sept. 23 homecoming game against the McMaster Marauders.
Third year quarterback Theo Landers started in those last two wins, including Saturday’s game against Laurier.
Landers said Saturday’s win was big for the Gryphons, who now sit 4-3 with one more regular season game to go.
The team took advantage of last week’s bye week, said Landers.
“We had a lot of time to prepare and our team capitalized,” he said.
After their loss to the Gryphons, Laurier’s record now stands at 5-2.
The Gryphons were outfitted in black and pink Saturday for the team’s annual Think Pink and Senior Game.
Earlier in the week, players from the team’s offensive line shaved their heads as part of a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness.
With the win, the Gryphons jump to 5th place in the OUA.
The Gryphons play their final game of the regular season next Saturday against the 3-4 Carlton Ravens in Ottawa.
Asked about two missed opportunities during Saturday’s game to overtake his brother’s record, Ferraro said “this is week eight — we have one more game.”
