Heartbreak in Hamilton

HAMILTON -- The Guelph Gryphons started thinking about the future shortly after leaving the Les Prince Field at McMaster's Ron Joyce Stadium moments after the curtain came down on their 2016 OUA football season.
The Gryphons' season came to an end Saturday when a fourth-quarter comeback by the McMaster Marauders resulted in a 17-11 win for the hosts in a quarter-final playoff match. Guelph had led by four going into the final quarter.
The final play of the game saw McMaster intercept Gryphon quarterback James Roberts on the Marauders' goal line.
"We're never satisfied when we come short of our goals for the season," Gryphon interim head coach Kevin MacNeill said. "We've got to look at what we're doing and make sure it's the right stuff."
A decision on MacNeill's future with the team is expected in the next month. If he's back next season, it'll be as the team's head coach.
The loss brought a close to a season that started with the Gryphons talking about going further than their OUA championship Yates Cup win of 2015. It ended with the first-round playoff loss after they squeaked into the playoffs with a 3-5 record after recording four consecutive 7-1 seasons.
"The amount of adversity that these kids overcame this year with coaching changes and just physical changes in terms of our footprint at the stadium changing for the new pavilion, losing a meeting room, a video room, coaches offices," MacNeill said. "The amount of adversity that they went through with injuries and the amount of changes that they've had, I'm extremely impressed with them. That's kind of what I'm thinking right now."
The Gryphons were hit with a series of injuries that sidelined key players during the season. Jacob Scarfone, the leading receiver in the Yates Cup season, and defensive back Orion Edwards went down with season-ending leg injuries during the summer. All-star returner Ryan Nieuwesteeg was hobbled for most of his fifth and final year as he missed five games including all four played in October. Others to miss games included running backs Johnny Augustine and Mack Jones, receivers Kade Belyk, A'dre Fraser and Jordan Terrio and defenders Tristan Doughlin, Royce Metchie, Derek Drouillard, Colin Mandich and Greg Corfield.
"We were playing a lot of young guys that we didn't think would be starters in their first year," MacNeill said. "We're really impressed with the young kids that got a chance to play and there's a real bright future for a lot of guys."
In what would be his final game for the Gryphons, receiver A'dre Fraser hooked up with quarterback James Roberts on a 32-yard pass and run play for Guelph's lone touchdown of the game.
Gabe Ferraro accounted for all other Gryphon points as he kicked a 48-yard field goal, a convert on the touchdown and a rouge on a missed field goal.
While the loss put an end to the playing portion of the Gryphon season, MacNeill said the team will return to the field this week.
"We have a very aggressive recruiting schedule coming up here for the next little bit," MacNeill said. "But we're going to practise. We're going to practise on Tuesday and continue to get better."