When the Guelph Gryphons’ season came to an end Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium so, too, did the OUA football career of centre Ben Petrie, the longest-serving member of the team.
“I've been thinking about it for a while,” Petrie said of the end of his playing time with the team. “This year kind of put it into perspective when I decided to come back for one more, one last ride at it. Give it all we got every week and that's what I did. I can sleep easy knowing that.”
The Gryphons were defeated 35-24 by the 10th-ranked Carleton Ravens to finish at 1-7 on the season. The team that started the campaign ninth in the first national rankings of the season two months ago didn’t qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and were held to a single victory for the first time since 1995.
“I thought, despite the record, we had one of the best O-line units around,” Petrie said. “The record doesn't reflect that, but I think we definitely had a great unit there.”
An offensive lineman throughout his time with the Gryphons, the 6-foot-4, 309-pound Waterloo native graduated with a criminal justice degree at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, but returned to take a minimum of courses this fall in order to use up his fifth and final year of eligibility. His time with the Gryphons lasted seven years as he didn’t play in his first season and the 2020 season lost to the global pandemic didn’t count on anyone’s eligibility.
While Mike MacDonald was the offensive line coach for most of Petrie’s time with the Gryphons, this season it was OUA coaching legend Pat Sheahan who was in that position after MacDonald’s retirement.
“Both were excellent coaches and kudos to them. I wouldn't be anywhere near the player I am today,” Petrie said. “Both are very knowledgeable coaches -- loving when you need them to be and hard when they had to as well. They got us going.”
Like most graduating players, Petrie found his time with the Gryphons flew by quicker than he thought it would. Of course, that was something the graduating Gryphons said during his first season, a statement from the veterans that most rookies don’t believe.
“They were 100 percent right,” Petrie said. “I remember it was sometime in second or third year and I kind of stepped back and though 'this is going by quick.' It seems like my fifth year of playing, this year, flew by. It feels like we were in preseason a week ago and now we're done and it sucks, but it does fly by.”
The biggest memory Petrie will take with him is the feeling of belonging to the Gryphon family.
“Just all the people that I met,” he said. “I was thinking about it as I fell asleep last night, all the guys from first year from the guys I looked up to and then now that I've been here six, seven years, guys look up to me. It kind of put it into perspective. We're building something. We've got a young team, but helping the young guys and just being able to be out here with my buddies. Every day it's a pleasure to walk through those doors and it's going to hurt not being able to come through, but there are lasting friendships for sure.”
As for his future, Petrie hopes to continue playing his favourite sport.
“(I’ll) train and hope to get a shot at the next level as a free agent,” he said. “I'll make a highlight tape and hopefully someone likes it and I'll get a shot at camp and then if not, on to the working world.”
While Petrie was the lone Gryphon in his fifth year of eligibility, several were in their fifth year of schooling and might not return next year although they do have eligibility remaining. They include receiver Jake Bennett, offensive linemen Connor Burke, Spencer Masterson and Parker Walsh, defensive back and long snapper who missed most of the season due to injury Simon Chaves, linebackers Brandon Ferigo and Franck Kemayou, fullback Anthony Hall and running backs Juwan Jeffrey, Kwame Osei and Richard Morris, and punter/kicker Eric Stranz.
Saturday, a Gryphon field goal was the only scoring of the first quarter before Carleton came back to lead 18-11 at halftime and 32-14 after the third quarter.
Zachary Powell on a three-yard scoring pass from quarterback Jake Helfrich with four seconds to go in the first half and Osei on a three-yard run with eight seconds to go in the game accounted for the touchdowns for the Gryphons.
Osei’s touchdown meant that one of Petrie’s last plays as a Gryphon was a snap and blocking assignments on a major score.
“Even when we went into the fourth quarter, we said that it didn't matter what it said up there (on the scoreboard), let's finish strong so for sure it felt good,” he said. “It was a tough year for sure, but I think scoring at the end is good. It's something to look forward to for next year -- end on a high note.”
Vyshonne Janusas caught a two-point convert pass and Stranz kicked a convert and field goals of 20, 48 and 24 yards to round out the scoring for the Gryphons.
The hosts had 26 first downs, five more than Carleton, and 416 yards of total offence while Carleton had 363.
Penalties were also down with the Gryphons being called for six for a loss of 40 yards.
Helfrich completed 15 of 33 pass attempts for 157 yards and a touchdown while Tommy Yanchuk completed nine of 12 for 135 yards. Both were sacked once.
Tomas Berrio had 11 carries for 56 yards and Osei had 13 carries for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Janusas caught five passes for 82 yards, Jeffrey caught five for 77 yards and Powell caught seven for 57 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Ferigo and Yunus Larry both had three solo tackles and five assisted tackles.
As far as the final standings, the game meant little as Carleton had already clinched a playoff berth and the Gryphons were out of the postseason reckoning. The Ravens finished at 5-3.
