The Windsor Lancers football team is 5-0 for the first time since 1975 following Saturday afternoon's 29-5 win over Queen's. "Hopefully that team has a sense of pride now." said head coach J-P Circelli.
Wayne Churchill shared his pride on a Powerplay Sports Facebook post. "Awesome guys! '75 player."
It wasn't a pretty game all around but the home team found a way to win. Brady Lidster hit three field goals to give the Lancers a 9-2 third quarter lead. Tyler Mullan made it 9-5 on a 26-yard attempt with 7:02 remaining in the quarter but that's as close as the Gaels would get.
Linebacker Devin Veresuk pulled down an interception and shook the field rumbling 75-yards to pay dirt to make it 15-5. Minutes later QB Danny Skelton fired a throw to Javonni Cunningham from 8-yards out for the touchdown.
"Coaches just did a great job. Our coaches set us up to play great. To do great." Cunningham said. "Thank God. At the end of the day God put us in this position. God gave us this opportunity. God blessed us with the win today. Great day overall."
The Lancers capped off the third quarter blitz with 1:16 left as Sal Raap-Kopiyka came off the edge and pressured Gaels rookie quarterback Anthony Lio into making an ill-advised pass. Muftah Ageli picked off the ball and gleefully brought it home. "We've been working for this all season man. Every day everyone's been putting in the work. We're a team man." Ageli said.
With the game comfortably in hand Windsor played til the clock ran out. Queen's had the ball inside Windsor's 2-yard line with under a minute to go. "Our defence had really set the tone all day. Getting two defensive scores is big." Circelli said. "You want to get a little bit of confidence as an offence. I know that's what they're trying to do."
The defence took the challenge and kept the Gaels out of the endzone on three straight plays to close out the win in style. "To make that goal line stand it's gonna give us a lot of confidence moving forward." Circelli said.
The Lancers have every right to be a confident group after beating an Ottawa team that finished third in the OUA last season with a 6-2 record. They've also tackled Queen's who went 7-1 a year ago. "Until you actually beat the big teams and kinda make that statement no ones gonna really take you seriously." Circelli said. "5-0 is nice but there's still a lot more to go and there's two really good teams out there that are undefeated that we haven't had a chance to play yet so we still have work to do."
Western (5-0) visits Alumni Field September 30th in a battle of undefeated's starting a 1pm. Windsor then heads to Laurier (5-0) following their bye week.
For more local sports check out our website: Windsor-Essex Sports | Powerplay Sports | (windsoressexsports.com)
Follow us on social media today.