The Lancer Football team earned their second straight victory to open the season with a dramatic 41-40 win over the No. 8 Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday night in Waterloo.
Lancer quarterback
Austin Kennedy was electric and virtually unstoppable, finishing 25 of 37 passing for 443 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also added 112 rushing yards in the victory.
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On Saturday night, the Golden Hawks built an early 7-0 lead at University Stadium as Laurier's Dillon Heap caught a 30-yard pass from quarterback Shane Kelly to give Laurier the opening 7-0 lead.
The lead would increase to 9-0 as the Lancers would concede a safety just over a minute later to the Hawks.
In the second quarter, it was Laurier's Anton Bennett who caught a nine yard pass from Kelly to give the Hawks the double-digit lead.
Trailing 16-0, the Lancers would strike back late in the first half as
Austin Kennedy connected on a 21-yard pass to receiver
Cory Fernandes. The Lancers trailed the Hawks 16-8 at the break.
Kennedy had come in to replace veteran Lancer quarterback
Sam Malian who left the game with an injured arm after being brought down awkwardly from behind.
The second half was a different story for both teams as the game quickly turned into a shootout with both squads connecting for scores.
The Lancers opened the third quarter with another major, as Kennedy found
Cory Fernandes again for a touchdown to make the score 16-15.
After Laurier scored on an 18-yard run to make it 26-15 for the Hawks, Kennedy would connect with wide receiver
Evan Pszczonak who reached the end zone to cut into the Hawks' lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, Laurier's punt returner would run it back 92 yards for the kick-return touchdown to once again increase the Hawks' lead 33-22.
To start the fourth quarter,
Austin Kennedy continued his incredible play as he found
Evan Pszczonak for another Windsor touchdown to make it 33-28.
After a
Dan Cerino field goal made it 33-31, Laurier would then take a knee as their offence was trapped deep in their own end. That made the score 33-33 in the fourth quarter.
With just two minutes remaining in the game, Hawks quarterback Shane Kelly hit Mark Surya with a pass in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to give the home team the 40-33 lead.
However, the Lancers would not back down, as
Austin Kennedy marched his team down the field again and found
Cory Fernandes with a 16-yard pass to tie the game at 40-40.
In the final minute of the game, after the Lancers held the Golden Hawks to a punt, Kennedy would scamper 40 yards to bring Windsor into scoring range with only seconds remaining.
With one second remaining and the score deadlocked at 40-40, the Lancers went for the rouge and the win. Lancer kicker
Dan Cerino booted it to the back of the end zone to Laurier's Dillon Heap who caught it, and tried to kick it back out of bounds to prevent the point. However, it wound up right back in the hands of Cerino who would kick it again through the end zone for the single point and the thrilling 41-40 win.
In the victory,
Austin Kennedy finished 25 of 37 for 453 yards and five touchdowns as well as 112 yards rushing.
Through the air, the Lancers dynamic receiving duo of
Jordan Brescacin and
Cory Fernandes were spectacular in the win. Brescacin led the Lancers with 193 receiving yards and two touchdowns, while
Cory Fernandes had two touchdowns of his own on 136 yards receiving.
Evan Pszczonak also hauled in 6 catches for 86 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively,
Matt McGarva and
Brad Adams each contributed 6 solo tackles, while Akeen Whonder had 5 solos and one assisted tackle.
The Lancers will return home next week as they host the No. 3 ranked McMaster Marauders in their first game of the season under the lights. Kick-off is set for 7:00pm on September 17th at Alumni Field.
(Photos courtesy of: Adam Gagnon)
