The Windsor Lancers returned to the friendly confines of Alumni Field looking for their first win of the season against the visiting Guelph Gryphons. Despite playing with a backup QB and a rough first half, the Lancers battled hard, coming up just short in their comeback bid, 26-20.
 
GAME STATS
In his debut, rookie quarterback Colby Henkel threw for a respectable 200 yards and a touchdown on 19 of 28 passing. Guelph's Theo Landers went 9 for 13 for 145 yards and a touchdown.
 
Landers was the most productive rushers as well racking up 164 yards on the ground on just 11 carries. The Lancers were paced by their QB as well as Henkel racked up 51 yards on 10 carries.
 
Defensively, Luke Korol was a monster for the Gryphons recording 14 solo tackles and two sacks for seven yards. Andrew Beatty led the way on defense for the Lancers with seven tackles.
 
GAME FLOW
The Lancers had their work cut out for them with Sam Girard our for the game with a hairline fracture in his non-throwing hand, however, Windsor went into the game confident Henkel could handle the game plan as usual. The Lancers defense came out firing, keeping the Guelph offense at bay for the most part.
 
Unfortunately with the Lancers trailing 5-3, Theo Landers ran 90 yards to set up Guelph's first major when Alain Cimankinda pushed his way into the endzone. Later Kade Belyk took a short pass all the way to the house with the help of some poor tackling. At halftime the Lancers trailed 20-3.
 
In the second half, the Blue & Gold came out much stronger, and after a Guelph field goal, got their first major of the day when Henkel rushed in on a one yard QB sneak. Following another Guelph field goal, Henkel found the endzone again with a 28 yard strike to Tristan Carter to pull the game to 26-20.
 
Unfortunately for the Lancers, they could muster no more offense and ultimately fell to the Gryphons, 26-20.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers head into their bye week, and will host the Toronto Varsity Blues for Alumni Weekend on Saturday September 29th. Kick-off is set for 1:02pm and tickets are available online at www.goLancers.ca/tickets.