The No. 9 Windsor Lancer football team continued their red-hot early season play by extending their winning streak to 4-0 to remain undefeated on the 2023 campaign thus far with an impressive 42-31 win over the No. 10 Ottawa Gee-Gees in the nation's capital on Saturday.
 
In addition to the recent national rankings release, there were a lot of eyes on this contest from both sides having been the follow up and rematch of the Lancers and Gee-Gees 2022 OUA playoffs quarter-final head-to-head thriller which ended with a 43-40 heartbreaking loss result for the blue and gold to be eliminated in Ottawa last October.
 
With Saturday's win, the Lancers not only managed to avenge their upsetting season ending loss but also ensure that they moved atop the OUA standings with an outstanding team effort throughout propelling them to victory at TD Place.
 
STATS
Quarterback Danny Skelton finished with 24-32, 286 yards and two touchdowns and one rush touchdown to help lead his team to victory. 
 
While wide receiver Shane Johnson had 6 catches for 95 yards and 1 touchdown.
 
Javonni Cunningham also shined amongst the stars of the match with 7 catches of his own for 72 yards.
 
Other notable contributions came from Nik Reyes who recorded a touchdown and kicker Brady Lidster who had four field goals and 4XP. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite the Lancers dominance throughout the first half, they opened the contest trailing to the Gee-Gees who were able to score a touchdown off a 16-yard rush at 8:19 of the first quarter and convert on the immediate follow up kick to open the scoring at 7-0.
 
The Ottawa lead held true for a little over three minutes at 5:23 in the first quarter before the Lancers responded with the equalizing play Skelton completed a pass to Johnson for 34 yards and scored the touchdown which was then followed up by Lidster's first solid kick attempt to knot things up at 7-7
 
Lidster later would cash in on another field goal attempt in the second quarter to put the Lancers out in front up 10-7 at 13:09 on the clock with a successful 35-yard field goal.
 
A few minutes later the Lancers found a way to further boost their lead when running back Christopher John scored on a 1 yard run which Lidster followed up with another good kick to give the Lancers a double-digit lead at 17-7.  A team safety a minute later gave the Lancers an additional two points to go up 19-7.
 
Later in the quarter Reyes was able to take advantage of a 17-yard pass from Skelton in which Lidster again made good on the kick to once more allow the Lancers to hold a firm lead up 26-7 at the 3:57 mark of the second quarter.
 
A minute later Lidster again kept up his presence on the stat sheet with a 32-yard field goal to make the Lancer lead 29-7 on the Gee-Gees.
 
Before the second quarter and first half expired Ottawa was able to generate some offence to counter the strong Lancer attack which saw a 44-yard field goal scored with 57 seconds remaining to shrink their deficit to the Lancers down to a score of 29-10.
 
Lidster would close out the quarter and half with seconds left with a 31-yard field goal which allowed the Lancers to stay well ahead going into the halftime hiatus up 32-10.
 
In the third quarter, Lidster went back to work in the second half at 9:40 with a 36-yard field goal to put the Lancers up 35-10.
 
When it looked like the Lancers push would be enough to prevail, the Gee-Gees came out harder to defend their home turf.  Wanting to hack away at the Lancer lead, they were able to overcome a sizeable deficit in the fourth quarter.
 
Ottawa shrunk it down to a more balanced tilt down the stretch which kept them in range of close contention coming as close as 35-31 after a series of strong field goal plays which shook the Lancers defence up.
 
Nick Dimovski would put the icing on the cake for the blue and gold though at the 4:27 mark of Q4 when he scored off a 1-yard run, and Lidster drilled the kick through the iron posts to seal the deal for the visitors with a 42-31 win over the hosts and claim victory in Ottawa for the first time in 11 months.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will be back in action again to defend their pride and home field on Saturday September 23rd when they host the Queen's Gaels from Alumni Field at 4:00pm. Fans can purchase their tickets in advance here at golancers.ca or at the gate as well as alternatively stream the game's live broadcast presented on OUA.tv.