The fifth ranked U SPORTS nationally ranked Windsor Lancer football team traveled up to Guelph on Saturday to take on the number ten nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons on a beautiful Saturday afternoon for football up in the Royal City.
 
The Gryphons managed to edge out the visiting Lancers 45-40 and served the Lancers with their first loss of the season making the Lancers record 5-1 on the season while Guelph improved to 5-2 after narrowly besting the blue and gold with a hard-fought defensive effort down the stretch to close out on top with a victory on what was Guelph's Seniors Day. 
 
STATS
Nick Dimovski recorded a touchdown and had a C-A passing stat line of 12-15 on 140 yards while also delivering 3 rushing attempts on 43 yards. 
 
Brady Lidster went 1 for 2 on field goals and recorded 6 points on his kicks on the day.
 
Shane Johnson, Matteo Trifon, Brett Bjorgan, and Corson Roy all scored touchdowns for the Lancers in the heartbreaking loss to the Gryphons.
 
GAME FLOW
The Gryphons struck first on the scoreboard an took an early 3-0 lead from Benjamin Lane's 12-yard field goal which was made with 12:54 remaining in the opening quarter. 
 
Guelph later scored their first touchdown of the game from the Gryphons' Donavin Milloy 14-yard run with 8:17 left in the first to make it a 10-0 lead up on the Lancers and the point after the touchdown was good. 
 
The Lancers then put together an October surprise play on the Gryphons with an onside kick that the blue and gold's Shane Johnson was able to recover and take all the way back on a breakaway play for six points off a 61-yard kickoff return Lidster and managed to score through the uprights on the PAT to make it a 10-7 game with 8:11 remaining in the first. 
 
 
Later in the first quarter, Guelph recorded another touchdown play from Willem Arseneau and follow up kick through the uprights from Lane to make it a 17-7 advantage for the Gryphons and a team safety occurred at the 14:58 mark to round out the first quarter with Guelph ahead 19-7.
 
The second quarter saw the Gryphons' Windsor native Kaine Stevenson strike on the scoresheet with a received 28-yard pass from Tristan Aboud scoring a touchdown against his hometown team to put Guelph up 26-7 with 11:45 left to play in the first half.
 
Benjamin Lane would score a 19-yard field goal for Guelph to put the Gryphons up further at 29-7 with 5:36 remaining in the first half.  Matteo Trifon then responded for the blue and gold with a 5-yard run pass from Nick Dimovski which was followed up by another good Lidster kick to make it 29-14 Gryphons.
 
Dimovski would strike again on a 1-yard run less than a minute later which also saw Lidster score through the uprights again with his boot to make it a score of 29-21 and making it a single digit deficit once more for the Lancers.
 
Before the half expired Lane struck again for Guelph with 22 seconds remaining in the second quarter and first half converting on an 18-yard field goal to make the score freeze at 32-21 Gryphons going into half time.
 
Brady Lidster would score at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter to open the second half scoring with his 13-yard field goal to inch the Lancers closer back with a score of 32-24 trailing the Gryphons.
 
Aboud would score on a 7-yard run and Lane would kick through the uprights to make it 39-24 lead for Guelph which would stay intact to round out the third quarter of play.
 
Lane added three more for the Gryphons on his 48-yard field goal to start of the fourth quarter extending their lead with a 42-24 commanding score.
 
The blue and gold would shrink the deficit once more when Brett Bjorgan scored on a 29-yard run and the Lancers were able to cash in on a 2-point conversion pass by Jaylen Miller which was good making the score 42-32 in favour of the hosts.
 
Windsor then scored on a team safety to bring themselves back into the contest within single digits with a 42-34 score. 
 
Lane would score the game winning run on a 9-yard field goal with 2:12 remaining in the game to make the score 45-34 Guelph before Windsor would attempt to respond and overcome the deficit for a final time with their 1-yard run from Corson Roy on another 2-point conversion play attempt that ultimately failed and with that the Lancers came up short on the comeback with the final being locked in at 45-40 in favour of the Gryphons.
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will return home to prepare for a marquee matchup against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday October 11th at Alumni Stadium for a 7:00pm slated start time.  Lancer Football fans can purchase their tickets in advance here at goLancers.ca/tickets or alternatively at the Alumni Stadium box office gate on game day.
 
Football fans can also tune into OUA.Tv all season long to stream the game if you cannot make it out to Alumni Stadium for the contest.