With a sold-out crowd headlined by President and Vice-Chancellor J.J. McMurtry, the University of Windsor Lancer football team upset the Laurier Golden Hawks 48-37 in their home opener as part of the highly celebrated Welcome Week festivities.
GAME FLOW
Highlighted by a 16-7 lead, the Lancers took charge early, scoring a safety, a sack from academic All-Canadian
Braxton Johnson, and an untouched, 82-yard rushing touchdown from Toronto Argonauts (CFL) draft pick
Weagbe Mombo – who Laurier had no answers for.
The Golden Hawks, meanwhile, changed the game on a dime within a 28-second stretch in the final minute before halftime as Tayshun Jackson, a Windsor native, and Ryan Hughes eventually scored off a field goal return and an interception.
Colby Ginn added his second touchdown of the season before the barrage, however, to minimize the damage at 21-16 Laurier.
The third quarter was even more of an adversity test as the game turned into a physical battle; however, on top of a safety and a two-point conversion for Windsor,
Matteo Trifon and Jace Atkinson traded touchdown scores within the frame, giving Laurier just a one-point lead before the final frame.
Faculty of Human Kinetics graduate student
Weagbe Mombo, Odette School of Business major
Tyson Noel Charles, and fellow Kinesiology undergrad student
Brendan Talbot solidified the win for Windsor in the fourth quarter with three rushing touchdowns, giving the Lancers an astounding four scores on the ground on the night. Atkinson added his second receiving score with two seconds remaining for the Golden Hawks, though, which made this a nine-point difference. The fourth quarter alone generated nearly 40% of all points scored in the contest.
STATS
Following a gut-wrenching 31-26 loss in Week 1 at McMaster, the blue and gold have beaten the reigning OUA finalists at home for the first time in exactly 12 years; furthermore, this is the first time Laurier has lost a conference regular season game since October 21, 2023 at Western.
Windsor's rushing attack was their bread and butter offensively, as three of their rushing plays accounted for as many scores and 227 yards. Receiver-turned-quarterback
Kareame Cotton started under centre again for Windsor, posting 21/33 completions, 267 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. For the first time since September 28, 2024, a 52-5 bloodbath versus the University of Toronto, the Lancers have scored more than 45 points in a game.
The Lancer defence – led by
Braxton Johnson,
Ahmad Taylor,
Dylan Simpson, and
Melyk George – had their bright spots tonight, contributing two sacks, six tackles for loss, and one interception.
UP NEXT
The Lancers are gearing up to play their forever Highway 401 rivals, the Western Mustangs, on Saturday, September 13 at Alumni Stadium before heading to Waterloo to face the Warrior Field on Saturday, September 19. Both games will begin at 1:00 pm EST.
Tickets are available for purchase at
golancers.ca/tickets, or you can watch online via
oua.tv.
