LIONS DOWNED BY LANCERS IN SEASON FINALE
The York University Lions men's football team closed out its 2011 season with a 40-15 loss to the Windsor Lancers on Saturday (Oct. 22) at York Stadium.
Andrew Collymore (Pickering, Ont.), Dror David (Richmond Hill, Ont.), Tyler de Moel (Merritton, Ont.) and Steve Reading (Fenelon Falls, Ont.), all playing in their final game for the Lions before they graduate this year, were honoured in a pre-game ceremony.
D.J. Frank (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Nick Coutu (St. Catharines, Ont.) split duties at pivot for the Lions. Frank went 6-26 for 82 yards with two interceptions before being replaced late in the game by Coutu, who went 4-10 for 39 yards to close out the game.
Rookie running back Riser Markell (Toronto) rushed for a career-high 100 yards on 24 carries for one touchdown, while Jonelle Tolbert (Mississauga, Ont.) was the Lions' top receiver, picking up 47 yards on four receptions.
On defence, Reading recorded a team-high seven tackles, followed closely by rookie linebacker Nana Nkansah (Toronto) who had an equally impressive game with 5.5 tackles.
Lancers starting quarterback Austin Kennedy (Windsor, Ont.) went 14-18 for 338 yards and four touchdowns on the day before being replaced by rookie Andrew Downer (Toronto), who went 5-8 for 42 yards. Cory Fernandes (Mississauga, Ont.) led all receivers with 128 yards on eight receptions for a single touchdown, and Shomari Grant (Kissimmee, Fla.) led the team in rushing with 32 yards on 12 carries. On defence, Jermaine Simpson (Brampton, Ont.) picked up a team-high four tackles.
The Lancers, led by Kennedy, scored all 40 of their points in the first half. Kennedy entered the game sixth in the CIS with a completion rate of 63.9% an average of 253 passing yards per game, and he was hitting all of his targets early.
On the Lancers' second drive of the game, Kennedy took advantage of a Nathaniel Griffith (Brampton, Ont.) fumble that put the Lancers deep in Lions territory by finding Jordan Brescacin (Tecumseh, Ont.) with a 22-yard touchdown pass on the very next play to put the Lancers up 7-0 early.
On the Lancers' following drive, after the Lions came up with a couple of big stops in the red zone to prevent another Kennedy touchdown, Dan Cerino (Stoney Creek, Ont.) stepped up and hit an 11-yard field goal that put the Lancers up 10-0.
Kennedy wouldn't be denied long, however. Two drives later, after completing a 36-yard pass to Brescacin that put the Lancers on the Lions' two-yard line, Kennedy would tuck the ball away and run it in himself, putting the Lancers up 17-0.
With the clock ticking down on the first quarter, Udoka Nwaesei (Windsor, Ont.) intercepted a deep pass from Frank, putting the ball in Kennedy's hands one more time. Kennedy quickly made the Lions pay, finding Evan Pszczonak (Amherstburg, Ont.) with a 59-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the quarter to put the Lancers up 24-0 at the break.
The Lions were able to pick up their defensive game in the second quarter, but it wasn't enough to keep Kennedy off the board.
After the Lancers recorded a single point on a rouge early in the quarter, Kennedy went back to work, airing out a 49-yard touchdown pass to Fernandes that put the Lancers up 32-0.
A few drives later, Kennedy would find his favourite target, Brescacin, with a second touchdown pass, this time from 20 yards out, to increase the Lancers' lead to 39-0. The Lancers made their lead an even 40 with a second rouge moments later.
The Lions finally found the scoreboard with less than one minute remaining in the half courtesy of a one-yard touchdown run by Markell.
David had a chance to further cut into the Lancers' lead before the end of the quarter, but his 48-yard field goal attempt would come up short of the uprights, sending the Lions into the break down 40-7.
With Kennedy on the bench for the second half, the Lions' defence was able to keep the Lancers off the board for the remainder of the game thanks in large part to the play of Michael Livingston (Toronto) and Patrick Russell (Brampton, Ont.), who both recorded sacks in the half.
The Lions also stepped up on offence in the final half, putting together a series of scoring plays that put a small dent in the Lancers' lead.
First on the board were David and Heneri Dervishi (Toronto), who scored the Lions' only points of the third quarter on a pair of rouges that cut the Lancers' lead to 40-9.
In the fourth quarter, after Reading recovered a fumbled punt return by the Lancers and Markell picked up a 15-yard run that put the Lions deep into Lancers territory, Dervishi split the uprights with a 14-yard field goal to cut the Lancers' lead to 40-12.
David would add a 37-yard field goal of his own less than five minutes later that pulled the Lions to within 25, but that was as close as they would get as the Lancers went on to win the game 40-15.
With the loss, the Lions end the season with a 1-6-0 record and will miss the playoffs. The Lancers, on the other hand, improve to 5-3-0 and will finish fifth in the OUA with 10 points.
By Cody Powell, sport writing assistant
