September 24, 2016

First touchdown at new Richardson Stadium scored by Kingston born Dodwell in Gaels win

Kingston, Ont. (September 24, 2016) – The Gaels (1-3) earned their first win of the season on Think Pink Saturday in the revitalized Richardson stadium, beating long-time rivals Toronto (1-4) 20-5.

Toronto

1-4

Queen's

1-3

Final	1	2	3	4	T
Toronto (1-4)	5	0	0	0	5
Queen's (1-3)	0	10	0	10	20

Kingston, Ont. (September 24, 2016) – The Gaels (1-3) earned their first win of the season on Think Pink Saturday in the revitalized Richardson stadium, beating long-time rivals Toronto (1-4) 20-5.

This Saturday was "Think Pink" day in support of breast cancer awareness. Breast cancer affects millions of people and together we can make a future without breast cancer possible. Fans are encouraged to help varsity athletes and men's rugby reach their fundraising goals by donating online to the Varsity Athlete CIBC Run For The Cure page or the Men's rugby page.

In a battle of brothers, with Nate Hobbs (Mississauga, Ont.) starting at quarterback for Queen's and Marcus Hobbs doing the same for Toronto, the tricolour pivot had a better day on the field.

GAME FLOW
After going down 5-0 in the first quarter, Queen's scored 20 unanswered points to claim their first victory in the new Richardson Stadium. The Gaels conceded a safety and Toronto kicker Ethan Shafer converted from 39 yards out to give the Varsity Blues the lead heading into the second quarter.

In the second frame, Queen's engineered a 76 yard drive, which culminated in the first Oil Thigh ringing around the new stadium. Nate completed two passes each to Chris Osei-Kusi (Brampton, Ont.) and Rudy Uhl (North Vancouver) on the six play drive before Kingston, Ont., native Eric Dodwell pushed the pile across the line to score. A successful conversion by Nick Liberatore (Dartmouth, N.S.) gave Queen's the 7-5 lead, and the tricolour never looked back.

Heading into halftime, Toronto moved the ball 62 yards in a minute to set up a field goal with 45 seconds on the clock. The Gaels faithful fans did their part to get inside Shafer's head—the ball sailed wide right on Toronto's 34 yard field goal attempt. Osei-Kusi returned the missed kick from deep in the endzone to the Queen's 29 yard line, before the Gaels started marching the field again. Nate scampered for consecutive first downs, and threw for two more first downs as the tricolour looked to increase the lead before the break. With one second on the clock, the leg of Liberatore was called upon to hit a 34 yarder, which he pounded through the uprights for a 10-5 Gaels lead.

After a scoreless third, Queen's started the final frame with a bang. Nate found a streaking Osei-Kusi with a 64 yard pass to set the Gaels up in the redzone. A completion to Jonah Pataki (Wallaceburg, Ont.) put Queen's in a first and goal situation from the six yard line, and Nate made no mistake from there, finding Peter Hannon (Toronto) open in the endzone on the next play. Liberatore hit the conversion and a 44 yard field goal to round out the scoring, giving Queen's a 20-5 victory in the revitalized Richardson Stadium.

Nate bested his brother across the board, throwing for 351 yards, one touchdown, and only one interception, plus rushing for 37 yards. Marcus had 35 yards on the ground, and his 19 completions totalled 219 yards with Wesley Mann (Almonte, Ont.) making one interception against the Toronto pivot. While Marcus was the leading rusher for the Varsity Blues, Pataki was only two yards shy of Toronto's rushing total, finishing the day with 105 on the ground. Osei-Kusi's 64 yard catch to start the fourth helped him to a game-high 153 yards receiving.

Defensively, Nicholas Fraser-Green (Mississauga, Ont.) had six solo tackles for the highest total in the Gaels lineup. Fraser-Green also handled the bulk of the returning duties for Queen's running back nine punt returns for a total of 66 yards.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 – Queen's picked up their first win in the revitalized Richardson Stadium
37 – Native of Kingston, Ont., #37 Eric Dodwell scored the first touchdown on the new field
64 – Osei-Kusi set a career high with his 64 yard reception
130 – Scorekeepers Len Coyle, Wayne Burns, and Bubs Van Hooser honoured at the coin toss for their combined 130 years of service to Queen's football

FINAL SAY
"I'm wearing pink today in honour of my sister, who is a breast cancer survivor with five good years of health. Thank you to those of you that support the cause. Our defence held them off the scoreboard in a big way and enabled us to get back in the ball game." – Head coach Pat Sheahan

UP NEXT
Queen's is back on the road next weekend, when they travel to Waterloo to play the winless Warriors.