Gaiters roll over Lions
The Bishop's Gaiters ran away with their first and only
pre-season game of the year as they defeated the York Lions 35-2 on
Saturday, Aug. 25 on Coulter Field. The Gaiters defended their home
turf by winning the offence, defence and special teams' battles on
the hot Lennoxville day.
The 1 p.m. kickoff time was not evident as both the Gaiters and
Lions struggled early. In the first frame there was very
little offence. Bishop's managed to get a single point on a
missed field goal early in the quarter but that was it for
scoring.
The purple and white got the offence moving as they switched ends
of the field for the second period. A 28 yard Mathieu Paquette
(Magog, QC) field goal was followed shortly after by a Jordan
Heather (Oromocto, N.B.) to David Haddrall (Kingston, ON) 11 yard
touchdown strike. The first big play of the game would happen later
in the frame as the Gaiters starting pivot, Heather connected with
Kevin Wojcik (Orleans, ON) for a 53 yard touchdown. The hosts
would take an 18-0 halftime lead.
Early in the third quarter the Gaiters got their special team
rolling as Ryon McCalla (Brampton, ON) returned a punt 80 yards to
pay dirt. Paquette extend the lead and got redemption from an
earlier miss as he was successful on a 44 yard field goal. The
Lions only points of the game came when the Gaiters conceded a
safety as they were deep in their own territory, making the score
28-2 heading into the final frame.
Rookie kicker Kevin Kitamura (Richmond Hill, ON) boomed a 55 yard
punt early in the fourth quarter. The Lions mishandled it. It
was picked up by the Gaiters Jerome Mercier (Quebec City, QC) and
run 15 yards for the last major of the game. The final
whistle sounded with the Gaiters on top 35-2, giving head coach
Kevin Mackey his first win at the helm.
"There were a lot of positives, some negatives too," said Mackey.
"Our special teams played well, so did the offensive line. We took
too many penalties and do have stuff to work on next week. I
am happy but not satisfied."
The Gaiters will return to finish off training camp as they
prepare to travel to Montreal to face Concordia next weekend.
The game is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1. You can follow the
Gaiters anytime at www.gaiters.ca.
