WATERLOO, Ont. – The No. 6-ranked Guelph Gryphons (2-1) will head to Waterloo this weekend (Sept. 14) for a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Waterloo Warriors (2-0). Kickoff at Warrior Field is set for 1pm and can be seen live online at OUA.tv.
The Gryphons enter Week 4 of the season with back-to-back wins under their belt after victories over Carleton and York. The focus now shifts to finding a way to stop Waterloo's star quarterback, Tre Ford, who is now in his third season and has the Warriors off to a 2-0 start.
A season ago, Tre Ford earned OUA MVP honours after a stellar sophomore season that saw him lead the country in passing touchdowns (27) while throwing just 2 interceptions.
2018 OUA MVP Tre Ford
The Niagara Falls native, who threw for 2,822 yards last season (2nd in U SPORTS), is also one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the country, rushing for 641 yards last year.
"Their offence seems to be running on all cylinders. That quarterback (Tre Ford) certainly has a skillset that is worthy of the conference MVP," says Gryphon head coach
Ryan Sheahan. "Anytime you're going to line up against a MVP player, you better come ready. He can make plays with his arm, he can make plays with his feet and he can extend a lot of plays which causes problems. It's going to take a full team effort, both to slow him down when our defence, as well as have our offence sustain drives to keep him off the field."
The Gryphons won both of their head-to-head matchups with Waterloo a season ago, including an
OUA quarter-final playoff matchup at Alumni Stadium.
Complimenting Waterloo's star quarterback is an All-Canadian receiver in Tyler Ternowski. The fourth-year receiver from Hamilton earned U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian honours a season ago after setting an OUA single-season record with 14 touchdown receptions while racking up 1,159 receiving yards, both of which led the country.
On the ground, the Warriors also pose a threat with fourth-year running back Dion Pellerin.
Jason Richards returns a kickoff 96-yards for a TD during Guelph's last visit to Warrior Field in 2017
The Abbostsford, BC native is a physical force in the Waterloo backfield, with the 6-0, 225 lbs back currently leading the OUA in rushing, averaging 156.5 yards per game through Waterloo's first two games of 2019 (wins over Toronto and Windsor).
When it comes to stopping the run, nobody has been better defensively than the Guelph Gryphons. Guelph's new defensive coordinator,
Dennis McPhee, has the Gryphon defence flying around early in 2019. Through three games this season, the Gryphons are limiting opponents to an OUA-best 62.0 yards rushing per game. The Gryphons have also racked up 10 sacks in three games, tying them with Queen's and McMaster for the most sacks in the OUA. Offensively, the Gryphons will be looking to carry over the momentum from the 4th quarter of their Week 3 matchup with York where they exploded for 27 points in the final quarter en route to a 53-19 win. The Gryphons also used a 27-point 4th quarter during their last trip to Warrior Field,
which was in 2017 when the Gryphons rallied late to earn a 53-49 victory.
"I think that our receivers are definitely are coming along and are finding ways to get open," adds Sheahan. "We need to stay stubborn with the system to find ways to spread the ball around. I'm looking for our running game to have more of a presence this week. And our quarterback has the ability to make plays with his feet as well, so this should be an exciting matchup to see (Tre) Ford versus (Theo) Landers to see who can make more plays."
