GUELPH, Ont.- Playing their first OUA regular season game in two years, the Guelph Gryphons looked like they had not missed a single beat Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field. Hosting the Waterloo Warriors on a cool and cloudy day, the Gryphons scored early and often en route to a 74-7 victory over the visiting Warriors.

Leading the attack for the Gryphons on Saturday was Connor McKinney, who tallied three tries in the contest. Meanwhile, both Collin Smibert and Max Goodwin had two tries each themselves.

"It was great just to be back playing meaningful games again," said Gryphon's Head Coach Cory Hector. "While we weren't perfect, we did a lot of good things and we were able to execute a lot of things that we have been working on, and set our standard for heading into next week."

Once the Warriors kicked-off to begin the match, it did not take the Gryphons very long to get on the board. In just the 6^th minute, Smibert carried the ball past the goal line putting Guelph up 5-0. Then in the 13^th minute it was McKinney scoring the first of his three tries to make the score 12-0. From there, the Gryphons began to pull away scoring two more tries just five minutes apart. In the 19^th minute it was Guerschom Mukendi scoring for the Gryphs, before Goodwin passed the goal line in the 24^th.

Just prior to the half-time whistle blowing, the Gryphons added seven more points with a David Scollon try.

In the second-half, Guelph continued to pour on the pressure scoring three tries in the first eight minutes of the half. Scoring in the 42^nd, Goodwin tallied his second try before McKinney found pay dirt twice in three minutes, scoring in the 45^th and 48^th minutes.

After Waterloo scored their lone try of the match in the 53^rd minute, the Gryphons responded with four more of their own as Cameron Hurst (59^'), Shaheer Khawar (63'), Collin Smibert (65') and Kobe Faust (78') rounded out the scoring for the Gryphs. To go along with his late try, Faust also connected on seven converts throughout the match.

With the victory, the Gryphons begin the 2021 OUA season 1-0. They will try to make it two straight wins on October 2^nd, when they play host to the Brock Badgers at 4:00pm from Varsity Field.