Queen's Golden Gaels Football

Comeback Kids do it again; Gaels rally for second straight victory

Claude Scilley Sports - Monday, September 10, 2007

It might be exciting for fans and euphoric for players, but the pattern the Queen's Golden Gaels have established early this year for winning football games is not endearing for coach Pat Sheahan.

"That won't be a formula for success, waiting until midway through the third quarter to come alive," Sheahan said yesterday, after his team did just that in a 26-14 Ontario University Athletics victory over the visiting Guelph Gryphons.

A crowd of 4,622 braved chilly, sometimes rainy conditions to watch the Gaels improve their early-season record to 2-0.

"We're going to have to make more plays in the first half because those big explosion plays late in the second half are not always going to be there."

For the second week in a row, the Queen's offence in the first half looked like it was making it up as it went along. While the Tricolour defence prevented Guelph from making a single first down in the opening period - indeed, didn't allow the Gryphons to cross midfield until the game's 25th minute - the Queen's offence could manage just a 20-yard field goal from Dan Village.

"We hung out defence out a little bit in that respect," Queen's quarterback Danny Brannagan said.

It was hugely problematic, then, when Guelph scored in the final minute of the first half. It became even more worrisome to the Gaels when, after they elected to kick off to start the second half, Guelph made the decision backfire by marching 80 yards for another touchdown and a 14-5 lead.

"All of a sudden we look up on the scoreboard and see that we're actually losing a game we felt we should be winning," Brannagan said.

"That kicked it in for us, set off a spark. We knew we had to answer back."

On the very next play, Brannagan found Devan Sheahan for a 79-yard touchdown pass. By all accounts, it was a pivotal play in the ball game.

"You felt the momentum shift and we never got it back," said Guelph coach Kyle Walters. "At 14-5, we could have made a defensive stand, had good field position and we could have gone for the jugular but it never happened.

"A young team has more ups and downs than a veteran group. We were so high after going up 14-5 and immediately you get punched in the stomach. It's tough to get it back."

Brannagan didn't necessarily intend to throw the bomb on the play in question.

"There are a lot of options, depending on what the defence does," the quarterback explained. "The safety had cheated over and left Devan deep down the seam.

"It was pretty big. Whenever you have a big play like that it shows this is what we can do on any play. It lets everyone know our offence is capable of such plays. It's reaffirming."

Sheahan said the big play by his son was timely.

"Our emotional ebb couldn't have taken too much more adversity at that point," said the coach.

"What it did was re-establish our intensity. I sensed we came alive a little bit there. Everybody got ignited on that. A big explosion play like that gets everybody's blood boiling a little bit."

Guelph didn't have another first down until after Queen's had scored two more touchdowns, one by Mike Giffin before the third quarter ended and the other by Rob Bagg, on a pass from Brannagan, midway through the fourth quarter.

Pat Sheahan said his players are learning to deal with adversity.

"I suspect with this group every week we'll have a new problem to deal with. We got a few chances to score in the second half and we made the most of them. To score 21 [points] in a row was good for us. We took charge."

Sheahan said his players should not get accustomed to pulling games out at their leisure.

"Our playmakers played when they had to today but that won't be enough as we go forward. We have to work harder and we have to work smarter."