University of Toronto Varsity Blues dropped their fourth straight game, this one 35-15 against the visiting University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday night at Varsity Stadium.
Ottawa (2-2) is now riding a 12-game winning streak against Toronto (0-4) dating back to 1975 when the Gee-Gees won 38-16 in the regular season and again in the Yates Cup 14-7.
The two teams did not play against each other for 25 years from 1975 through 2000 when Ottawa was playing in the OQIFC and Toronto in the OUA.
Toronto opened the game’s scoring with a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead. On third down, the Blues faked a punt and third-year player Willie Sharpe sneaked the ball inside the 10 yard line to set up the short-range kick.
Ottawa answered with a 35-yard field goal of their own on the opening play of the second quarter then went up 6-3 thanks to a costly Varsity Blues offside penalty as Matt Falvo potted his second field goal of the game.
With under three minutes remaining in the opening half, Ottawa made it into the red zone on a scramble play by their pivot, Bradley Sinopoli, which eventually led to a Gee-Gee’s touchdown by third-string tailback Matt Todd.
On the following Blues drive, quarterback Andrew Gillis was caught deep in his own zone, reeled back and with no one to throw to, was taken down inside the five-yard line.
The Blues conceded a safety to make it 15-3 with less than two minutes left in the opening half.
There was still time for the Blues to add a late touchdown with only 3.6 seconds remaining in the half to cut it to 15-9 on a pump and pass by Gillis to rookie slotback Paul de Pass.
They went for the extra two, but the pass was broken up on the goal line by the Gee-Gees defence.
Ottawa ran for 104 yards in the first half to complement 46 gained through the air. Toronto posted 50 yards on the ground and 71 on passing plays.
In the third quarter, Ottawa went up 18-9 at 7:54 of the frame courtesy Falvo’s third field goal of the night.
Toronto struggled to get out of its own end on their next drive, resulting in prime field positioning for the Gee-Gees. A long-range passing attempt by Sinopoli just missed its target in the end zone, and Ottawa was forced to settle for another three points.
With Ottawa leading 21-9 heading into the final quarter, the Gee-Gees padded their lead at 13:33 when fourth-year wide receiver Cyril Adjeitey sprinted the length of the Varsity Blues sideline into the endzone.
The rout was on when the Gee-Gees went up 35-9 when Adjeitey scored his second consecutive major on a great individual effort to shed would-be Varsity Blues tacklers at 11:25 of the frame.
U of T’s Ben Sharpe scored an impressive, yet inconsequential 83-yard touchdown with 2:20 left in the fourth to make it 35-15.
University of Toronto head coach Greg DeLaval elected to try for the two-point conversion, but the play was foiled by the Gee-Gees special teams.
Ottawa’s starting pivot Sinopoli went 12-21 for 215 yards on the night to go along with two touchdowns, while the combined efforts of Toronto’s Gillis and Jansen Shrubb notched 281 yards on 18-39 passing, with each throwing one touchdown. Adjeitey led all receivers in the game with 162 total receiving yards.
NOTES: Last year, the Gee-Gees defeated the Blues 39-30 in the final regular season game of the schedule at Frank Clair Stadium … Denis Piché, Ottawa’s head coach, now has a perfect 7-0 record against Toronto after Friday’s match-up … Piché picked up OUA win No. 40 Friday … The attendance was 1,288 at Varsity Stadium.