TORONTO — University of Windsor’s junior quarterback Austin Kennedy completed 14-of-21 passes for 300 yards and two scores in a 55-4 thumping of the University of Toronto on Saturday afternoon.
Windsor (2-1) slotback Jordan Brescacin, the league leader in touchdown receptions (with four after Saturday’s game), was responsible for one major on 89 yards, while running back Mitch Dender ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Toronto (1-2) quarterback Richard Quittenton went 6-for-21 with 115 yards passing, and 89 yards on the ground with three interceptions, while Ashton Nelson ran for 110 yards on 21 carries.
“As a team we just have to execute,” said a noticeably disappointed Quittenton. “There were plays where I just missed wide open receivers, and there were plays where guys were put in spots to make plays and they couldn’t.
“I did not put the ball in the right place, I got to make it easier on the receivers. I can’t rely on them to make impossible plays for me.
The Blues defence struggled with Windsor’s up-tempo offence as the Lancer O-line dominated proceedings in the brilliant sunshine covering St. George campus in downtown Toronto.
“I think right now we’re not behaving like a competitive football team,” said Blues head coach Greg Gary, on the field after the game. “We’re not flying around, we’re not hitting people properly.
“Right now teams feel pretty comfortable playing against us … we haven’t taken anyone out of their comfort zone the past two weeks and they are running anything they want against us.”
Both teams were coming off Week 2 road defeats, Toronto losing at Western, and Windsor falling to Guelph, but it was the visitors that came out firing.
The Lancers opened the scoring at the 5:58 mark with a three-yard rush by running back Mitch Dender. Kennedy inherited the ball at the Toronto 15-yard line after Matt McGarva had intercepted his counterpart, and Windsor made no mistake running the ball on the short field.
Toronto then responded on the next drive with a 26-yard field goal from Andrew Lomasney, and it looked like the game might be a tightly-contested affair.
Then with a minute left in the first quarter, Brescacin found himself open on a fly route and Kennedy hit him with ease, putting Windsor up 14-3 after the opening 15 minutes.
And that is when the floodgates opened.
It took only two minutes into the second period for Kennedy to find slot back Evan Pszczonak on an 18-yard post pattern into the end-zone.
Windsor then quickly added another three points on a 19-yard Dan Cerino field goal after the Blues had turned the ball over on downs in their own territory, pushing the score to 24-3.
Lomasney gave Toronto another point on a missed 30-yard field goal after Spenser Stewart picked off Kennedy, but the Lancers responded with a one-yard touchdown rush by Gilbert Stewart just over two minutes later to make it 31-4 at half time.
Stewart got another major with 3:11 to go in the third quarter when he ran nine yards off right tackle.
Linebacker Marcus St. Aubin rubbed a little bit more salt in the wound a minute later with a pick six, returning Quittenton’s interception 20 yards to make it 45-4 Windsor.
The Lancers sophomore backup Andrew Downer, a Toronto-native, came in for Kennedy for the last drive of the third period and the rest of the game.
Windsor added a 32-yard field goal from Cerino, and another touchdown from Dender in the fourth quarter to cement the blowout victory.
“They were able to run the ball,” said Coach Gary. “We got to get better at handling teams that run the ball on us and that is going to be [the scouting report] on us for a little while until we start stopping people.”
Notes: Attendance was 1,512 … it was the annual University of Toronto Shriner’s Game … Toronto has not defeated Windsor since 2001 (nine straight Lancer victories)