Skip To Main Content

Laurier Athletics - Waterloo Campus

Tanner Nelmes sheds an Ottawa tackler during Homecoming.
Hailey Tripodi
20
Ottawa OTT 2-4 , 2-4
32
Winner Laurier WLU 5-0 , 5-0
Ottawa OTT
2-4 , 2-4
20
Final
32
Laurier WLU
5-0 , 5-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
OTT Ottawa 10 3 0 7 20
WLU Laurier 9 7 7 9 32

Game Recap: Football | | Natasha Giannantonio

#1-ranked Golden Hawks celebrate Homecoming in style with win over Ottawa

WATERLOO, Ont. – Knight-Newbrough Field was flooded in a sea of purple and gold as over 4,000 attendees cheered on the #1-ranked Golden Hawks to victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Homecoming with a 32-20 win, moving Laurier to 5-0 on the season. 

The Gee-Gees struck first on their opening drive as Charles Asselin, the former leader of the OUA in rushing yards per game, crashed one yard into the end zone, putting the visitors up 7-0. 

However, like Golden Hawk fans are accustomed to seeing this season, the Hawks evened the score on their first drive of the game, cutting the Gee-Gees celebrations short. 

The dynamic duo of Taylor Elgersma and Ethan Jordan went to work combining for 30 yards on the play. Elgersma faked the hand-off to Tanner Nelmes, leaving Jordan unmarked and a six-yard pass was enough to secure six points while Dawson Hodge collected the extra point. 
 
Hodge's 69-yard kickoff put the Gee-Gees in a tough spot, paired with a ten-yard penalty, that forced Ottawa to concede a safety.

The Golden Hawks took the lead 9-7. Ottawa's Kevin Victome ended Laurier's next possession, intercepting Elgersma's pass and returning it 30 yards to the Laurier 29.

Johari Hastings and the Laurier defence kept the Gee-Gees at bay, breaking up Josh Janssen's pass to make the Gee-Gees settle for a 19-yard field goal with 57 seconds left on the clock.

The lead changed again to put Ottawa up front 10-9. After the Golden Hawks could not make anything of their drive to start the second quarter, Hodge's side-spinning punt tricked Denny Ferdinand who fumbled the ball and second-year receiver Kojo Kodua came up with the recovery.
However, Ferdinand redeemed himself by picking off Elgersma, Elgersma's second intercepted pass on the day. The Laurier defence once again bailed out their pivot, coming up with a huge stop to keep the Golden Hawks down by one. 

With 6:52 remaining in the second quarter and the ball in Ottawa's possession, the Gee-Gees quickly gained ground. Two of Janssen's passes added up to 82 yards, eventually getting the Gee-Gees to the Laurier 2-yard line. But at third and goal, Ottawa elected to take a nine-yard field goal, increasing their lead to 13-9. 

It took the Golden Hawks inside of two minutes remaining in the quarter to retake the lead. Elgersma found Jace Atkinson 30 yards out with an absolute dime of a pass over the middle to move the sticks for first down Laurier. 
 
In the end, it was the power pair of Elgersma and Jordan who secured the second major of the game for the Golden Hawks. Jordan escaped the Ottawa coverage deep in the end zone and only had to cradle the ball into his arms for the score. 
 
Going into halftime the Hawks lead 16-13. 

Something that has troubled the Gee-Gees so far this year is their inconsistency in scoring. The scoreless third quarter against the high-flying Hawks did them no favours, marking the eighth quarter that Ottawa has been shut out this season. 

A name that somehow slips through the cracks despite his dominance on the field is fifth-year running back Tanner Nelmes. And did he ever have himself a day.

To get the Laurier drive started at 8:59 in the third quarter, Nelmes and the offensive line led by big staples like Lambert Pomerleau and Josh Rietveld kept pushing 14 yards for the first down, crossing midfield into Ottawa territory. 
 
Nelmes combined for 20 yards on the ground and 17 receiving yards before arriving at the Ottawa one-yard line.

Khalil Derman and Max Harris teamed up to open a gap for Nelmes who easily crossed the goal line for his third touchdown of the season. The Hawks increased their lead to 23-13.  
 
Nelmes ended his day with 132 rushing yards and 39 receiving yards. This is the third game that he has surpassed the century mark and now has smashed his career high in rushing yards with 646 through six games. 

Laurier's manager of football operations and head coach Michael Faulds acknowledged Nelmes' effort, "Tanner Nelmes is our workhorse. He carves it up for us."

"From the start of the game we saw that we could get a little bit of a push up-front, and we took advantage of that, as well as mixing in those passing plays," Nelmes said. 

Saturday was Nelmes' final Homecoming as a Golden Hawk and he gave plenty of love to his teammates.

"Last year going to the CFL Combine, coming back now, the chemistry in the locker room [we're] just a really big family, and I couldn't ask for anything else and I appreciate that."

After Ottawa bit back with a touchdown of their own at the 7:20 mark in the fourth quarter, cutting into the Golden Hawks' lead seemed manageable down 26-20. But multiple Golden Hawks had other plans. 

Maliek Cote with authority swatted down a Janssen pass, jumping up and almost over his man, while on the next play, Jayden Griffiths did not want to be left out of the party collecting a breakup of his own. 

Ultimately, it was none other than rookie running back Tayshaun Jackson who had the last word. 

As Elgersma dropped back faking a passing play, he handed the ball off to Jackson who had a path paved for him thanks to the offensive line, stiff-armed a Gee Gee at centre field, and the electric Jackson could not be caught, going 64 yards to the house putting the nail in the coffin. 
 


"I saw my guy, Josh Rietveld, come up the middle, made a hell of a block. And then I just saw one more guy, I gave him a stiff arm, and I knew I was off to the races." Jackson said. "I just had one more guy to beat. I got 30 to 40 yards in, and I was gassed but I was able to beat him, and then I took it home."

Faulds gave credit to his players on both sides of the field. "We didn't play our best football early on in the game, but we made enough plays. So I'm proud of our guys. We're finding different ways to win."

"Our defence made some crucial stops when they needed to. Our offence made enough plays when we needed to, highlighted by that long Tayshaun Jackson run."

"Our offensive line did phenomenal up front. It wasn't our best day passing the ball, so when you're able to, in the second half, run the ball at will, that excites you as a coach."

The Golden Hawks Homecoming victory moves them to 5-0 going into the final home game of the season where the purple and gold face off against the #7 Queen's Gaels for Senior Day.

Kickoff is set for 1 pm. Get your tickets now or watch the action live on OUA.tv

Print Friendly Version