Despite a short preparation week after their Labour Day loss in Windsor, the Gryphons are itching to hit the field again for their next OUA contest.
“Coming off a loss last week, a lot of our guys, their minds are right,” veteran defensive lineman Donnie Egerter said Thursday. “They’re in spot right now. For us, the mentality all week, the short week isn’t bothering us overcoming adversity.”
The Gryphons head into a Saturday home match with the Queen’s Gaels ranked 10th in the country while Queen’s was idle with the bye last week.
“Queen’s coming off a bye week gives them some prep time, but for us it’s more about just getting in there, doing our thing and coming out with a W,” Egerter said.
While the Gryphs can use last weekend’s loss as incentive, they can also look back to last season when they were defeated 23-15 by the Gaels in Kingston for their only loss of the regular season.
“Our theme for two years now has been overcoming adversity,” Egerter said. “You can’t think about the past. Our next game is our last game is our mentality. We’ve just got to go in there, play like we do and come out victorious.”
A fifth-year Gryphon, Egerter is finding his final season in Guelph to be an emotional one.
“Every game, every practice you see as your last. You just cannot let it affect you,” he said. “You think of it, obviously. It’s in the back of your mind, but, like every other year, you’ve just got to go in there, give it your all and play your best and, again, hopefully come out victorious every week.”
While the Gryphons won the OUA Yates Cup championship and have lost linebackers John Rush and Curtis Newton off that team, Egerter doesn’t feel Guelph’s defence has taken a step back.
“I would say we’re the same or better,” he said. “I know we lost a couple of key guys, but (last year’s) second strings, third-string guys have stepped up. We have a lot of depth. There’s no drop off from second to third strings, which is nice.”
The Gryphons have also added transfer students Corey Flude and Matt Delmas to their defensive line. Flude transferred from Queen’s while Delmas moved in from Saint Mary’s of the Atlantic conference.
“Corey and Delmas, both great guys, great athletes and great players on the defence,” Egerter said. “They stepped up and learned the play book real fast. We didn’t take a step back at all, we just kept pushing forward with the play book, inserting different plays and stuff like that. They picked it up perfectly and there’s been no drop off.”
Egerter has nine tackles, a sack and a forced fumble this season to bring his career total with the Gryphons to 42.5 tackles, five sacks and two forced fumbles. While he appears headed to his best season statistics wise, that isn’t a concern to him at all.
“It’s all team first,” he said. "That’s a coaches’ rule and we’ve all bought in and we all have the same mentality. Team first. Everything we do is for the team and in the team’s best interest.
“It’s team first. Everyone takes care of their own goals and assignments and everything will fall into place.”
Game time Saturday at Alumni Stadium is 1 p.m.

Written by Rob Massey