Defensive lineman Derek Drouillard came through for the Gryphons Saturday as he felt he had a bit of time to make up.
After sitting out the loss in Windsor a week earlier and most of the season-opening win over Toronto when he suffered a broken rib early in that match, Drouillard was back on the Alumni Stadium field against the Queen’s Gaels.
“It was huge getting him back on the roster,” interim head coach Kevin MacNeill said. “We really missed him last week. He’s a natural leader and one of the guys that is a big-play guy for us.”
Drouillard had a pair of big plays to spark the Gryphons to a 38-29 victory. An interception and 33-yard return to the opposition’s six-yard line set up a touchdown by running back Brandon Gordon, another Gryphon returning to play after sitting out the first two games. That TD gave the Gryphons some breathing room as it extended a one-point advantage into an eight-point margin.
A Drouillard sack of Queen’s quarterback Nate Hobbs stalled the Gaels on what was effectively their final drive into the Guelph end of the field with less than four minutes to go in the game.
“It was just everybody doing their job,” Drouillard said of the defensive effort. “That was the big thing this week. We just have to do our jobs. We know we’re a good defence and we know we can make plays like that.”
The Gryphon defence was a smothering bunch against the Gaels, especially in the second half. They had three interceptions — Graham Brodie and Lukas Korol had the others — and also had four sacks in the game.
“We had a lot of turnovers and that was a big thing coming into this season,” Drouillard said. “We need more turnovers and for everybody to answer that call, not just me, but for everybody to answer that call and get third-down stops and get fumble recoveries and things like that are great. It was just doing your job and doing your job as best you can and communicating it well.”
The Gryphons turned things around after a worrisome first half and a slow start to the second half. A Nick Liberatore field goal put Queen’s ahead 21-8 six minutes into the second half.
“We answered the call,” Drouillard said. “(Defensive coordinator Adam) Grandy came into the locker room (at halftime) and said to the D line ‘We need some more plays. We need to get to that quarterback.’ I think we just really took that upon ourselves and said that this is the game when the D line is going to take over the game and we need to make plays and I really think we just answered the bell.”
The game was a bounce-back win from the Labour Day setback in Windsor when all Drouillard could do was watch from the sidelines.
“It was tough,” he said. “It was tough not being able to go out there and make a play. You can give all the advice you want vocally, but you can’t go out there and make a play or play with your brothers. It’s tough. It’s very tough watching your guys. We worked hard, everybody worked hard, but it sucks when you can’t go out and make a play.”
The win was the 22nd consecutive victory in OUA play at home. The Gryphons have only lost once at Alumni Stadium since the turf was installed there prior to the 2012 season. That loss was last year’s Mitchell Bowl setback to Montreal.
“My whole time here, I’ve never gone more than one loss (in a season),” Drouillard said. “Even at home, we’ve never lost at home. Knock on wood for that. That’s the thing, you’ve got to come in confident and believe that it’s the next game, put the game that happened last week behind us and focus on the next game.”
The win also came against the team that had the bye last week while the Gryphons had played five days earlier.
“It’s tough, the short weeks, especially against a team coming off a bye,” MacNeill said. “To be able to get that win when a team is coming off a bye on a short week is incredible. I can’t tell you how proud I am of these guys.”
Next up for the Gryphons (2-1) is a match against the Ottawa Gee-Gees (2-0) at Ottawa Saturday.

Written by Rob Massey