Hawks put heartbreak behind them

What’s been a little bit discouraging to me is that I feel like our ceiling is higher, and I’m just hoping we come closer and closer each week to achieving that.

MICHAEL FAULDS LAURIER HEAD COACH

At this midway point of the football season, Michael Faulds is hopeful the best is yet to come for his Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

The Golden Hawks (2-2) resume their Ontario University Athletics schedule on Saturday night in Windsor, taking on the Lancers (2-2) at Alumni Field. Both teams are attempting to secure one of seven available playoff spots in the 11team conference, and Saturday’s victor will take a huge step toward achieving that goal.

“What’s been a little bit discouraging to me is that I feel like our ceiling is higher, and I’m just hoping we come closer and closer each week to achieving that,” said Faulds, who has served as Laurier’s head coach since 2013. “We have to take it one week at a time, but we haven’t played our best football yet, and we have an opportunity to do that in Windsor this weekend. It should be a good game, and it’s about building our confidence back up after losing in a tough manner last weekend.”

The Golden Hawks are coming off a heartbreaking 21-18 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees, a game that was decided on the final play with a 55-yard field goal by Campbell Fair. The game-winning kick came just 29 seconds after the Golden Hawks tied the contest on a six-yard touchdown run by Quentin Scott to cap an eight-play, 77-yard drive.

The only other Laurier TD came on a four-play, 95-yard drive early in the second quarter that ended with a 32-yard pass from Taylor Elgarsma to Tanner Nelmes. In between touchdowns, the Golden Hawks offence sputtered.

“There are two things that kind of strike me, and the first is consistency on offence. We have a couple of long drives that ended in touchdowns, and then we’ll go three, four drives where it’s two and out or maybe we’ll get one first down,” said Faulds. “And then, for whatever reason, we’ve played really great defence, but turnovers and sacks have kind of avoided us. So hopefully, we have a knack for the ball this weekend, and in the future games, where we can create some turnovers, set our offence up in good field position and as a result, get more points on the board.”

The numbers back what Faulds is saying. Laurier is the only team in the OUA without an interception and is tied with Toronto for last in the conference with just five quarterback sacks. The two fumble recoveries are just slightly better than Western and McMaster, which have one fumble recovery apiece.

The Laurier defence is fifth in the conference, surrendering 19 points and 361.6 yards per outing.

On offence, Laurier is fourth with 385 yards per game and seventh in points per game with 23.5.

The most notable individual statistics belong to Ethan Jordan, a second-year receiver from Chatham who leads the country with 29 receptions.

“He’s really smooth, and when he has blocking for him in the return game, he’s an electric runner, too,” said Faulds. “I think he’s going to continue to have a big season and ultimately have a good career. We’ve had a long list of great receivers here at Laurier, and he’s kind of in line to be the next.”

Laurier kicker/punter Dawson Hodge is also having a terrific season, connecting on all seven fieldgoal tries and leading the OUA in punting with a 44.6-yard average.

Elgersma is third-rated passer in the league behind Andreas Dueck of McMaster and Tanner DeJong of Carleton. Elgarsma has clicked on 78 of 119 passes (65.5 per cent) for 846 yards (211.5 YPG) and six touchdowns. He has thrown four interceptions.

The Golden Hawks will continue the second half of their season next Thursday night in a Battle of Waterloo showdown with the Waterloo Warriors at Warrior Field.

Waterloo hosts Toronto on Saturday afternoon.