The Wilfrid Laurier University men’s football team made a statement on Monday night.
A season after recording only one win, the Hawks started their season out with a satisfying 53-17 victory over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
Dillon Campbell stole the show, breaking the Laurier record for rushing yards in a single game, with 293 on 16 carries, an average of 18.3 yards per carry. The previous record was held by Nick Cameron, who ran for 255 yards in 2005.
Campbell’s night was headlined by a 98 yard run in the fourth quarter.
“Honestly, I just ran, I didn’t know until the coaches told me. I just did my thing and ran,” said Campbell
Second year defensive lineman, Kwaku Boateng also made his way into the Laurier record books, recording four sacks, which is also a single game record.
“I’m excited, but at the end of the day I know more than half of those sacks are because of great coverage behind me,” said Boateng.
Head coach Michael Faulds now picks up his second win with the team, and boasts a winning record for the first time as well.
“It’s been a long road, a long process, but as a coaching staff we’ve kept the energy high… we’ve been waiting for this moment. This moment has been building for ten and a half months,” said Faulds.
The team received major contributions all over the field, and kept the pressure on the whole game. James Fracas completed 17 of his 24 passes, and threw for 256 yards with no interceptions and three touchdowns.
Two of those touchdowns were to third year wide receiver Greg Nyhof who had 100 yards receiving on the day.
Kicker Ronnie Pfeffer was punting the ball extremely well, pinning the Blues inside their own 20 yard line three times.
While it was a big win for the Hawks, coach Faulds insisted that there is still a long season ahead,and more to be done.
“We need to correct the dropped balls by receivers, and we need to correct how many penalties we had. By no means was it a perfect game even though we put up 53 points. There’s a lot to improve on here,” said Faulds.
The Hawks head to Windsor on September 6 to take on the Lancers. Kickoff is at 1 pm.
