Hawks fall to Windsor in Homecoming horror

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Photo by Will Huang

For the fourth consecutive meeting, the Wilfrid Laurier University men’s football team suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Windsor Lancers.

In a game flooded with special teams and penalties, Laurier dropped their third straight match 22-18, dropping their record to 1-3 on the season.

Head coach Michael Faulds took responsibility for the loss upon himself as well as the Laurier coaching staff.

“We’re an undisciplined football team and that starts with me. We’re not doing a good enough job as a coaching staff,” he said. “So we’re going to work on that this week.”

The game was defined by special teams, with the Lancers conceding a safety to start the game. The Lancers would kick a field goal before conceding a second safety, giving the Hawks a 3-2 lead 10 minutes into the first quarter.

The low scoring affair would continue, with the Lancers taking a 13-12 lead into halftime.

The Hawks offence continued to struggle against one of the top defensive team in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), as the Hawks only accumulated five points in the second half. Coming into this game, the Lancers were first in the CIS with 246 total tackles and fourth in the CIS with 10 sacks.

Second-year quarterback Eric Morelli went 16-for-28 for 136 yards and one interception on the day while his counterpart Liam Putt was 9-for-26 for 148 yards.

On the offensive side of the ball, it was first-year Nathan Mesher who racked up the points for Laurier. The rookie went 4-for-4 on field goals, for a total of 147 yards, including two past the 40-yard line. Mesher also kicked a staggering 62-yard punt in the third quarter.

According to fifth-year Laurier receiver Greg Nyhof, the Hawks shot themselves in a foot a few times due to a lack of discipline.

“Mistake-free football is good football. Aside from that it’s a different ballgame.”

Laurier will look to turn their fortunes around when they travel down the street to take on the Waterloo Warriors in the Battle of Waterloo and Waterloo’s “reunion” game. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Warrior Field.

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