The University of Guelph’s football team won the 108th Yates Cup in London on Saturday, beating Western University 23-17.
It’s the first Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship win for the Gryphons since 1996.
Saturday marked the sixth time the Gryphons and Western Mustangs have met in the Yates Cup.
The Gryphons went into the championship game with a 7-1 record and were ranked fifth in the country.
The Mustangs, having gone undefeated, were ranked second. The two teams did not play each other during the regular season.
It was U of G’s third trip to the Yates Cup in four seasons.
The Gryphons now advance to the Mitchell Bowl, one of the two semi-final games in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) football, on Nov. 21.
In addition, for the first time in 23 years, a Gryphon won the OUA award for top stand-up defensive player of the year. Linebacker John Rush, a fifth-year marketing student, was announced as the winner of the OUA Presidents’ Trophy on Nov. 12. The award honours the top linebacker or secondary defender in Ontario university football.
He is the first Gryphon to win the award since retired Canadian Football League star Michael O’Shea in 1992, and only the third Gryphon to receive the award. Sam Benincasa won the trophy in 1982 and 1983.
Rush started strong as a rookie in 2011, and was named an OUA Second Team All-Star in his second year. After a season-ending injury in 2013, he returned to play all eight games in 2014. In 2015, he has led the country in the regular season with 60 tackles, and has recorded three quarterback sacks and two interceptions. He was named an OUA First Team All-Star.
Rush will now be put forward as the OUA’s nominee for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Defensive Player of the Year award, with the winner announced Nov. 26.
U of G’s men’s rugby team won OUA silver Sunday, losing to Queen’s University in the final match 24-23.
It’s the second year in a row that U of G played in the provincial championships.
Sunday’s match was played at U of G. “We’re a very close team. One game doesn’t define us. We have lots to be proud of,” said Coach Darrell Devine.