Derek Wendel’s special day was overshadowed by the defeat. Breaking the record for most passing yards in a game in school history is a pretty special achievement, but it was also good enough to tie for 11th all time in Canadian university football history.
Despite a disappointing start to the game, the Gee-Gees are still one of the stronger teams in the country. Unfortunately, with the difficulty of their schedule, the team just couldn’t pull off a win.
The Gee-Gees won last year’s Panda Game—well at least 59 minutes of it.
Despite the steep margin of victory, it still doesn’t do justice to the Gees’ performance as they came out firing on all cylinders and didn’t ease up until the fourth quarter.
The game quickly turned into a shootout with Gee-Gees quarterback Derek Wendel spreading the ball and commanding the offence. The Gees found the endzone four times in the first half, and at one point held a 32-17 lead.
As thousands of fans packed into Gee-Gees Field, the team prepared to live up to the hype after an entire offseason of work. The tunnel inflated and smoke machines billowed as Jay Z & Kanye West’s ominous “No Church in the Wild” blared, leading the Gees onto the field. It was only a matter of minutes until the team would impose their will on the Gaels.
The highly anticipated Panda Game will be back at its historic homeland as the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group announced a multi-year agreement to host the football classic at TD Place.
The Ontario University Athletics preseason rankings have put the Gee-Gees fourth in the conference behind Western, Guelph, and McMaster. There’s plenty of room for the Gees to succeed and make a deep run in the playoffs, and even take a crack at the national championship.
