The University of Toronto Varsity Blues fell to the Queen’s University Gaels 58-14 in front of a crowd of 1851 at Varsity Centre on Saturday, September 20.

The Blues came out hungry for a touchdown, looking to score early. On the first play of the opening drive, Mark Stinson (Calgary, Alta.) took a hand-off from quarterback David Hamilton (Mississauga, Ont.) and threw to a wide open Jeff LaForge (Ottawa, Ont.) for a touchdown.

However, it was called back on a holding penalty. On the ensuing drive, Gaels runningback Mike Giffen (Kingston, Ont.) took full advantage of his opportunities, breaking tackles for a 74-yard dash down the field that would eventually result in a Queen’s touchdown.

“I don’t think we recovered from the penalty,” said Varsity Blues football head coach Greg DeLaval. “It was our intention to try and score early – and we did – but we didn’t recover mentally. Queen’s ran the ball well, passed the ball well, and we just couldn’t stop them.”

Gaels doubled their lead five minutes later when Giffen added his second major of the day on another crafty 35-yard run.

The Blues responded quickly when fifth-year co-captain Mark Stinson (Calgary, Alta.) capped off a 66-yard drive with a four-yard run to cut the lead in half at the end of the first quarter.

“We’ve not peaked as a team,” said Queen’s head coach Pat Sheahan. “We still have room to improve. If we are to be contenders, we’ve got to clean some things up.”

The Brannagan-Giffen duo each added another touchdown for the Gaels in the second quarter. Fifth-year receiver Scott Valberg (Kingston, Ont.) was on the receiving end of a 53-yard pass from Brannagan, putting the Gaels up 37-7 at halftime.

Giffen and Valberg would each add another before Hamilton connected with Earl Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) on a 33-yard pass for the Blues second score of the game.

“We came out flat,” said Blues first-year wide receiver Johnson. “We made a lot of mistakes and you just can’t do that against a good team like Queen’s.”

The Varsity Blues (2-2) travel to Guelph to take on the Gryphons (1-3) next Saturday, September 27. The Gaels (4-0) host the Western Mustangs (4-0), also next Saturday. Both games are scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m.