A young and promising Waterloo Warriors football team showed long flashes of a very bright future at Saturday afternoon's annual battle of Waterloo, but it wasn't enough to score the upset victory over their undefeated crosstown rivals.
The sixth-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks used a vaunted aerial attack to build a big lead early on, as the hosts went to 4-0 with a 47-20 win over the Warriors on Saturday afternoon at Knight-Newbrough Field in Waterloo.
Laurier QB Taylor Elgersma threw for 318 yards and 5 touchdown passes as the Warriors dropped their second straight battle of Waterloo. The loss drops the black and gold to 1-3 on the season, as they hit their bye week at the midway point of the season.
The Waterloo offense moved the ball effectively in the face of the fast Hawks defense, but Waterloo couldn't convert their ball movement into points – the Warriors had 402 yards of offense and 25 first downs, but struggled to score early. In his third start, QB Nick Orr (Caledon, ON/) completed 24 of 37 pass attempts for 282 yards and a rushing touchdown, while pivot Nolan Kaban (Calgary, AB/) added a late passing touchdown to Tyler Tierney (London, ON/).
James Basalyga (Thunder Bay, ON/) was the favourite target on the day, catching nine passes for 95 yards for Waterloo. Meanwhile, Jace Atkinson hauled in 4 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown for Laurier, as five different pass-catchers caught Elgersma touchdown passes.
On the defensive side of the ball, James Hinsperger (Waterloo, ON/) led the Warriors with 7.5 tackles (7 solo), and defensive end Tyson Hergott (Waterloo, ON/) notched his fourth straight game with a sack to start the season.
The Hawks got on the board on their first possession of the game, as Quentin Scott scampered in from 9 yards out. The Warriors' promising first drive ended with an Anthony Miller (Brampton, ON/) fumble, and Elgersma hit Atkinson for a 62-yard strike on the very next play to give Laurier an early 14-0 lead. Before the first quarter was through, Tanner Nelmes caught a 29-yarder from Elgersma, and the Warriors conceded a safety to make the score 23-0 after 15 minutes.
The Warriors continued to struggle against the Laurier passing game early in the second, as Jesulayomi Ojutalayo caught a 25-yarder to lengthen the lead to 30-0. Midway through the second, the Warirors finally snapped their five-plus-quarter scoring drought, when Cole Crossett (Metcalfe, ON/) hit a career-long 49-yard field goal to make it 30-3. Crossett added another three points later in the quarter, but Ryan Speight found the end zone in the closing minute of the second quarter, as Laurier hit the halftime break leading 37-6.
Waterloo came out for the third quarter and immediately put together their longest drive of the season, as a 13-play, 87-yard possession was capped off with a third-down 5-yard scramble by Orr. The drive was highlighted by back-to-back big catches from Justin Succar (Niagara Falls, ON/) – including a third-down conversion – as the Warriors cut the deficit to 37-13. Waterloo's luck on third down ran out on the next possession, and Laurier took advantage of a short field as Jaxon Stebbings scored on a 19-yard pass-and-catch from Elgersma to make the score 44-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
Laurier kicker Dawson Hodge tacked on a 45-yarder early in the fourth quarter, before Orr and Kaban split another long scoring drive for Waterloo – this time, it was 10 plays and 90 yards, with Kaban hitting Tierney from 11 yards to round out the scoring.
The Warriors will now make use of the bye week to prepare for the second half of their season, which will determine their playoff fate. After playing nationally-ranked top-10 teams in three of the first four weeks, Waterloo will now face four straight unranked teams to finish their schedule.
It all begins with a massive showdown against the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday, September 30. Kickoff from Warrior Field is slated for 1pm.
