After a disappointing overtime loss against UNB, Dalhousie bounced back with a 64-0 win over the Saint John Falcons on Sunday.
The dominant score provides a huge boost of confidence for the Tiger’s offensive line as they move into the final two regular season games of the season.
“I feel like the offence as a whole did a great job this weekend to make plays off of just doing the simple things right,” said Dalhousie star Dante Gabrielli. “I think this weekend there were a lot of things done right, and we've just got to keep on that and stay focused going forward.”
The Tigers have made several key lineup changes throughout the season, including moving Jonas Anderson into the starting quarterback role and shifting Gabrielli into a supporting role.
Gabrielli remains a crucial part of the Tiger’s leadership team and has stepped into a new executive role as the Dalhousie Football Club President.
"I'm still learning as these weeks go by how things work [on exec]," said Gabrielli. “I have such an important role as the president and a leader on the team. I want to keep being a better person in that role and just be able to continue to grow our program and our team, and be there for everyone around me.”
Dalhousie's rookies have been making big plays in the past few games, despite being just four games into their post-secondary careers,
“There are a few [rookies] that have stepped up and have already started to build leadership within our program,” said Gabrielli. “It's really cool to see because I can bring that back to when I came in my first year. I had a lot of welcoming vets who made it easy to kind of hop along and grow as a leader myself too.
“I'm trying my best to help the rookies because they are the base of this program. We need them to come into play to help us and to be the future leaders on this team.”
The Tigers head to Fredericton on Oct. 11 for a pivotal rematch against the UNB Reds. If Dalhousie can win by more than 3 points, they will edge the Reds in points differential and regain home field advantage for playoffs.
On Oct. 19, the Tigers will return to Wickwire field for their final regular season game against the Saint John Falcons.
