Friday night football: Lancers find their Waterloo

Waterloo 30 Windsor 29: The upshot is the Lancers still have some control of their playoff destiny -- despite blowing a three-touchdown lead for the second straight time against the Warriors.

First off, full marks to Waterloo, which scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes to cap a comeback from a 23-1 halftime deficit. (Last year, they erased a 23-0 deficit). Luke Balch (232 yards) played well for Waterloo with the winning points coming on a two-point convert after a 1-yard scoring run by Marvin McCooty with 33 seconds left.

There is no getting past Windsor's propensity for second-half collapses. The Lancers have been outscored 88-6 after the half in their past three games. It's unclear what exactly that speaks to -- coaching? conditioning? -- but it is certainly no fluke. The dot-orgers have every right to be aghast and apoplectic.

Most of the playoff scenarios, not to be too smartalecky about it, presumed that Windsor could handle a 1-5 Waterloo team at home. The four-team logjam of 4-4 teams for the final three OUA playoff spots that Greg Layson outlined in a column earlier this week is very much in play. Windsor, as Greg explained, would probably be the odd team out since it doesn't have a very good point differential. If Guelph can finish 5-3 (as noted last night, their Oct. 18 game at Western is meaningless for the Mustangs, aside from keeping the starters in fighting trim), Windsor would benefit, since it could have tiebreaker advantages over Ottawa and McMaster.

For that to have any real-world application, though, the Lancers need to be able to score a touchdown in the second half. Mac could make it all moot by beating them next Saturday.

How about Bashir Moallim taking down an interception for the Warriors? Not bad for the crossover basketball and rugby player.
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