RECAP: #7 Ottawa powers to shutout 66-0 win over York Lions in Toronto, improve to 6-1

The nationally seventh-ranked Gee-Gees football team returned from a bye week and powered to a 66-0 win over the York Lions in Toronto on Saturday.

Ottawa scored early and often, fueled by a landmark 231-yard, two-touchdown effort by J-P Cimankinda on 22 carries. Amlicar Polk also impressed with 93 yards on 13 touches for two touchdowns.

Matt Mahler filled in for Ben Maracle on the afternoon and guided the team to the win, with a clean 10-17 for 166 yards and two touchdowns and added 29 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.

"Coming back from a bye week, it was good to do what we planned to do," said Cimankinda. "We executed what we wanted to, stayed focused, and it's been the goal the whole season to stay level and not get too high or low. We know we have a big game coming up next, so we have to move on, fix our mistakes and prepare for the next one."

The Gee-Gees defence held York to only 183 yards of total offence, including only 43 rushing yards. The defence had three sacks and an interception on the afternoon.

On special teams, Max Charbonneau blocked a punt, which was returned by Emmanuel Aboagye-Gyan for a 57-yard touchdown.

"This one just lets us know that we're still on it, we're still hot, we didn't take the bye week to be lazy, we came back strong, so it was good to see," said Aboagye-Gyan.

The win served as the largest margin on any game in the nation this season. Ottawa now moves to 6-1 on the season leading into a matchup with the top-ranked and undefeated Western Mustangs.

The final week matchup will be key for sorting the order and power balance of the OUA playoffs heading into the quest for the Yates Cup.

Kickoff at TD Place is set for 12 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22. Tickets are available at tickets.geegees.ca and will be streaming live on OUA.tv.