The York University Lions football team travelled to Guelph to face the Guelph Gryphons in the final game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon. The Lions came into this game following a loss to the Western Mustangs, and this was a must win game for the Lions if they wanted to end their 21-year playoff drought. To earn the OUA's seventh and final playoff spot, the Lions needed a win, plus a Carleton win over McMaster and an Ottawa win over Toronto.

It was a scoreless first quarter, thanks in large part to a pair of goal-line plays. The Lions turned it over on downs on their first drive, and after a pair of big plays from Tristan Aboud to get the ball down to the York 1-yard line, the defence made three straight stops, keeping the game scoreless. Then, the Lions drove down the field to the Guelph 19, but Keagan Hall was intercepted in the end zone to give the ball back to Guelph.

In the second quarter, after Maxim Roberts sacked Aboud forcing a punt, York was able to capitalize. Greg Sealy rushed into the end zone from 12 yards out for the first touchdown of the game. Nathan Walker converted the extra point to give the Lions a 7-0 lead at the 9:05 mark and then added a rouge point on the ensuing kickoff to extend the lead to 8-0.

The Gryphons cut the Lions lead to two towards the ending of the second half and with 46 seconds remaining in the half, Walker missed a 43-yard field goal and Guelph's Anakin Gurthrie ran the missed field goal all the way back from deep in his own end zone for a touchdown. The Gryphons went for two, but could not convert and the Lions still led 8-6.

After York went two-and-out on offence, Guelph scored again on an Aboud touchdown run, and that gave them a 13-9 lead at the break after Walker missed another field goal on the last play of the half. They then increased their lead to 20-9 on their first drive of the second half, as Marshall McCray ran it in from the 10-yard line.

The Lions responded when Hall threw a long pass and found Avery Ford who made the catch and it in for an 81-yard major to match the jersey number on his back and cut the Gryphons lead to five. The Lions went for two and Cairo Berry made the catch to make it a 20-17 game.

After the teams traded punts, McCray took off on a 2nd-and-3 from the Gryphon 52-yard line and scampered all the way to the house for a 58-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 27-17 early in the fourth quarter. However, the Lions were not about to go down quietly. Walker nailed a 25-yard field goal to make it a one-score game once again at 27-20, and then Jack Roberts snatched his first OUA interception, giving York great field position at the Guelph 45. They got it down to the 11-yard line before a pair of incomplete passes brought up third and 10. That's when Hall connected with Kwame Franklin just across the goal-line to tie the game at 27.

Guelph got the ball back and after missing a 45-yard go-ahead field goal, Guelph's Andre Thompson forced an Avontae McKoy fumble on the return, which they recovered at the 12-yard line. On second-and-10, a handoff was thrown back accross the field to McCray on a gadget play and he was able to fight his way across the goal line for the score, making it 34-27 Gryphons with just 55 seconds remaining. 

However, the Lions had a chance to respond, and tried to do just that. After a great kickoff return from Malik Gagne-Smith, Hall completed passes to Nicholas Adair and C.J. Vincent to move the ball into Guelph territory. After a Hall rush converted on 3rd-and-2, he then found Gagne-Smith on 3rd-and-10 to keep hopes alive. After a roughing the passer brought the ball down to Guelph's 22-yard line, Hall swung it out to Berry who ran it all the way down to the Guelph 2-yard line but was tackled just short, as the Gryphons held on for a 34-27 victory.

LOOKING AHEAD: 

The Lions will now look ahead to the 2026 season after coming up just short of a playoff spot for a second straight season in what was another year of progress in Dexter Janke's second season at the helm.