49-game losing skid finally ends

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When North Toronto C.I. grad Andrew Lomasney kicked the winning field goal for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues to cap a come-from-behind season-opening 18-17 win on Labour Day Monday over the visiting Waterloo Warriors, he managed to shake off two large monkeys.

The first monkey he shook off his own back as the freshman came through, when it counted, on the winning 32-yard strike with just 26 seconds remaining in the game after missing his first two field goal attempts.

The second much larger monkey he shook off the team's back, finally putting an end, at 49 games, to the team's infamous and much-publicized losing streak, including a 0-8 campaign last season.

The game was played before more than 2,500 fans at Varsity Centre.

The losing streak stretched back almost to the dawn of the century when the Blues last won a gridiron game more than six years ago on Oct 13, 2001, 13-11 over the Windsor Lancers.

Toronto's other team - the York Lions - also playing at home at York Stadium - lost 40-7 to the Windsor Lancers.

York's recent fortunes have been nearly as woeful as U of T's, as they have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons and the only thing keeping them from a winless season last year (1-7) was a head-to-head win over U of T, a game fittingly decided on a last second field goal.

Both teams, however, enter the season with some long-term optimism.

Both have new head coaches taking on their first head coaching assignment - Mike McLean for York and Greg DeLaval for U of T (the latter on an interim basis). U of T also named 12-year CFL veteran and former Queen's Golden Gaels head coach Bob Howes as director of football operations. Both DeLaval and Howes worked together as assistant coaches for the U of T in 2003-'04.

Both Toronto-based teams will soon get a first-hand chance to compare their rebuilding programs. While both are on the road this Saturday, Sept. 6 - U of T at Windsor, York at Ottawa - they're slated for an all-Toronto clash on Saturday, Sept. 13, 1 p.m., at Varsity Centre.