#CFCOVFL PLAYOFF PREVIEW: “It’s fitting…to play Essex because you want to play the very best”

ALL PHOTO CREDITS – ONTARIO VARSITY FOOTBALL LEAGUE (OVFL)

On Saturday, the London Jr. Mustangs head into the Ontario Varsity Football League’s (OVFL) Adam Conference Finals a much different team from the start of the season.

However, the team hopes they have enough fuel left in the tank to put out their best performances of the season against one of their toughest opponents – the Essex Ravens.

Back in Week 3 of the regular season, the Jr Mustangs had the Ravens on the ropes, only to see their lead evaporate in the dying minutes of the game. The Ravens edged the Jr. Mustangs 45-43.

Reflecting back on that game, Jr. Mustangs Head Coach Jordan Haylor said the Jr. Mustangs made one key mistake which ultimately costed them the game.

“The Week 3 game against Essex was a great football game with two outstanding teams,” recalled Haylor of the previous contest.  “Essex really kind of controlled the first half and then the second half, we played really well.”

“We had a 12 point lead with about three and a half minutes to go and we didn’t finish.  It was kind of like the Niagara game the next week -two weeks in a row where they were games we could have won and didn’t finish.  The lesson we took away from it is that we had a chance to put away a team and especially a really good football team like Essex, you have to take it.”

Marching back to University of Windsor Alumni Stadium with the lesson learned, the Jr. Mustangs know that tackling the Ravens won’t be an easy task as evidenced by their tradition of excellence and reputation.

“With Essex, you know what you are going to get year in and year out,” explained Haylor.  “They’re outstanding and it starts at the top with Coach [Glen] Mills.”

“They’re extremely well coached. They have a great football culture down there in Windsor. You know when you play Essex, you’re playing against the very best.  It’s always great for us when we play them.”

The Ravens have set the bar extremely high where teams in the OVFL including the Jr. Mustangs have considered the football program as a measuring stick for success.

“It’s fitting that if we want to get to where we want to go, then we have to play Essex because you want to play the very best and Essex is certainly that,” expressed Haylor. “It’s going to be a great challenge for our football team.”

“It’s such a good organization and every year they’re really good.  They’re great players, great coaches and it’s just every year. They’re really, really good and I can’t say it enough.  We really respect them and their football team and we’re going to have to play a really good football game on Saturday to win.”

On the field, it will be a battle of two similar, yet successful offences. Moreover, the Mustangs will have to find a way to contain the Ravens’ running back Braeden Braccio and pivot Anthony Bontorin.

“The interesting thing about this game is that we have the number one rushing offence in Ontario and Essex year in and year out have a great rushing attack,” assessed Haylor.  I’m sure they’re going to want to find out who has the best rushing game this year.”

“That’s always the game that Essex always likes to play – a big, physical, running style. It’s a good match up that way because you have two outstanding, rushing teams that can both really run the football. Offensively, they’re really good at running the football and their quarterback is outstanding too.”

Defensively, the Jr. Mustangs are expecting a tenacious, relentless unit that succeeds in putting a lot of pressure on opposing offences.

“They’re just really sound,” added Haylor.  “Joe Mlinaric [Ravens Defensive Coordinator] does a really good job with those guys and they don’t make that many mistakes.”

“They play good fundamental football and really make you execute to beat them.”

As for their own game execution plan, the Jr. Mustangs will continue to the things that have netted them success throughout the entire season.  However, a couple of adjustments will be made to counter their opposition.

“We’re obviously going to make some tweaks for what they do on defence,” offered Haylor.  “When it gets down to it, we’re going to do what we want to do and that’s run the football.”

“We feel like we have a great outstanding offensive line and a stable of running backs as well.  We’re going to tweak some things and try to make some adjustments for what Essex does but to be successful we do need to run the football.”

In last week’s 38-21 victory over Niagara Spears, Cole Kussmann was back to form as he rushed for 246 yards on 30 carries and scored a touchdown.  Haylor said to expect more of the same from Kussmann as well as Brentyne AndersonBrown continuing to play a prominent role in the run game.

“I think Cole will get a pretty heavy workload,” divulged the Jr. Mustangs Head Coach.  “30 carries was probably a lot for him this year. “

“Usually, he was probably in the 24-28 range so 30 was maybe a little bit on the high side for him.  Brentyne came in and had 14 carries for 127 yards and did a great job.  If we’re going to run the ball 45-50 times, Brentyne is going to get a significant amount of carries as well.  Cole’s a workhorse.  As dynamic as he is and game making plays he can make, he’s a workhorse too. He took 30 carries against Niagara, who have a pretty physical defence.  They did a good job of banging Cole and he just kept running hard and played outstanding for us.”

What has impressed Haylor the most has been the resilient, yet confident play of the Jr. Mustangs defence in recent weeks.  Since those losses against both the Ravens and Spears early in the season, the unit has been playing with life and a purpose.

“The big thing for them is that they’ve got an identity now,” explained Haylor.  “Earlier in the year, they were trying to do a bunch of different things.”

“We’re really outstanding at doing one thing but really in the last four, five six weeks here, they’ve just really created an identity for themselves. We’re bringing more pressure, attacking the quarterback more.  Our players have really bought into that. The coaches have done a really great job pitching and selling those ideas to the kids.”

While Haylor concedes that they it will be a huge task to stop the Ravens’ offence from getting on the scoreboard, the defence will focus on their game and identity.

“Obviously, Essex has a great offence so we’re not going to completely stop what they do,” said the Jr. Mustangs Head Coach.  “I think what I really like about our defence is that resiliency.”

“We know Essex is going to score some points but we’re going to try and do Saturday what we’ve done in the last few weeks is that if teams score on us, we’re just going to reload, try and keep coming after the players and try to shorten the field for our offence.”

No matter what the outcome is on Saturday night in Windsor, the Jr. Mustangs are proud of how far they’ve come and have improved over the duration of the OVFL season. It speaks of the testament of the organization on a whole.

“Our whole football team is really excited; it shows where we are as a program,” expressed Haylor. “There are great football players in London.”

“It’s a good indication of what our program is and our entire team, our entire program is excited to go down and play in Windsor on Saturday.  I said to the team this week that our focus from the start of the year is that we’re not going to talk about championships. Our goal every practice, every week was to improve and get better.  If we do that, every practice, every game, then by the end of the year we will have a chance to where we think we can go.  Right there, right now we’re almost there.  It’s been pretty gratifying to see that constant improvement week in and week out. I said to the team, we’ve played well against Niagara but its’ important to understand this week that we have to get better in practices so we can go out and play our best game of the season against Essex.  It’s been a terrific season so far. We’ll go into Essex, and play our best.”

(twitter: http://twitter.com/vohra_ameeta)