OTTAWA – Lirim Hajrullahu kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2.1 seconds remaining on the clock, as the No. 2 nationally ranked Western Mustangs won the 103rd OUA Yates Cup football championship 26-25 in front of 7,194 fans at Frank Clair Stadium on Saturday.
It is the OUA best 29th Yates Cup in Western history.
With the win, Western advances to the Uteck Bowl at Laval’s PEPS Stadium on Saturday Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. Laval, ranked No. 1 in the CIS, squeaked past Sherbrooke 22-17 to win the Quebec championship, the Dunsmore Cup.
“I am so proud of this team,” said head coach Greg Marshall, who won his seventh Yates Cup. “But I am also proud of the Ottawa Gee-Gees. We were there last year, and I know how it feels. I feel for guys like Sebastien Tetreault and Brad Sinopoli, They deserve better.”
Jerimy Hipperson, The Score’s Porter Airlines player of the game, ran 18 times for 162 yards and a touchdown to lift Western to victory. the Mustangs put up 285 yards rushing. Nathan Riva added 95 yards on the ground.
“I’m so proud of all these guys, no one believed in us at the start of the year,” Hipperson said. “This was a team effort and we showed we’re going to fight for each other.”
Mustangs quarterback Donnie Marshall, who engineering the game-winning drive., was 14-for-25 passing for 228 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, while Nick Trevail had nine catches for 105 yards and one touchdown and drew four pass interference calls on the day.
Brad Sinopoli was terrific in his final game for the No. 4 ranked Gee-Gees, rushing eight times for 84 yards and going 24-for-39 passing for one touchdown and one interception.
The Gee-Gees played without star receiver Matthew Bolduc but Steven Hughes, on six receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown, and Cyril Adjeitey, on nine catches for 103 yards, were terrific. Running back Brenden Gillanders had six catches for 80 yards along with 12 rushes for 57 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Western put up 501 yards on Ottawa, while the Gee-Gees registered 469 total offensive yards including 178 in the fourth quarter.
Western carried the lead for most of the game, trailing just twice for under five minutes total.
Hajrullahu was grinning ear to ear after the game. He said it is the first football championship he has ever won.
“The crowd was yelling, it was crazy stuff,” Hajrullahu said. “When your offence puts you into a great situation, driving the ball like they did, you want to get the opportunity to win it. They did an excellent job of getting me into position.”
“To tell you the truth, this just feels great,” he said. “I’m looking forward to going into hostile territory in front of the Laval Fans and to come out and prove ourselves.”
Western survived early turnovers and a great comeback effort from Ottawa to win.
Off Marshall’s second interception of the game, Gee-Gees kicker Matthew Falvo opened the scoring with a 17-yard field goal with 6:28 left, taking a 3-0 lead.
A penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave Western ball at their own 40-yard line, Donnie Marshall hit Trevail on a 13-yard pass to give Western a 7-3 lead with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter.
A 48-yard Hipperson rush to the redzone set up Hajrullahu’s first field goal of the game, a 12-yard strike to extend the lead to 10-3 before the end of the first quarter.
Penalties – seven for 75 yards in the first half – cost Ottawa early, especially on a Gillanders monster run which moved the ball from deep in Western territory to near midfield.
Ottawa turned the ball over on a Sinopoli interception by Craig Butler in the endzone, intended for Cyril Adjeitey which turned into a 17-yard Hajrullahu field goal to stretch the lead to 13-3 with 8:58 left in the half.
A 42-yard Riva rush from just inside Ottawa territory set up first down in the redzone, but after two poor rushes snuffed out by Ottawa’s front eight, Western was forced to a third-down situation.
Western gambled and it resulted in a 10-point swing when Darryl Wheeler came in on a fake field-goal play with Hajrullahu on sideline as his pass was intercepted by Chayce Elliott.
This set up a great drive, six plays for 90 yards, lasting under two minutes, that ended in a 40-yard Sinopoli pass over top of Western’s secondary to Steven Hughes with 2:04 remaining in the half, and cutting Western’s lead to 13-10.
Ottawa got the ball back and gambled on third down at midfield late in the opening half and Western converted with a 32-yard Hajrullahu field goal after two pass interference calls against Ottawa to make it 16-10 at the half
Western dominated the first-half time of possession and yardage but only led by six points at the half.
Starting with the ball in the second half, Western scored on a six-yard Hipperson pitch play with great blocking to make the lead 23-10 Western.
Late in the third quarter, Western’s defensive injuries started to take their toll.
Mike Spence and Zander Robinson were both hurt over three plays, forced out temporarily, while Sean Blake and Conor Elliott were already out of the game. Blake returned to the game later on.
Western’s punt cover and other special teams helped to put Ottawa deep in their own territory, but eventually Western’s defence cracked.
Hughes pulled in back-to-back big first downs, and then Sinopoli ran for a brilliant first-down gain after eluding three tackles and getting great blocking to put the ball on Western’s one-yard line.
Gillanders scored on a one-yard cutback with 9:05 left to cut the lead to six points 23-17.
The Gee-Gees recovered an onside kick to get the ball on Western’s 53-yard line but ended up punting the ball.
They pushed Western deep into their own territory and eventually Western conceded a safety, cutting the lead to 23-19.
The Gee-Gees added two more field goals from 35 and 19 yards out to take a 25-23 lead, but Western engineered a nine-play, 48-yard drive to set up Hajrullahu’s winning kick.
Trevail, who caught three passes on the drive, was key to getting the ball deep.
“I screwed up and dropped the ball earlier, so for (coach) Greg Marshall to come back and have trust in me, it felt good.” Trevail said. “I love competitive sports. I have that competitive drive and I love being in that situation with a chance ot make big catches.”
“I wanted to be in that situation.”
Trevail said the game plan included a lot of throws to him.
“We knew they were vulnerable in some areas we went after them, running up the middle and then deep balls and being a deep threat,” he said.
Trevail said he felt vindicated and that it was important for his squad to silence the critics who had been questioning the offence.
“Nobody gave us a shot at the start of the year. Donnie was too inexperienced. Donnie was too small. We did not have a passing game. I cannot even express how good this feels for me to have seen Donnie do such a good job out there,” Trevail said. ”
Donnie Marshall gave his receiver Trevail and the Western offence credit for making his job simpler.
“Our guys were getting open, and they made it easy to drive the ball down the field,” said Donnie Marshall. “It feels great.”
With third down and just seconds left on the clock, Ottawa called a timeout to try to ice the kicker but it failed. Hajrullahu said it allowed him to focus.
“The timeout gave me a couple of seconds to focus,” he said. “I just visualized making the kick. It feels great.”
Western now prepares for Laval, host of the 2010 Vanier Cup, in the Uteck Bowl.
In the last meeting between the teams, Laval won 44-21 in the 2008 Vanier Cup. The teams also played twice in exhibition in 2008 and 2009 in Ste. Foy, Que. with Laval winning both contests.
Nov. 13: 103rd Yates Cup – Western 26 Ottawa 25
By Andy Watson
Scoring Summary (Final)
2010 Western Mustangs Stats
Western Mustangs vs OTTAWA (Nov 13, 2010 at Ottawa, ON) Western Mustangs (9-1,7-1) vs. OTTAWA (8-2,7-1)
Date: Nov 13, 2010 • Site: Ottawa, ON • Stadium: Frank Clair Stadium • Attendance: 7194
| Score by Quarters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score |
| Western Mustangs | 10 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 26 |
| OTTAWA | 3 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 25 |
| SCORING SUMMARY | WESTERN -OTT | |||
| 1st | 08:32 | OTT | M. Falvo 17 yd field goal | |
| 5 plays, 11 yards, TOP 1:58 | 0 – 3 | |||
| 10:18 | WESTERN | Nick Trevail 13 yd pass from Donnie Marshall (Lirim Hajrullahu kick) | ||
| 4 plays, 70 yards, TOP 1:46 | 7 – 3 | |||
| 14:14 | WESTERN | Lirim Hajrullahu 12 yd field goal | ||
| 5 plays, 59 yards, TOP 2:16 | 10 – 3 | |||
| 2nd | 06:02 | WESTERN | Lirim Hajrullahu 17 yd field goal | |
| 10 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:33 | 13 – 3 | |||
| 12:56 | OTT | S. Hughes 40 yd pass from B. Sinopoli (M. Falvo kick) | ||
| 6 plays, 90 yards, TOP 1:41 | 13 – 10 | |||
| 14:59 | WESTERN | Lirim Hajrullahu 32 yd field goal | ||
| 6 plays, 35 yards, TOP 0:43 | 16 – 10 | |||
| 3rd | 07:59 | WESTERN | Jerimy Hipperson 6 yd run (Lirim Hajrullahu kick) | |
| 6 plays, 53 yards, TOP 2:32 | 23 – 10 | |||
| 4th | 05:56 | OTT | B. Gillanders 1 yd run (M. Falvo kick) | |
| 6 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:05 | 23 – 17 | |||
| 08:07 | OTT | TEAM safety | ||
| 23 – 19 | ||||
| 10:33 | OTT | M. Falvo 35 yd field goal | ||
| 7 plays, 47 yards, TOP 2:26 | 23 – 22 | |||
| 13:46 | OTT | M. Falvo 19 yd field goal | ||
| 8 plays, 63 yards, TOP 1:49 | 23 – 25 | |||
| 14:58 | WESTERN | Lirim Hajrullahu 34 yd field goal | ||
| 9 plays, 48 yards, TOP 1:12 | 26 – 25 |
| Kickoff time: 13:05 • End of Game: 16:35 • Total elapsed time: 3:30 Referee: R MacVinnie • Umpire: C Venter • Linesman: B Pawlowsky • Line judge: P Schmidt • Back judge: F Cooper • Field judge: H Murphy • Side judge: J Pringle • Temperature: 8 C • Wind: Light E • Weather: Cloudy, Mild Game-winning field goal by Hajrullahu kicked with 2.1 secs |
| Team Statistics |
Team Statistics (Final)
2010 Western Mustangs Stats
Western Mustangs vs OTTAWA (Nov 13, 2010 at Ottawa, ON)
| Team Totals | WESTERN | OTT |
| FIRST DOWNS | 31 | 26 |
| Rushing | 13 | 9 |
| Passing | 13 | 17 |
| Penalty | 5 | 0 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING | 285 | 142 |
| Rushing Attempts | 47 | 24 |
| Average Per Rush | 6.1 | 5.9 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 1 | 1 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 299 | 153 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 14 | 11 |
| NET YARDS PASSING | 228 | 341 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 14-26-3 | 24-39-1 |
| Average Per Attempt | 8.8 | 8.7 |
| Average Per Completion | 16.3 | 14.2 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 1 | 1 |
| TEAM LOSSES | -12 | -14 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS | 501 | 469 |
| Total offense plays | 74 | 65 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 6.8 | 7.2 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 3-2 | 2-1 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 7-47 | 10-115 |
| PUNTS-YARDS | 5-187 | 8-291 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 37.4 | 36.4 |
| Net Yards Per Punt | 36.4 | 33.0 |
| Inside 20 | 1 | 2 |
| 50+ Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 0 |
| Fair catch | 0 | 0 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS | 3-181 | 3-175 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff | 60.3 | 58.3 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff | 37.3 | 45.0 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 0 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 7-27-0 | 4-5-0 |
| Average Per Return | 3.9 | 1.2 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 3-40-0 | 3-69-0 |
| Average Per Return | 13.3 | 23.0 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 1-1-0 | 3-91-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Possession Time | 32:22 | 27:38 |
| 1st Quarter | 7:18 | 7:42 |
| 2nd Quarter | 9:15 | 5:45 |
| 3rd Quarter | 8:13 | 6:47 |
| 4th Quarter | 7:36 | 7:24 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 1 of 3 | 0 of 1 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances | 5-6 | 3-4 |
| Touchdowns | 2-6 | 1-4 |
| Field goals | 3-6 | 2-4 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 2-14 | 1-4 |
| PAT Kicks | 2-2 | 2-2 |
| Field Goals | 4-4 | 3-4 |
| Individual Statistics |
Individual Statistics (Final)
2010 Western Mustangs Stats
Western Mustangs vs OTTAWA (Nov 13, 2010 at Ottawa, ON)
| OTTAWA | |
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