Mustangs take down Queen’s in front of Homecoming crowd

LONDON  — In their most anticipated game of the regular season, the Western Mustangs football team did not disappoint.

BOXSCORE

At the annual Homecoming game, the Mustangs toppled the CIS No. 3 Queen’s Gaels 50-31 in front of a sellout crowd of 12,185 at TD Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

“Queen’s is a good football team and we prepped really hard,” said Mustangs quarterback Will Finch, who had another strong game throwing for 254 yards and two touchdowns. “Anytime you’re on a winning side at a Homecoming it’s a good feeling.”

Finch also had a strong game on the ground, running for 114 yards and recording one rushing touchdown.

With this pivotal win against the Gaels, the Mustangs remain undefeated with a 6-0 record and sit in first place in the OUA standings while Queen’s drops to 4-1 on the season.

After the game, Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall was pleased by his team’s winning effort.

“It’s hard because the emotion of the game and everything leading up to it, it’ll take a while to digest,” he said. “But it was a great, great win for our football program.”

Leading the Mustangs scorers was Adam Sinclair with both a rushing and receiving touchdown, while running back Yannick Harou — in for the injured Garret Sanvido — tallied one score for the ‘Stangs and racked up 153 yards on 28 attempts to lead all rushers.

Queen’s quarterback Billy McPhee threw for 332 yards and one touchdown and one interception while running back Ryan Granberg recorded 117 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries.

On the defensive side of the ball, Mustangs defensive back Malcolm Brown and linebacker Pawel Kruba led the team with 7.5 and seven tackles respectively. Linebacker Preston Huggins had the defensive highlight of the day, picking off a pass and taking it back 54 yards for his first career CIS touchdown.

The Mustangs opened up the game with a strong 71-yard drive, finishing when Finch found a wide-open Sinclair with an 11-yard pass to put the Mustangs up 7-0 less then three minutes into the game.

The Gaels countered with their own 91-yard drive, but Preston Huggins forced Queen’s running back Jesse Andrews to fumble at the five-yard line, allowing Ricky Osei-Kusi to recover the ball for the purple and white.

The Mustangs would shut out the Gaels for the remainder of the opening frame, marking only the second time this season the Gaels have failed to score in a quarter.

Western’s offence continued to impress early in the second quarter. Just 2:44 into the second, Sinclair broke away with a 24-yard run for his second score of the game and putting the Mustangs ahead by 14. Western extended its lead less than five minutes later as linebacker Huggins intercepted a deflected ball and returned it 54 yards downfield for the score, putting Western up 21-0.

Mustangs’ kicker Lirim Hajrullahu would earn two single points before Queen’s running back Daniel Heslop carried the ball into the end zone on a one-yard run to get his team on the board, narrowing Western’s lead to 23-7 at the end of the first half.

The Gaels would carry their momentum into the third with kicker Dillon Wamsley nailing a 46-yard field goal to make the score 23-10. However, Western responded with a one-yard rushing touchdown on the ensuing drive to put the Mustangs up by 20. The Mustangs would get another two points a few plays later as Queen’s conceded a safety.

But Queen’s would strike again before the end of the quarter when William Zed blocked a Hajrullahu punt and returned it for a 45-yard touchdown.

After the game, coach Marshall said his team has to minimalize costly mistakes like that.

“I think when we look at the film tomorrow, we’ll see that. I know Queen’s is good, but we’ve got to do some things better—we can’t give up big plays like that,” he said.

The Mustangs would, however, catch a break at the end of the third. Heslop caught a pass from McPhee and had a clear path to the end zone taking it 87-yards downfield, but stepped out of bounds at the five-yard line. A few plays later the Gaels would fail to convert on third and goal and the score would remain 32-17 heading into the final frame.

In what was expected to be a defensive battle, the offence would continue to shine in the fourth. Hajrullahu opened up the scoring for the Mustangs with a 37-yard field goal, but Queen’s would answer back with a one-yard rushing touchdown from running back Ryan Granberg to narrow the Mustangs lead to 11.

Harou countered with his own one-yard touchdown on the next drive to put the game out of the Gaels’ reach. Shortly after, the Mustangs would add a single and Finch would connect with fullback James Sifakis for a six-yard touchdown with just over a minute remaining to put the Western up 50-24.

McPhee would find Gaels receiver Giovanni Aprile in the final minute for a 12-yard touchdown, but it was too little, too late as the Mustangs held on for the 50-31 victory.

Next week the Mustangs will travel to Windsor to take on the 4-2 Windsor Lancers on Saturday, October 5, at 1:00 p.m. Fans can listen live on 94.9 CHRW Radio or on NewsTalk 1290 CJBK with Tom McConnell and legendary Mustangs coach Larry Haylor calling all the action.

Photo credit:  Samantha Fischer

Source:  Kaitlyn McGrath, Western Mustangs Sports Information

 

LONDON – The No. 3 Queen’s Gaels and the No. 2 Western Mustangs battled to keep their undefeated seasons in check at the Mustangs 100th homecoming anniversary in front of a crowd of over 12,000 at TD Waterhouse Stadium. In the end the Mustangs were able to capitalize and beat Queen’s 50-31. The Gaels Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) broke the teams career rushing record passing Mike Giffin who had 3,035 in his career, Granberg finished the day with 117 yards.

On the day, Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) finished 22-36 with 336 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Granberg led the way on the ground with his 117 yards and a touchdown while Daniel Heslop‘s (Scarborough, Ont.) one reception for 87 yards led all receivers. Granberg hit the 3,000 rushing plateau and passed Gaels greats Larry Mohr and Mike Giffin in the school’s all-time record books to become the career leader. He currently sits at 3,085 yards.

“When I came off the field a few people told me that I had won it so that was nice but I rather would have had a w,” said Granberg on the record after the game. “Right now we’re worried more about our playoff run and how we place so that had more impact on me.”

Coach Sheahan thought the team played well but knows there are improvements to be made, “I thought our offense was pretty good, we came down the field well and made a lot of big plays to get ourselves in a position to score. We just didn’t finish off a couple of drives if we can do that we’ll be back in the hunt.”

The Mustangs Will Finch proved his legs can be as lethal as his arm running for 153 yards and a score while throwing for 254 yards and two touchdown passes.

The Western offence didn’t take long to show what they are capable of as Finch hooked up with Adam Sinclair on an 11-yard reception touchdown on their opening drive of the game. Queen’s was able to put together a strong drive of their own, with Jesse Andrews (Arnprior, Ont.) picking up a 17-yard rush and Giovanni Aprile (Scarborough, Ont.) nabbing an 18-yard reception. On their first and goal attempt however, Andrews fumbled and the Mustangs took over.

The Mustangs opened up the second quarter in the same fashion as the first and Adam Sinclair rushed for 42-yards and a touchdown putting Western up two scores. Mid-way through the second frame on a play that had McPhee scrambling, the Gaels quarterback got a pass off that deflected off the intended receivers hands and into those of Mustang Preston Huggins who took the ball 54-yards for a score. After two rouge’s the Mustangs opened up a 23-0 lead over the Gaels

Before the end of the first half the Gaels were able to get some momentum going. Heslop got the Gaels started with a big 16-yard rush setting the Gaels up with a first and goal. After Aprile got a near score but was downed on teh 1-yard line, Heslop rushed to his right and found the end zone. The Gaels finished the first half trailing 23-7.

In the second half Dillon Wamsley (London, Ont.) connected on a 46-yard field goal to cut the lead to 23-10. The Gaels got great field position when Cory Dyer (Gananoque, Ont.) forced a fumble and the Gaels recovered. The Mustangs quickly responded with seven points however, as Will Finch continued to show off his running abilities and ended the Mustang drive with a 1-yard rushing score.

Just when things seemed to be slipping away, the Gaels special teams unit came through in the clutch. William Zed (Halifax, N.S.) blocked a punt attempt by Lirim Hajrullahu and after the ball spiralled around Zed was able to pick the ball up and take it 45-yards for the score and Queen’s trailed 32-17.

McPhee connected with Heslop for an 87-yard play but the Chemistry major stepped out of bounds at the five yard line and Queen’s was unable to score on their three attempts. The Mustangs responded with a field goal.

Granberg got his first touchdown of the game to bring the score to 35-24 but Western added two scores and a single to put the game out of reach. Queen’s added an Aprile reception touchdown and the game finished 50-31.

On defence, the Gaels were led by Justin Baronaitis (Rexdale, Ont.) who finished with 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Sam Sabourin (Stittsville, Ont.) added 11 tackles as well for Queen’s. Western was led by Malcolm Brown with 7.5 tackles.

Next up for the Gaels is their first of two homecoming games, when they welcome the Laurier Golden Hawks to Richardson Stadium.

Source: Shawn MacDonald, Queen’s Golden Gaels Sports Information