LONDON, Ont. – After two amazing games in 2009 – a one-point Mustangs regular-season road loss and a heartbreaking Yates Cup loss in one of Canadian university football’s finest moments – the Western Mustangs are looking for some revenge.
And what a better weekend to exact that revenge than on national TV with a sold-out Homecoming crowd looking on.
MEDIA
TV: The Score
RADIO: AM Newstalk 1290, CJBK / 94.9 FM CHRW Radio
ONLINE VIDEO: www.thescore.ca
ONLINE AUDIO: www.cjbk.com / www.chrwradio.com/listen/
LIVE STATS: [URL]http://www.sidearmstats.com/uwo/football/index.htm
LIVE BLOG: [URL]http://westernmustangs.ca/news/2010/10/1/FB10_1001104019.aspx
The No. 5 nationally ranked Western Mustangs (4-1) look to put it all on the line when they welcome back running back Nathan Riva on Oct. 2 in the Homecoming clash with the desperate Queen’s Gaels (1-3) a team much stronger than their record would indicate.
“They are as good a team as there is in our conference,” said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall who is 2-1 in Homecoming games since becoming Western’s head coach in 2007. “If you look at the best teams on any given day there is no clear-cut dominant team in the OUA this season.
Coming off a deflating overtime home loss to the No. 2 nationally ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees – a contest in which Queen’s outworked and outplayed the visiting squad and arguably should have won the game – Queen’s hopes to pull out a road victory in London, Ont., before closing out the season with Toronto (1-3), Laurier (2-2) and York (0-4).
The three blemishes on the Queen’s record could have gone either way – a five-point road loss to McMaster, a six-point road loss to Guelph and last week’s home loss to Ottawa.
After being down 14-0 in the first quarter, Gaels quarterback Justin Chapdelaine – a first-year starter in his second year with Queen’s – put together a 12-play, 97-yard drive to score to cut the score to 14-7 at the half.
Veteran kicker Dan Village scored a rouge on the first drive of overtime but Ottawa’s Matt Falvo kicked the game-winning field-goal to win the game, allowing the Gee-Gees to improve to 5-0.
“Our record could be better but as a team we are more or less on schedule,ā said Queen’s Gaels head coach Pat Sheahan. “We expected the growing pains early in the year, but by the end of the season we wanted to be a tough team to beat.”
“Weāre pretty much on track and the guys have proved to be quite resilient. Theyāre definitely hungry, and they practice hard; and I think their attitude and the way they have responded has been appropriate.ā
Reigning OUA offensive football player of the week and rookie receiver Giovanni Aprile leads the Gaels with 21 catches for 317 yards. In the loss to Ottawa, Aprile finished the day with seven receptions for a career-best 179 yards and one touchdown.
The team is led by young yet capable quarterbacks in Chapdelaine and Billy McPhee. Their defence, although they lost a number of starters, has been strong too. Sheahan has addressed the anticipated extra pressure in playing at Western with his young team.
āItāll be an interesting challenge and you need to have experiences like this for the development of the team,ā said Sheahan. āThere could be times when itās hard to hear a play but the best way to fight it is to play well early and take the crowd out of the game.ā
The Mustangs lead the league in team rushing with an average of 221 yards a game for a total of 12 touchdowns. The next closest team in rushing touchdowns sits at seven, the same total as Jerimy Hipperson has alone.
Hipperson and quarterback Donnie Marshall have an average of over 90 yards per game each and have combined for 10 of the teams 12 rushing touchdowns.
To make things worse for the Gaels, last year’s top Mustangs rusher, junior running back Nathan Riva, is expected to return to the lineup after missing the first month of the season with a hamstring injury suffered in training camp.
āOur offensive line is playing pretty well and itās what we wanted to do this year,ā said Marshall. āNathanās injury put a bit of a wrench in the plans and we had to modify our offence. Having him back and Hipperson playing well will gives us the ability to do different things and bring Nathan back gradually. Heāll play; weāre just not sure how much right now.ā
Sheahan said he is wary of the Mustangs offensive ability – and with Riva returning, he knows the defence will have its hands full.
“Western has showed the capacity where they can really turn it on,” Sheahan said. “They scored 50 against McMaster. They still move the ball and they have a lot of weapons.”
“As long as we get one more (point) than them, then I don’t care if it’s low scoring or high scoring,” Sheahan added with a chuckle.
The Old Four rivalry continues to produce great games and both teams want to win. Losses in this rivalry are even harder to swallow because of the tradition between the programs – one that extends beyond the playing fields and into academics, institutional pride and prestige.
“It still hurts (last year’s Yates Cup loss). We don’t lose easy,” Marshall said. “There’s lots of motivation to play well against Queen’s. This game is about pride – it’s about playing a good football game against a quality team like Queen’s.”
Despite looking comfortable for a spot in the OUA semifinals – with the final two regular-season games ninth-place York and eighth-place Toronto after a bye week – the Mustangs want to improve their chances of a first-round playoff bye and keep the chances of catching first-place Ottawa open. The Gee-Gees would need to lose at least one of their remaining three games to Toronto, Laurier and Guelph. But they do not need any extra motivation to play well to feed their desire to beat Queen’s.
“Our guys are going to be up for the challenge and Iām sure Queenās is as well,ā said coach Marshall. āQueenās controlled the game against Ottawa last week and our guys only have to watch film to see how well they are playing. There is no lack of focus. They see what I see on film, and that is that Queen’s is a good football team.”
“Itās going to be a heck of a football game here on Saturday and I would expect nothing less when we play Queenās.ā
Food Drive continues as Mustangs offensive line hopes to reach over 4,000 pounds of non-perishables
LONDON, Ont. – Building on the success of the 2009 Thanksgiving food drive, where Western football aimed to raise the weight of their offensive line, the Mustangs are challenging fans to a new task: collect the weight of every offensive lineman on the roster in non-perishable food donations.
At approximately 275 lbs per player, and 15 offensive lineman on the roster, this goal will be over 4,000 lbs in total.
Mustangs offensive linemen will be collecting non-perishable food items at four area grocery stores on Friday night from 5-8 p.m.
[LIST]
[*]- the Valuemart at Richmond and Oxford;
[*]- Mark’s No Frills at Wonderland and Fanshawe Park Rd N;
[*]- Sobey’s at Adelaide and Fanshawe Park Rd N; and
[*]- Loblaws Masonville at Richmond Street and Fanshawe Park Rd N.
[/LIST]
Fans can still drop off non-perishable food items in designated locations at each home game on Saturday against Queen’s (Oct. 2, 1 p.m.). Look for the signs outside the stadium for drop locations.
“We’re really happy to continue to help this great cause,” says offensive line coach and recruiting assistant Chris Bertoia. “Our guys are excited about it; they like doing this type of outreach. Now it’s a full fall season we have and we hope to surpass last yearās total.”
In 2009, many Londoners were able to benefit from the generosity of the Western Mustangs football fans, the players, and friends at AMJ Campbell Van Lines as the Mustangs raised close to 2,000 lbs of non-perishable food items in their first annual food drive.
Ron Cook and Pierre Frappier of AMJ Campbell Van Lines, the official moving company of the Mustangs, donated a truck and driver to the cause to ensure the goods were delivered.
Bertoia organized players for visits to local area grocery stores where Western gave out bags and had shoppers collect a bag of non-perishables in early October.
The offensive line is ready to help again.
Western hopes to surpass – and even double – last year’s donations.
“We could not have been happier last year,” Bertoia said. “This went very well. Now we want to up the ante and help even more people.”
Homecoming noise expected to aid Mustangs to victory
LONDON, Ont. – Fans attending Western’s Homecoming game against the Queen’s Gaels on Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium are encouraged to make noise when Western’s defence is trying to stop the Gaels offence.
“Crowd noise can be a factor,” said Western football head coach Greg Marshall. “Last year with a minute and a half to go (in the Yates Cup final in Kingston), the crowd was into it. When we completed a long pass and had a first down, we got seven yards on the next first down but had a guy go offside; then it was first (down) and 15 after that and then (former quarterback) Michael (Faulds) went down.”
When Western is on offence, the Mustangs urge the crowd to be silent to allow them the best opportunity to communicate and select the right play, or make audibles and changes to plays at the line of scrimmage.
“We may have to deal with the noise as well,” Marshall said referring to the expected sell-out, which has only standing-room tickets available.
To purchase any of the remaining tickets, fans can call 519 661.3090 or order the standing-room seats at here.
The Gaels are wary of how much the crowd noise could be a factor. This is their first trip to Western since 2007, a 26-20 overtime Gaels win in the Mustangs’ home opener.
“We have talked about it (the anticipated loud crowd noise),” Queen’s Gaels head coach Pat Sheahan said. “You hope to score early to get crowd out early.”
āItāll be an interesting challenge and you need to have experiences like this for the development of the team,ā said Sheahan. āThere could be times when itās hard to hear a play but the best way to fight it is to play well early and take the crowd out of the game.ā
Marshall knows the importance of this game for the team – a game which could solidify home-field advantage for the playoffs with a win and help to instill confidence in his players returning who have lost five of the past six meetings with the Gaels, including two of the only three meetings between the teams at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Western has just defeated Queen’s once since moving from the old J.W. Little Stadium, a 50-27 win on Oct. 22, 2005, under then head coach Larry Haylor.
“Since I’ve been back here at Western, there have been some great games with Queen’s,” Marshall said. “The last two were outstanding university football games, unfortunately we came out on the short end.”
“But our guys don’t forget easily. We’re hungry, but we have to make sure we temper it too. Queen’s is a good football team.”
Teams being honoured
LONDON, Ont. – Two past football teams are being honoured prior to the game.
1985 Team
– famous for their classic Drive of 85, this team was the first of coach Larry Haylorās to win the Yates Cup
– After a big defensive stop, the team scored a game-winning touchdown with two seconds remaining to defeat Laurier. Hec Crighton winner Blake Marshall scored the championship-winning touchdown
– led by Captain and All-Canadian linebacker Matt Janes, outstanding slotback Bill Starke, interception specialist Marius Locke, and the powerhouse tandem of Bill Lindsay and Irv Daymond – the St. Thomas Titans – on the O-line.
– quarterback Steve Samways was the team’s Quarterback, and eventual CFLers Pierre Vercheval and Jamie Taras were also on a team with depth of talent on both sides of the ball
– Mustangs beat Mount Allison in the Atlantic Bowl in Halifax, but fell to the Calgary Dinos 25-6 in the Vanier Cup
1971 Team
– Won the school’s first Vanier Cup, defeating Alberta
– Coached by legend Frank Consentino
– the team compiled a 9-3 record, defeating Alberta 15-14 in the Vanier Cup final
– Won Yates Cup 13-0 over Ottawa at J.W. Little Stadium
Oct. 2: Queen’s at Western, 1 p.m. (TD Waterhouse Stadium)
By Andy Watson
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