The Western Mustangs dominated the Queen’s Gaels 51-22 Saturday afternoon at TD Stadium in London to capture the 106th Yates Cup. The victory marks the 30th time Western has hoisted the Yates Cup; the last time the Mustangs took home the championship was in 2010.
Mustangs receiver Matt Uren was awarded the Dalt White Trophy as Yates Cup MVP. Uren looked to be out early in the game after taking a hit on the opening kick-off, but the fourth-year receiver bounced back and caught two touchdowns — including a phenomenal stretching grab in the third quarter — and had 128 yards receiving in the win.
Uren, who has battled injury the entire season, said being recognized as the MVP “feels great.”
Mustangs quarterback and OUA MVP Will Finch had another strong performance, throwing for 252 yards, with three touchdowns and adding another 77 yards on the ground.
Finch credited his teammates’ effort after the game.
“Our whole team played awesome,” Finch said. “My O-line bought me so much time and the receivers made some fantastic catches. That’s all you can ask for as a quarterback.”
On the defensive end, linebackers Pawel Kruba and Preston Huggins led the team with eight tackles, with Huggins also adding one interception on the day.
Queen’s quarterback Billy McPhee had 275 passing yards and threw for two touchdowns with two interceptions.
On the opening drive, Mustangs kicker Lirim Hajrullahu nailed a 23-yard field goal to put the team up 3-0. After failing to score, a Queen’s punt took a fortuitous bounce and the Mustangs started their drive deep in their own territory, eventually conceding a safety to narrow their lead to 3-2.
Queen’s kicker Dillon Wamsley added a 30-yard field goal to give the Queen’s the 5-3 at the end of 15 minutes.
However, the Mustangs offence woke up in the second quarter. After Hajrullahu kicked a 31-yard field goal, Mustangs running back Yannick Harou carried the ball three yards into the end zone for the first major of the day. The Mustangs would add a rouge immediately after to go up 14-5.
With Queen’s threatening on the next drive, Huggins came up with a huge interception at the Queen’s 50-yard line to give the ball right back to the Mustangs. Hajrullahu again came up huge a few plays later, nailing a long 49-yard field goal to extend Western’s lead to 17-5.
Finch connected with Uren late in the quarter with a 16-yard pass and Hajrullahu added another single to bring the score to 25-5 after two quarters.
The Mustangs continued to press in the third quarter further extending the lead with a touchdown pass to Brian Marshall in the corner of the end zone to make it 32-5 in favour of the purple and white.
Following a single, both Harou and Uren earned their second touchdowns of the game on the next two drives, putting the Mustangs up 47-5. Hajrullahu capped off the scoring in the third with another single, putting Western up 48-5 with one quarter remaining.
Early in the fourth, McPhee connected with Justin Chapdelaine, who carried it into the end zone for the Gaels first touchdown. The Gaels added a two-point convert, to narrow the score to 48-13.
Hajrullahu came in again to kick a long field goal, this time a 41-yard attempt, to help the Mustangs eclipse the 50-point mark for the eighth time this season.
The Gaels added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Mustangs took the game 51-22.
After the game, Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall said this victory was a complete team effort.
“That was as big and as solid as a team victory as we’ve had here in a long time,” he said.
However, even after securing his fourth Yates Cup as head coach of the Mustangs, Marshall said the team still has work to do if they want to win the Vanier Cup. “We got to get back to work tomorrow and take the next step, but this was a great win for our football program and our football team.”
It is the 18th Yates Cup victory for Marshall, who’s hoisted the trophy four times as head coach of the Mustangs, four times as head coach at McMaster, seven times as a Mustangs assistant coach and three times as a Western player.
The Mustangs head west next weekend to take on the Hardy Cup champion Calgary Dinos in the Mitchell Bowl. The winner then moves on to compete in the 49th Vanier Cup on Nov. 23 in Quebec City.