The McMaster Marauders rained on Western’s Homecoming parade with a 42-35 upset over the No. 2 ranked Mustangs Saturday at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
In spite of the damp weather, Homecoming drew a crowd of more than 9,200 to TD Waterhouse Stadium.
With the loss, Western falls to 4-1.
Greg Marshall, Western’s head coach who is now 0-2 against his former McMaster team in three seasons, was disappointed with the overall Mustangs effort.
“Not a lot went well,” he says. “Lots has been made about us being the No. 2 ranked team… I’m not naive. We have to get better. Our defence needs to get better, our special teams need to get better.”
Marshall says injuries played a factor, especially the loss of lineman Mike Van Praet, who may have broken his fibula during the game.
But he would not make excuses and said the inconsistency of the offence and “lack of identity” on special teams gave McMaster the edge.
“And to their credit, they are a very well coached football team. They outcoached us today and I don’t like to say it but it’s the truth,” he says. “Our offence needs to be more consistent and needs to score points so we’re not digging ourselves out of a hole.”
Western’s next home game is on Thursday Oct. 8 when the Mustangs host the York Lions at 7 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
