TORONTO – Fourth-year receiver Brian Marshall caught two touchdown passes and racked up 160 yards receiving on seven receptions to help lead the Western Mustangs to a 50-14 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday afternoon at Varsity Stadium.
“Brian’s had a great training camp,” said Greg Marshall, Mustangs head coach. “We expect that he’s going to make those big catches for us; he’s got very, very strong hands. (He made those plays) in a time we needed those big plays from him.”
Quarterback Will Finch led the Mustangs offence, completing 23 of 32 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Chris Jugovic threw for one touchdown and 274 yards on 24 for 39 passing with two interceptions in the loss.
Alongside Marshall-s 160-yard performance, second-year receiver George Johnson pulled down nine passes for 98 yards and one touchdown for the Mustangs, while Paul de Pass posted 86 yards on five catches and Alex Pierzchalski caught nine passes for 66 yards to lead the Toronto receiving corps.
Defensively Toronto’s Trevor Harvey led all defenders with 8.5 tackles while also earning one sack and one interception. Kalvin Johnson topped the score sheet for the Mustangs defence posting 4.5 on the day.
The Mustangs opened the scoring at 10:05 of the first quarter when defensive end Daryl Waud forced Jugovic to fumble, allowing Malcolm Brown to pick up the ball and return it 16 yards to put the Mustangs in front.
Western added to their lead a short time later as quarterback Will Finch avoided an aggressive Toronto rush to score on a 24-yard run.
The score remained the same until midway through the second quarter when Finch threw deep connecting with receiver Brian Marshall on a 71-yard touchdown pass to put the Mustangs up by 21.
After a missed field goal resulted in a single point for Western the Varsity Blues immediately fired back on the next drive as Jugovic marched the offence down the field, eventually finding a wide open Michael Kanopoulos in the end zone to make it 22-7 Western.
The Mustangs didn’t take long to respond, scoring on the next drive when Brian Marshall recorded his second touchdown of the day, this time catching a 32-yard pass from Blake Huggins. A single on the ensuing kickoff gave Western a 30-7 lead heading into halftime.
Following a 24-yard field goal from Hajrullahu midway through the third quarter, Toronto recorded the game’s next major as Harrison Beeforth broke through the Western line, forcing a fumble by Finch that Chris Johnson returned 60-yards to cut Western’s lead to 33-14.
Continuing one of the themes of the day the next scoring play came quickly as Johnson hauled in a 35-yard pass from Finch to extend the Mustangs lead to 40-14 which increased to 47-14 just after the start of the fourth quarter thanks to a one-yard run from Garret Sanvido.
Hajrullahu rounded out the game’s scoring with a 15-yard field goal, giving Western a 50-14 victory.
The Mustangs are back in action on Labour Day for the team’s home opener against the Carleton Ravens who make their return to OUA football this season. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at TD Stadium and fans can watch the action live on Rogers Cable 13, listen on NewsTalk 1290 AM CJBK Radio or watch the webcast on SSN Canada.