KINGSTON, Ont. - After a 509-passing yard performance on basically one knee, Michael Faulds may have just rewritten the definition of what makes a warrior.
Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) and the No. 5 ranked Western Mustangs lost a thriller in the Yates Cup, 43-39 to the No. 4 ranked Queen's Gaels in front of 7,253 noisy at Richardson Stadium on Nov. 14.
With the win, the Gaels will host the Laval Rouge et Or in the Mitchell Bowl, the national semifinal, at Richardson Stadium on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. (tape delayed to 3:30 p.m. on TSN and Radio-Canada).
Saint Mary's will host Calgary in the Uteck Bowl, the other national semifinal, in Halifax at 12 p.m. on Nov. 21.
The Mustangs and Gaels provided fans with a thrilling game with 1,024 total yards of offence combined between the two squads.
Faulds, a Hec Crighton finalist playing in his final CIS game, was brilliant.
Needing to score four or more points in the final minute, the Mustangs punched the ball inside Queen's territory. But a recurring knee injury caught up to Faulds, and the Western quarterback went down with one minute in the fourth quarter, trying to engineer the game-winning drive. Faulds, who once after the injury tried getting back into the game but could not put any weight on his leg, somehow mustered enough strength and courage to try to throw one final pass intended for Zach Bull (Port Colborne, Ont.).
It was an unfortunate yet telling end to a great career. An emotional Greg Marshall paid tribute to one of Western's greatest.
"I've lost football games before, and losing a football game is losing a football game, but looking Michael in the eye after the game, knowing that he would not be back as Western's quarterback, it was tough to do," Marshall said. "It's difficult for me to talk about Michael Faulds right now. He means so much to me and to our football team."
"He's a warrior."
Not to be lost was Danny Brannagan's brilliant performance. The fifth-year senior from Burlington, Ont., was 27/47 for 515 yards and five touchdowns.
The Gaels last Bowl game was in 1992, defeating Guelph in the Churchill Bowl, 23-16 - Queen's won the Vanier Cup over Saint Mary's the same year, a 31-0 victory in the only shutout in the national final's history.
Faulds finished 25/38 for one touchdown and was sacked twice.
"I told him (Greg Marshall) that it might be the last play of my career and I wanted to go in," Faulds said. "It's upsetting, it's the end of my career. But I knew it could be now, or next week or two weeks down the road."
"I was stumbling around," Faulds said of the play, "and wanted to give the receivers a chance to catch the ball."
The ball thrown, which would have been in first down territory near the Queen's eight-yard line, fell between Bull and the outstretched arms of Mike Hegarty (Sarnia, Ont.) who nearly made the grab.
Faulds, the OUA MVP and Hec Crighton nominee, graduates with the CIS career and season records in passing yards at 10,811 and 3,033 yards respectively. He will leave Western with many other football records and likely will return to coach in the CIS.
Sophomore quarterback Donnie Marshall (London, Ont.) went in when Faulds was hurt and despite facing pressure, had two near completions in the late stages. But Faulds wanted another chance and coach Marshall gave him the shot.
"With his arm strength I thought maybe he could make that play... even with his injury," Marshall said. "He wanted to go back out and obviously he could not even stand up. But he went in and almost pulled it off."
John Leckie (Georgetown, Ont.) scored three touchdowns on one-yard carries for the Mustangs - his only three majors of the year after fighting through a pre-season hamstring injury.
Marty Gordon (Kingston, Ont.) finished with 11 carries for 81 yards, while Nathan Riva (LaSalle, Ont.) had 29 carries for 100 yards and two catches for 37 yards.
Chris Ioannides (Toronto) and Scott Valberg (Kingston, Ont.) both had eight catches for over 200 yards for Queen's.
Marshall said penalties and the failure to score on the one-yard line on two attempts hurt his squad.
"It looked to me like (Nick) Trevail was in and scored," Marshall said, referring to Trevail's 11-yard catch with just over five minutes left which put the ball at the one-yard line and, had it been ruled a touchdown, would have made the score 43-36.
Instead, the Mustangs settled for a nine-yard Darryl Wheeler (Hamilton, Ont.) field goal, one of four on the day (the others from 29, 19 and 14 yards out).
"But no excuses, when we were down on the one-yard line, we should have scored," Marshall said. "Credit to them, they are a good football team. Our defence is young but we'll be better for it. It was a tough experience to put these kids in to such a big game with Queen's having a great line and great receivers."
The future is bright for Western, and Marshall is optimistic for next season.
"Whoever is quarterback is coming into a good situation," Marshall said. "We have a great offensive line returning, good defence and good receivers."
John Surla (Niagara Falls, Ont.) led Western with 7.5 tackles. Two Mustangs playing in their final games were kept busy by Brannagan - Josh Foster (London, Ont.) finished with three tackles and Cory Watson(London, Ont.) finished with 1.5 tackles.
Nick Trevail (London, Ont.) was terrific. After a couple of early bobbles, he finished with nine catches for 171 yards, including several along the sideline requiring great skill. Senior Hegarty finished with one catch for 18 yards.
Aaron Handsor (Chatham, Ont.) finished with a strong day with six kickoff returns for 131 yards and five total tackles.
But the day will be remembered for years to come for Faulds' heroic effort.
"He's so responsible for our turnaround, what he did and what he's meant to this football team," Marshall said. "He accomplished a lot and helped us get over a hump. He's picked up the flag and kept marching. He told me he wanted to go back in and I gave him that opportunity."
Final stats available online HERE.
