Western 30 Wilfrid Laurier 7
LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs dominated the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 30-7 in front of 8,781 fans at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Sept. 12.
The No. 2 nationally ranked team starts the season 2-0, with wins against the Golden Hawks and previously nationally ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. The atmosphere at the Mustangs home opener was electric, an already large crowd bolstered by many enthusiastic first-year students, many of whom were seeing the Mustangs play for the first time.
The defence was dominant, limiting the Golden Hawks offence to 208 total yards.
"We were good on defence, no question, but their front four dominated us in the second half and we couldn't do much with our running game," Marshall said.
The strong performance of its young, ball-hawking defense logged three interceptions, three forced fumbles and one turnover on downs. Linebacker Adrian Kaiser (London, Ont.) left midway through the second quarter with an injury - failing to complete the game for a second consecutive week. He was replaced by freshman Marcus Babic (Oakville, Ont.) who finished second on the team in tackles with 4.5, including one for a loss.
Quarterback Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) was strong, scrambling around the Laurier pass rush to go 21/30 for 315 yards and a pair of tourchdowns, including a 77-yard screen pass to running back Da'shawn Thomas (Conyers, Ga., USA). Thomas finished with 13 rushes for 69 yards and four catches for 70 yards - even though three were for negative yardage - and a touchdown.
"Da Riva" - the nickname given to dymnamic running back duo of Thomas and Nathan Riva (LaSalle, Ont.) - was impressive, with Riva adding 125 all-purpose yards including 16 rushes for 92 yards and a touchdown.
"Last week we made a lot of mental errors. This week we were more crisp. I think before this game our players had a bit of anxiety on offence," Faulds said."This was a lot better. The Da Riva combination opens up our passing game. It's up to me to spread the ball around to all these weapons."
Conor Elliott (London, Ont.) led the Mustangs defence with a pair of interceptions, a forced fumble and three total tackles.
"It's the best feeling in the world... It was a validating performance. People were talking smack all week about us and we came in ready to play," said Elliott. "Everyone has been questioning our defence and we came together today. We set a tone."
The Mustangs scored first when they marched down the field on an 80-yard drive following a missed Laurier field goal. The drive was kept alive by a two-yard keeper on a third down by Faulds. The Mustangs moved the ball to the one yard line, with the touchdown being scored by Riva, a former OFSAA track star who beat the Laurier defenders to the corner of the endzone with 6:16 to play in the first.
Another promising Western drive started at their own 40 yard line, following a Laurier punt. Kicker Darryl Wheeler (Hamiton, Ont.) booted a 33-yard attempt to give Western a comfortable 10-0 lead with 12:18 to play in the half.
It took until much later in second quarter, with just 10.6 seconds left, for Faulds to to throw for points, hitting senior Josh Svec (Blenheim, Ont.) for a touchdown pass. He was kept off balance for much of the first half by a fierce Laurier pass rush, which tallied six sacks throughout the course of the day. Svec caught the pass at its highest point, a true jump-ball in the endzone showing great placement by Faulds, finding the weak spot in Laurier's otherwise solid coverage and taking advantage of Svec's six-foot tall frame. The extra point was coverted by Wheeler. Faulds starts his last CIS football season attempting to break many Mustang records, including the all-time passing mark set by former Western great Chris Hessel. He needs only 248 more yards.
Western scored again with 7:47 left in the third, Faulds connecting with Thomas for a 77-yard touchdown pass. Thomas opened up in the seam after faking a checkdown route that he had been running all day. The snap on the extra point was botched and the conversion missed. Nonetheless, Western continued in its strong performance, with defensive back Aaron Handsor (Chatham, Ont.) intercepting a Luke Thompson (London, Ont.) pass and returning it 64 yards for a touchdown with 2:30 to go. This put Western up 30-0 and truly sealed the game for the Mustangs.
Laurier scored its only touchdown when their backup quarterback Evan Pawliuk (Kingston, Ont.) hit reciever Shamawd Chambers (Markham, Ont.) for a 34-yard touchdown strike.
Marshall said the squad still has many things to work on, but admitted he was happy with the pair of wins over previously nationally ranked teams.
"But our pass protection needs to be better," Marshall said.
The Mustangs travel to play the Windsor Lancers on Saturday Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
"It's their homecoming and they'll be amped up to play," Faulds said. "We'll have to be ready to play."
Other OUA Scores - Week 2
Guelph 66 York 8
Queen's 8 McMaster 7
Ottawa 45 Waterloo 11
Windsor 30 Toronto 3
