OTTAWA, Ont. - Like a cat waiting to pounch, the Western Mustangs patiently held off Ottawa in the first quarter en route to an 32-17 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Frank Clair Stadium on Sept. 6 in front of 5,120 fans.

Penalty trouble plagued the No. 10-ranked Gee-Gees, which fall to 0-1, while No. 2 Western showed maturity and poise early before their depth and experience beginning late in the second quarter to move to 1-0.

Ottawa controlled the game early, but struggled with penalty trouble - fortunately for Western, the Gee-Gees could only put seven points on the board in the first nine minutes despite controlling the play.
Da'shawn Thomas (Conyers, Georgia, USA) was superb in his Mustangs debut, as was sophomore Nathan Riva (LaSalle, Ont.) who scored a pair of touchdowns and stretched Ottawa's defence with lightning-quick speed.

Riva led Western's attack with two touchdowns, 96 yards on 11 carries, adding 26 yards on three catches, four punt returns for 27 yards and three kickoff returns for 51 yards. Thomas had nine carries for 77 yards and six catches for 92 yards.

"Both are great receiving and with running the ball," Faulds said of the Thomas-Riva combination. "Early in the game we used one as a receiver and one as a running back. Later we noticed Ottawa was tiring so we rotated the backs and it worked really well."

Ottawa looked dominant early in a game that featured over 225 yards in penalties.

Brad Sinopoli (Peterborough, Ont.) was effective, he was 22/41 for 355 yards. Faulds was solid, throwing 18/36 for 293 yards, three touchdowns and a trio of interceptions, two to Chayce Elliott (Burnaby, B.C.). 

He was sacked twice but felt a lot of hits as he was throwing the ball.

Western Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall said much of the inconsitency of Faulds had to do with it being the first game of the season.

"At times he was outstanding, at other times he was not," Marshall said. "Give Ottawa credit, they defended the pass well."

Craig Butler (London, Ont.) led the defence with nine tackles.

The Gee-Gees struck first.

After Matthew Bolduc (Ottawa, Ont.) caught a Sinopoli pass to give the Gee-Gees first and goal from the six yard line, talented freshman Jordan Wilson-Ross (Burlington, Ont.) scored on a highlight reel 360-degree flip into the endzone, guided by great blocking.

Wilson-Ross had a terrific OUA debut, with 18 carries for 126 yards and one touchdown - including a spectacular 62-yard run in the first quarter.

Western struggled as Faulds was picked off on the next series on his first passing attempt of the day. 

But Ottawa gave Western too many opportunities to stay in the game. Bad snaps. Over 100 yards in penalties in the first 25 minutes. Too many two and outs. It all resulted in Western second-chance opportunities.

Ottawa finished with 151 yards of penalties on 18 infractions - Western had eight for 75 yards. Ottawa was were spectacular at times, but made too many mistakes to stay in the race with the Mustangs.
Western tied the game with 44 seconds left in the first quarter, as Jesse Bellamy (Guelph, Ont.) pulled in a 33-yard pass from Faulds. The Mustangs had been trying to exploit Ottawa's secondary and finally capitalized with Bellamy's score.

Matthew Falvo (Welland, Ont.) gave Ottawa their second and last lead on a 38-yard field goal 12:50 left in the second quarter.

Darryl Wheeler (Hamilton, Ont.) had a chance to tie the score but missed a 40-yard attempt which was run out.

Wilson-Ross continued to lead the Gee-Gees, converting on several big plays taking shovel passes from Sinopoli for multiple first-down gains. He got the Gee-Gees out of a major jam at second an 35.
Falvo added another field goal, from 29 yards out, to extend the lead to 13-7 with 4:33 left in the second quarter.

Thomas took over in the hurry-up offence. His first big play, a 28-yard catch-and-run late in the second quarter started a great Western drive. Nick Trevail (London, Ont.) pulled in a 32-yard Faulds pass despite being doubled and interfered with.

Thomas scored his first CIS touchdown, running in a Faulds pass and getting a nice pick from Trevail to give Western the 14-13 lead.

Western added a touchdown late in the half. After Thomas took a screen pass to the four-yard-line, Riva scored on an off-tackle rush to make it 21-13.

The Mustangs held off a great start to the second half from ottawa. On the first Gee-Gees possession of the third quarter, a great drive ended with a 23-yard Falvo field goal to make the score 21-16 for Western five minutes into the second half.

Ottawa conceded a safety to make it 23-16 Ottawa but Western picked up their play.

Thomas showed his versatility throwing a 38-yard strike to Trevail in double coverage on a flea-flicker. Trevail managed to catch the ball in traffic despite being mauled and having a flag thrown against Ottawa anyway for pass interference.

Faulds set up the next touchdown running for a first down. Then after eluding one tackle on a screen pass, Riva leapt into the endzone for his second touchdown of the day, this one from nine yards out making it 30-16 for the Mustangs.

Looking to score again, Western got inside the 20 but Faulds threw an interception to Alex Lothian (Brampton, Ont.).

After Ottawa conceded a safety, Falvo added a single missing a 47-yard field goal attempt to make it 32-17 for Western.

"The score doesn't indicate what it could have been," Faulds said. "We had a big win against a Top 10 team in the country. The good things is that we probably don't have to come back here again with the tiebreaker."

Western has now won the past four meetings against the Gee-Gees.

"We have to get better if we're going to be one of the best teams in the league," Marshall said.
The Mustangs host Wilfrid Laurier next Saturday Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. For tickets, visit westernmustangs.ca and click on the tickets tab or call 519 661.4077.

NOTES: Faulds, linebacker John Surla (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and offensive lineman Andy Rady (London, Ont.) are the 2009 team captains in 2009.