LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs set a school record for most points in a game and the widest margin of victory in a game in a 76-0 win over the York Lions at York Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the No. 3 nationally ranked Mustangs (6-1) clinch a first-round playoff bye and will host an OUA semifinal on Nov. 6 at 1 or 4:30 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Next week, Western hosts Toronto on Seniors Day on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Western will try to set a modern-era, single-season OUA attendance record.
FULL STATS
On Saturday, the defence held the Lions offence to just 91 yards and four first downs on the day, while the Mustangs offence scored nine touchdowns, three off York interceptions.
"They are one of the great defences in history but I won't pass judgment on them until I see what they do in the playoffs," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall."We won't crown them until then."
The Western offence put up a season-high 622 yards on offence and picked up 33 first downs.
Donnie Marshall led the Western offence with a team-high 101 net rushing yards and was 11-for-18 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Western put up 359 passing yards and 272 rushing yards.
Jerimy Hipperson added five carries for 79 yards and one touchdown, extending his CIS-best 2010 rushing touchdown total to nine.
Sophomore kicker Lirim Hajrullahu of St. Catharines, Ont., scored three field goals (26, 13 and 19 yards) and added eight extra points for 17 total points.
Hajrullahu opened the scoring on a 26-yard field goal before the Mustangs got an unconverted touchdown from Hipperson. The junior running back from St. Catharines, Ont., ran for 44 yards to move the ball to the redzone before scoring a one-yard major.
Nick Shuster pulled his first interception down at midfield, capped off with an Ian Noble four-yard touchdown run with 2:29 left in the quarter to make it 16-0 for Western.
Receiver Nick Trevail set up that Noble scoring play after he caught a Donnie Marshall ball on a third-down gamble.
Trevail caught a touchdown pass of his own just over a minute later on a 30-yard Marshall scoring pass - 125 left in quarter and Western led 23-0 after the opening quarter.
Early in the second quarter, slotback Nick Pasic of London got in on the action, as Donnie Marshall found him wide open on a 10-yard pass.
York conceded a safety and then Mike Hegarty of Sarnia pulled in a great catch in double-coverage to score on a 36-yard Marshall pass.
Two Hajrullahu field goals late in the quarter - from 13 and 19 yards - stretched the lead to 45-0 at halftime.
An early third-quarter Craig Butler interception set up a one-yard Dan Duff scoring run and then Noble ran in his second touchdown of the day on a 12-yard scurry, capitalizing on a Conor Elliott interception.
A single from Hajrullahu extended the lead to 60-0.
York conceded another safety and then Kenny Eansor scored on a one-yard run with 9:17 left to make it 67-0.
Rookie quarterback Ben Rossong of Sackville, N.S., got his first career series and scored right away. He completed his first CIS career pass to Andrew Thibaudeau for nine yards then ran the ball twice to get a first down.
Rossong, who was 2-of-4 for 15 yards passing and ran for 23 yards, then ran in his first CIS touchdown from one yard out to give Western school-record 76 points in interuniversity competition. The only wider margin of victory came in a 91-0 exhibition win in 1946 over the Oshawa Raiders.
York (0-7) travels to Queen's (2-5) for their final regular season game, looking knock the defending Vanier Cup and Yates Cup champions out of the playoffs.
Western's High Score Wins against University Opponents
1946 Western 91 Oshawa Raiders 0 A
1984 20-Oct-84 Western 72 Waterloo 0 H
1987 18-Sep-87 Western 75 Toronto 7 A
2004 11-Sep-04 Western 72 Toronto 8 A
2005 3-Sep-05 Western 70 Toronto 1 A
2008 20-Sep-08 Western 71 York 0 A
OTHER CIS SCORES
Mount Allison 20 Acadia 7
McMaster 40 Toronto 21
Guelph 41 Windsor 14
Concordia 26 Sherbrooke 26 OT
Montreal 30 McGill 7
Western 76 York 0
Laurier 44 Queen's 23
