LONDON, Ont. - A dominating opening 20 minutes gave the Western Mustangs a lead they would never relinquish in a 55-16 win over the Brock Badgers on Oct. 20 at the UWO Rugby Fields on Wednesday afternoon.

Western had two tries each from Andrew Crow and Rory Tomlinson, and one try apiece from Tom Bridger, Mike Penzak, Cody Thistle, Conor Trainor and Eric Selvaggi. Bridger added four converts, while Aaron Kennedy booted one.

With the win, Western earns a first-round bye to the OUA semifinals to be played on the weekend of Nov. 6-7 in London. The opponent, location and time of the semifinal game will be announced later this month.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Mustangs dominated the pitch, forcing a number of turnovers and anticipating the ball well on lineouts.

Using their speed and agility, the Mustangs forced many missed Brock tackles and used their strength and depth to win one-on-one battles along the wing.

Western (7-0) led 19-3 after the opening 20 minutes. Trainor, recently back from a tour with the Canadian national 7s team at the Commonwealth Games in India, scored on a great run with a huge stiff-arm to stretch the lead to 24-3.

Then Bridger, who finished the game with 13 points, scored with a great stutter-step and stiff-arm play to beat his marker and then three others with pure force, sprinting over the try-line to score on a spectacular effort.

He added the convert to make the lead 31-3.

After another penalty goal from Brock's Samuel Rimmer - he had three on the day along with a convert - the Badgers scored on a Ty Riddick try just seconds after Jesse Kliman was sent-off for 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

But the Mustangs scored to end the Badgers' brief run of momentum. Marcel Rethore beat two defenders and delivered a perfect pass to Tomlinson who came up from the wing in support and touched down to score.

The Mustangs led 36-13 at the break.

Rimmer added another penalty goal early in the second half but Western responded with two more converted tries to close out the game.

Western closes the regular season in a battle for first place with the McMaster Marauders on Saturday in Hamilton, Ont., at 2 p.m.