TD Stadium is bound to be rocking on Homecoming as the Western Mustangs look to remain undefeated when the Carleton Ravens visit London on Saturday.
The Mustangs continued their dominant season this past week with a 48-25 victory over the Queen's Gaels.
While the purple and white put in another strong performance, it's hard to argue with a 23-point margin of victory and 703 yards of total offence, at times the Mustangs looked mortal for the first time all season. They gave up a season high 25 points, surrendered several sacks of Finch, and were shut out for an entire quarter, marking the first time they have scored less than seven in a quarter this season.
However, the Mustangs played well, with several big performances once again from quarterback
Will Finch, running back
Alex Taylor, and defensive end
Ricky Osei-Kusi.
Finch continued his outstanding senior season, going 32 for 42 for 454 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Taylor had 11 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns and would have had his second kick-off return touchdown of the season had it not been for the last-ditch efforts of Queen's kicker Dillon Wamsley.
Osei-Kusi's return has certainly been a welcome sight for Mustangs fans and likely led to a few sleepless nights for opposing offensive coordinators. The high energy defensive end had another 2.5 sacks to bring his total to 5.5 in two games, good for first place in the nation. Not to be outdone by his fellow defensive end,
John Biewald has also been a nightmare for opposition quarterbacks, racking up 4.5 sacks to hold down the second spot on the CIS leaderboard.
Carleton is 3-1 this season with their only loss coming against the same Queen's team. They are a program that has dramatically improved over the past several years and are far removed from the last time they took the field at TD Stadium, when the Mustangs welcomed the Ravens back to CIS football with a 71-4 thumping. This time around Carleton is coming off of a tightly contested 19-15 win over the University of Toronto last week. They also have two dominant victories over Windsor and Waterloo.
They are scoring nearly 41 points per game and giving up an average of just 16.3. Primarily a pocket passer, quarterback Jesse Mills can step up in the pocket and deliver strong and accurate throws. He has a 63.8% completion percentage and has thrown for seven touchdowns and only two interceptions this season. Â Mills only runs as a distant last resort, picking up 16 yards on only five attempts this season.
For the second straight week, the Mustangs defence will line up against a dominant runner. Last week they faced Jesse Andrews from Queen's, the OUA's leading rusher; this week they will try to limit the OUA's second leading rusher, Jahvari Bennet. Bennet is averaging 126.8 yards on the ground and has five touchdowns.
The game is sure to be highly entertaining, as the Ravens are definitely capable of making some noise and will be highly motivated to topple one of the league's top teams in front of a Homecoming crowd. Alumni, students, and London football fans will pile into TD Stadium to see the Mustangs face what could be their toughest test so far. Game time on Saturday, September 26, is set for 1 p.m., and fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv and Rogers Cable 13. Fans can also listen live on CHRW Radio 94.9 FM and Newstalk 1290 CJBK with Tom McConnell and legendary Mustangs coach Larry Haylor calling all the action.
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