Following a bye week earned by being the top team in the OUA regular season, the Western Mustangs are set to play their first playoff game in the semifinals against the Guelph Gryphons in the hopes of reaching the Yates Cup game for the third straight year.

The Gryphons defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees, Western's last regular season opponent, in the OUA Quarterfinals last weekend by a score of 30-8 to extend their winning streak to four games. Guelph jumped out to a 20-0 lead by the end of the first quarter with all but one of their opening quarter drives resulting in points. The defence held Ottawa's offence to 10 total yards on their first three drives to set the tone early.

Running back Johnny Augustine carried the ball for the Gryphons 21 times, his third such game in a row after not reaching that threshold through six regular season games, to the tune of 151 yards as Guelph played with the lead for much of the game. Brandon Gordon and Theo Landers also each gained more than 60 yards on the ground for an offence that ran the ball on nearly 70% of their offensive plays. Quarterback James Roberts did most of his damage in the opening quarter, throwing two touchdown passes which accounted for 20% of all his completions.

Despite forcing only one turnover, the Gryphons' defence held the Gee-Gees to six points and pressured the Ottawa all game to earn six sacks. Among the key players on defence was veteran linebacker Luke Korol. Korol, who ranked third in the OUA in tackles per game in the regular season including a season-high 12 sack performance against Ottawa, registered 7.5 tackles while accounting for two sacks and a pass breakup.

The Mustangs and Gryphons have played tightly contested games over the last few years, including the postseason; Guelph bested the Mustangs in the 108^th Yates Cup and are the last team to defeat Western in a semifinal, having done it in 2014. The match between these two teams in the regular season went to overtime and saw the Mustangs come out with a 41-34 victory in a high scoring affair. Although it was a high scoring contest, it was also the smallest margin of victory the Mustangs have had all season, and another close game is expected for this weekend.

The Mustangs were led offensively in the game by quarterback Chris Merchant, who threw for a season-high 378 yards and led the team in rushing yards with 92, scoring twice on the ground. Augustine led the Gryphons in rushing yards despite only getting 2 carries as he took one 81 yards for a touchdown, the second longest run in the OUA this season. Outside of that run, the Gryphons failed to gain one yard per carry on 39 carries. Also of note is that Korol failed to register a solo tackle in the game, the only time that happened this season.

The winner of this semifinal will play the winner of the other semifinal between the McMaster Marauders and the Laurier Golden Hawks, last season's Yates Cup winner.

Fans can catch all the action at TD Stadium on Saturday, November 4 at 1 p.m. The game will also be broadcast live on Rogers Cable 13 in London, OUA.tv, Radio Western 94.9 FM, and Newstalk 1290 CJBK.
 
Coach Marshall on the Gryphons
 
"I think lots of things have changed [since the last game against the Gryphons]. Your base offences and defences are very similar – but that was two months ago. They've changed a lot since then, we've changed a lot since then, so I think it's about seeing what they'll do and what they've been doing differently. They're a good football team and we're excited to play them. We had a great game with them two months ago, and we expect a really good game on Saturday."