LONDON, Ont. – Alex Taylor ran for 184 yards and racked up three touchdowns to help lead the Western Mustangs to a 48-10 win over the Queen's Gaels on Saturday night at TD Stadium.
 
"It was our best, most complete game," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall. "I thought offensively that Chris [Merchant] was really good. He made good decisions, took down the ball at good times and took off with it. It wasn't perfect, it never is.
 
"There were a couple drives we didn't finish off, we took some chances and that happens some times. I thought overall when we didn't finish, Marc [Liegghio] got points on the board for us which was very important."
 
It was Blackout night at Western and the Mustangs certainly dressed for the occasion, donning black pants and uniforms for the first time in decades to the surprise of a crowd of more than 4,700 fans.
 
"The jerseys worked well tonight. There's always that risk when you go off the beaten path, you do black they better work or you're going to hear 'it was the black jerseys that lost the game,' so it was good to get a big convincing win with those jerseys," said coach Marshall.
 
With the win, Western now moves to 5-0 on the year and remain atop the OUA standings, while Queen's falls to 0-4.
 
Taylor's season high 184 yards rushing came on only 13 carries, giving him an average of 14.2 yards per attempt, including one 35-yard touchdown run. The Winnipeg native found the end zone twice more in the win, catching touchdown passes of nine and three yards to go along with five catches and 50 receiving yards.
 
"I felt a lot more fresh, I don't know if it showed a bit, but I've been talking about it with Tom Marshall and some of the coaches and I just felt that I was due for a couple of big runs. I've been trying, been chipping away all season, and finally I got a couple today so it felt good."
 
Chris Merchant had another strong outing for the Mustangs, completing 18 of 29 passes for 306 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also added another 43 yards on the ground on seven carries, including the Mustangs first major of the day, a six-yard run on Western's first drive.
 
Kicker Marc Liegghio had an outstanding game on Saturday night, going six for six on field goals to tie the Mustangs single game record for field goals in a game. Liegghio connected on four field goals from 40-yards or longer including two from 45-yards.
 
"When I got out there and made the first kick, went one-for-one, then two-for-two, and as I got to the sixth one I thought I could do something big here and I just did it all for the team," said Liegghio. "I thought I kicked really well today. I thought my punting could have been better, but my field goals were on point today."
 
Defensively, the Mustangs were led by linebacker Nick Vanin who recorded 10 tackles, seven solo, in the win. Hakeem Johnson provided the defensive highlight of the day with an impressive interception on the Mustangs one-yard line to stop a Gaels drive just before halftime.
 
The Mustangs didn't wait long to put points on the board, as Merchant capped off Western's opening 85-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown run to put the home side up 7-0 just over two minutes into the contest.
 
Western continued to roll on the next two possessions, with Merchant connecting with Taylor on touchdown passes of nine and three yards to give the Mustangs a 23-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
 
Nick Liberatore put the Gaels on the board with a 34-yard field goal so start the half, before Liegghio answered back with his first of the night to maintain the Mustangs 23-point lead.
 
Nate Hobbs cut into the Mustangs lead late in the second quarter, finishing off a seven play, 73-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown pass to Alex Zulys to record the Gaels lone major of the day.
 
Liegghio notched his second field goal of the evening on the Mustangs next drive, giving Western a 29-10 lead at the half.
 
The Mustangs continued to control the play over the final two quarters, with Liegghio adding another four field goals, while Taylor scored on a 35-yard run to give the Mustangs a 48-10 victory.
 
Next up for Western is a rematch of the 109th Yates Cup against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday, September 30. Although most would expect that the Mustangs would be looking to avenge last year's heartbreaking loss, that's not the case according to coach Marshall.
 
"Laurier's a good football team. We're going to put last year behind us and just concentrate on winning it for the 2017 team.
 
"Football's an emotional game. You try and put those things out of your mind, but it'll be in the back of our kids' minds and we said at the time that you don't forget the things that happened in the past – you have to learn from them. We need to learn and finish off games. I thought today we did a good job of finishing off the game and we'll need to do that next week."
 
Game time for Saturday's matchup is set for 1 p.m. at University Stadium in Waterloo. Fans can tune in live on OUA.tv and Radio Western 94.9 FM, or on Newstalk 1290 CJBK with Tom McConnell and legendary Mustangs coach Larry Haylor calling all the action.