WATERLOO, Ont. – A strong defensive effort and impressive ground game led the Western Mustangs to a 29-13 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday afternoon at University Stadium.
 
"That's round one. If we're going to win a championship we've got to do it again and if it's not [against Laurier] then it'll be another good team. Our guys responded, it was a good challenge, they're a good football team," said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall.
 
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 6-0 and stand alone as the only undefeated team in the OUA, while Laurier falls to 4-1 and are one of four teams with four wins, including Ottawa, McMaster, and Waterloo.
 
The Mustangs racked up 457 yards of total offence in the win, with 361 of those coming on the ground.
 
Chris Merchant led both the Mustangs rushing and passing attacks, completing 10 of 16 passes for 109 yards, while also recording 143 yards rushing on 11 carries.
 
"They're a great team in the secondary and they have a lot of athletes back there. Maybe I missed a couple of reads, but some of the running lanes were opening up and sometimes when I see that I'm able to take it," said Merchant. "I feel like today was one of those days where they opened up really nicely for me and the offensive line did a great job blocking for me."
 
All-Canadian running back Alex Taylor was next up with 124 yards on 21 attempts and was followed by Cedric Joseph, who tallied 80 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns.
 
Marc Liegghio had yet another impressive outing, after tying a Mustangs single game record with six field goals last week the Woodbridge, Ont., native hit five more field goals on Saturday along with two extra points. Liegghio has now connected on 13 consecutive field goals, and hasn't missed since the Mustangs game against McMaster on September 9.
 
Although the Golden Hawks recorded 438 total yards on Saturday, the Mustangs defence were able to limit Laurier's big plays and prevent them from finishing off drives.
 
"We've been boiling on this for a long time now," said defensive tackle Jimmy Hawley on taking down the Golden Hawks. "Coach Gleason, credit to him, coach Marshall and all the coaches for getting us prepared. We had a bunch of different packages, you could see different guys subbing in almost every down.
 
"This is huge, but at the same time we can't ride this high too high, this is only round one – we're going to see them again."
 
Michael Knevel completed 33 of 45 passes for 317 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss. His main target was Kurleigh Gittens Jr. who made an incredible 18 catches, one off the U SPORTS record of 19, for 174 yards.
 
Gittens Jr. and Knevel may have gained yardage through the air, but the purple and white defence slowed down a running attack that had been averaging nearly 210 yards per game, limiting the Golden Hawks to 121 yards rushing.
 
"We did a very good job stopping the run, we've got to do a better job stopping the pass, but give them credit they have a couple receivers…they're dangerous to deal with, especially in man coverage."
 
Western started the game off strong, with Taylor breaking out for a 41-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a 39-yard field goal from Liegghio to cap off Western's opening drive.
 
The Golden Hawks responded on their first drive with a 21-yard field goal from Nathan Mesher to keep the score even in the opening minutes.
 
The kickers continued to put points on the board, with Liegghio hitting a 44-yard field goal to make it 6-3 for the Mustangs after 15 minutes. Both defences continued to limit their opposing offence, with Liegghio and Mesher each adding another field goal to keep the teams separated by only three points.
 
Late in the second quarter the Mustangs used the ground game to put together their first touchdown drive of the day, with Merchant pulling the ball down and running for 31 yards on the drive before Joseph could punch it in from five yards out to put Western up 16-6 heading into halftime.
 
"Chris is dangerous, when you play two-man against him you really can't account for the quarterback pulling the ball and taking off because everyone's in man coverage and the two guys are high. Chris did a good job with pulling it down and ripping off some big yards for us," said Marshall.
 
Neither team was able to get much going until late in the third, when Joseph scored on a 34-yard run to record his second touchdown of the day and extend the Western lead to 23-6 going into the final frame.
 
Liegghio's fourth field goal of the day put Western up 26-6 early in the fourth, however the Golden Hawks responded midway through the quarter with a six-yard pass from Knevel to Daniel Bennett.
 
Unfortunately for the home side that was as close as things would get, as Liegghio hit one final field goal to give the Mustangs a 29-13 win.
 
The Mustangs will now turn their attention to a showdown with the Carleton Ravens on Friday, October 6, at TD Stadium. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and can be seen live on Rogers Cable channel 368, and on OUA.tv. Fans can also tune in on Radio Western 94.9 FM or on Newstalk 1290 CJBK with Tom McConnell and legendary Mustangs coach Larry Haylor calling all the action.