London, ON – Kojo Odoom was the hero for the Mustangs with a pick-6 in the fourth quarter as Western beat Waterloo 30-24 in the OUA Semi-Final game Saturday afternoon.
"That was huge," said Mustangs Head Coach Greg Marshall "He (Tre Ford) was getting hard to stop and that was a great play,"
"I saw the QB looking over to the boundary side pre-snap so I knew the ball was coming, just didn't know which side," said Odoom post-game "Once the ball came out, I got my break quickly and got that ball and took it back."
The game started a little slower than most expected.
Marc Liegghio opened the scoring with a field goal at 11:02.
After the Mustangs made it 6-0 on another Liegghio field goal, Waterloo QB Tre Ford had extra time in the pocket and found Gordon Lam on a 10 yd pass to move the game to a 7-6 Waterloo lead with 3:07 remaining in the half.
With under a minute to go in the 2nd quarter, Liegghio would step up and kick his third field goal of the half to take a 9-7 lead into the dressing room.
After Waterloo scored to re-take the lead at 14-9, Keon Edwards took the ball on the kickoff return 54 yards to the Waterloo 32-yard line. Western would have to settle for another Liegghio field goal to move the score to a 14-12 Waterloo lead.
It would take until the 5:53 mark of the 3rd quarter before the Mustangs would get their first major of the game. Trey Humes would finish off a 50-yard drive with a 2-yard run to move the Mustangs to a 19-17 lead.
"I feel like we played one of our most complete games of the season today," said Humes "We've got to be happy with the win but we know there are area still to improve on because Mac (McMaster) is going to ready."
Mid-way through the fourth quarter, with the Mustangs now up 22-17, Odoom would step up in his biggest moment of the year, intercepted the ball near the Western 40-yard line and ran it back for a pick-6 to move the Mustangs to a 30-17 lead.
Waterloo would add a late touchdown with 1:32 left but it wasn't enough to get the comeback and the Mustangs held on for the win.
The win sets up a meeting between the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the standings this season after the McMaster Marauders beat Guelph 19-9 in the other semi-final.
"It's special, I loved my time there," said Marshall of his time coaching McMaster in the early 2000's "The people that I coached and coached with, Coach Ptaszek is a good man and a very good coach so it will be a great challenge."
KEY STATS
QB Chris Merchant – 14 completions for 211 yards.
RB Trey Humes – 16 carries for 121 yards and 1 TD
DB Kojo Odoom – 1 INT for a TD, 7.5 tackles
K Marc Liegghio – 5 FG's and 1 Rouge, 4 punts for 166 yards
NEXT GAME
Western will host the McMaster Marauders next Saturday, November 9th at 1 pm. Tickets for the game will be available at westernmustangs.ca/tickets on Tuesday at 8 am.
