London, ON – The Mustangs suffered some tough injuries on Saturday afternoon and fell 29-15 to the McMaster Marauders in the 112th edition of the Yates Cup.

"It was just one of those days, we didn't catch any breaks," said Mustangs Head Coach Greg Marshall "We missed some wide-open shots early in the first half where we could have taken a sizable lead, sometimes those things happen"

The Mustangs had some early jump in this game.

After McMaster received the opening kickoff, their first play on the run ended with Western forcing a fumble which was picked up by Andrew Thurston. Western would get a pair of strong runs on the ensuing drive from Trey Humes which got the ball to the 1-yard line. Jonathan Femi-Cole would finish it off with the TD run to take a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

 The Mustangs defence was at it again with 8:35 left in the 1st quarter. After McMaster QB Andreas Dueck missed on the transfer, Western's Myles Manalo picked up the fumble and took over possession. The Mustangs would settle for a Marc Liegghio field goal on the play to extend the lead to 10-0 with 7:12 left in the first quarter.  

McMaster started the 2nd quarter with a TD. Matt Krason finished off the Marauders drive to trim the Mustangs lead to 10-7.

The Marauders would then take the lead midway through the 2nd quarter. Another 1-yard TD run moved the Marauders to 14-10.

A tough 2nd quarter continued for the Mustangs who gave up a pair of safeties, a rouge point and a field goal before the end of the half and McMaster took a 22-10 lead.

Mustangs QB Chris Merchant was under pressure in the first half taking several big hits. Right before the end of the second quarter, Merchant was sacked, and the play left him on the ground for a several minutes. He was able to eventually get up and walk off the field under his own power but was unable to return to the game until the last plays of the game. Kevin John would take over for the vast majority of the second half. "I feel bad for Chris, he wanted to go back in and was ready to go back in, but it was a decision in consultation with our doctors that it was in the best interest of his health. Sometimes you have to do what's best for your kids and they're my kids," said Marshall

The Mustangs made several attempts to get back into the game but were only able to get a field goal with four minutes left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 22-13.

"I think the defence played exceptionally well to give us a lot of opportunities to turn things around to get the win," said Mustangs QB Kevin John "We just didn't play as well as we should have on offence."

McMaster would add an early fourth-quarter TD on another Krason 1-yard rush to extend the Marauders lead to 29-13.

The loss is a tough one for a group of Mustangs who have poured their hearts and souls into the program. Merchant, Thurston & Mackenzie Ferguson are the only members of the team that played out their five years of eligibility on Saturday. There are many other members of the senior class that although they still have time left on their athletic eligibility will graduate from their academic programs.

Coach Marshall expressed his appreciation for those players post-game "We're going to miss Chris and there will be a couple of other players graduating that we will lose and we will miss them all."

Marshall believes the turnover of players won't be as large from this year's group as there was last year. "We probably lost six or seven starters on offence and six or seven on defence last year, it will likely be half that many this year." 

KEY STATS

RB Trey Humes – 14 rushes for 108 yards

QB Kevin John – 6 receptions for 73 yards

K Marc Liegghio – 2 for 2 on FG's. 6 punts for 265 yards.

DB Mackenzie Ferguson – 1 INT

Thank you to the Mustangs fans for your support of the football program in 2019. We look forward to seeing you all again next fall at TD Stadium.