London, ON – The U SPORTS football season has moved into its final two weeks of the year as unfamiliar foes in the St. FX X-Men travel cross country to take on the Western Mustangs.
The X-Men come into this game fresh off a 25-17 win over the Bishop's Gaiters in the AUS Championship game, the Loney Bowl.
A pair of second half touchdowns by AUS rookie of the year Malcolm Bussey helped lift the X-Men to their 15th overall conference title in team history in the 48th edition of the AUS Loney Bowl conference championship game.
After an extremely impressive 2021 season, X-Men 1st year QB Silas Fagnan was selected as the AUS most outstanding player of the year.
A third-year arts student from Bonnyville, Alberta, Fagnan led the AUS conference in passing—and was ranked fourth nationally— with an average of 259.4 yards per game and a regular-season total of 1297 yards. He also threw for a league-leading 10 passing touchdowns, the fifth-most in the country. Fagnan's passing efficiency (159.1) and completions (100) topped the AUS as well. The 6'0", 175lb quarterback played in five regular season games for the X-Men.
St. FX is led by head coach Gary Waterman who was named AUS Coach of the Year.
In his 13th year at the helm of the StFX program, Waterman led the X-Men to a 6-0 regular season record, first place in conference standings.
In 2021 regular season play, StFX led the conference in scoring (193), points per game (32.2), yards per game (407.8), passing yards (1423), passing touchdowns (10), rushing touchdowns (6), field goals (15-22), sacks (16) and defensive interceptions (13). Ten of his X-Men players were also named to the 2021 AUS All-Star Team.
Switching to the other side of the field is the 2021 Yates Cup Champion Western Mustangs.
The Mustangs are led by a dominant ground games from Yates Cup MVP Keon Edwards and 5th year running back Trey Humes. The two backs combined for 17 TD's in the 2021 regular season and over 1400 yards rushing on the ground.
On the defensive side of the ball the Mustangs have had an outstanding season limiting the opposition to less than 10 points per game including a 29-0 blanking of the only undefeated team in the OUA this season at 6-0, the Queens Gaels.
Mustangs Defensive Lineman Deionte Knight has been a terror for opposing offensive units as he got to the QB 6 times this season (2nd in the OUA). For his work, he was recognized as the OUA J.P Metras Award winner as Lineman of the Year and a 1st team all-star. The Ajax, ON native dealt with injuries during the 2019 season so he has been motivated all year long to make the most of this 2021 season and he has done that in spade.
And the Mustangs 2021 season story would not be complete if it didn't include 1st year QB and OUA Rookie of the Year Evan Hillock. The St. Thomas More grad out of Hamilton, ON took over the leading role for the Mustangs mid way through week 3 against Laurier and the offense hasn't looked back. Hillock threw for an average of 264 yards per game, completing 64.3% of his passes and registering a 175.6 efficiency. The latter set him atop the conference and proved that he was among the OUA's best under centre once he took the reins.
This game also includes a sidebar, family rivalry angle as well as St. FX 5th year captain Ben Von Muehldorfer will face off against his younger brother, Mustangs 1st year Defensive Lineman Max Von Muehldorfer. Both have claimed that they have not share too many details with their teammates about their sibling or their respective teams but the excitement is real for both brothers. "It's something we talked about last November and over the summer … how cool would it be to play against each other. It's surreal." The younger Von Muehldorfer even had some custom t-shirts made for their family in attendance which includes the colours of both teams, although picking what number to put on the back was easy, as they both wear #55, he even presented one to his older brother after friday's media conference.
Western is 2-2 in the Mitchell Bowl while St.FX is 0-1. The last appearance for the X-Men came in 2016 when they fell to the Calgary Dinos, while Western returns to the national semi-final after winning against Saskatchewan in the 2018 edition.
The winner of the game will book their spot in the Vanier Cup which is set for December 4 in Quebec City at Telus Stadium.
