Toronto, ON – The Mustangs hit the road for a second straight week, this time to Toronto for a frigid Friday night matchup. Western took home a dominant 56-21 victory against the Varsity Blues in which Edouard Wanadi had four touchdowns.
The Friday Night Lights match-up was the first between the two since 2015, where the Mustangs came away with a 58-2 win. The 'Stangs have won all twelve meet-ups against the Varsity Blues.
Western remains undefeated with the win, boasting a 6-0 record while holding the title of the top team in the country, while Toronto drops to 3-4 with their playoff stance uncertain.
Running back Edouard Wanadi rushed for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Keon Edwards followed behind with 139 yards and 2 touchdowns. Quarterback Evan Hillock was 10 for 17 with 143 yards and 1 touchdown, and Seth Robertson had 5 catches for 87 yards.
"That's a credit to our offensive line too and our fullbacks. Those guys are great running backs, but our offensive line did a really good job knocking them off the ball," said head coach Greg Marshall on the dominance of Edwards and Wanadi. "I think we took advantage of some of the things we thought we could run against [Toronto] and were pretty successful doing it."
Despite a slow start, the first half proved to be all Mustangs with a 28-0 score in which Wanadi got the first two of his four touchdowns, with Edwards adding one of his own and running 114 yards.
A rotation of Edwards and Wanadi helped to get the Mustangs into the redzone early on in the first, with Wanadi closing it off for Western's first touchdown of the game.
"It felt great honestly," said Wanadi. "We had a game plan when we came in here. The first few series started off slow, but I knew it was a matter of time."
"I think we realized we could push them off the ball. Sometimes we go with what's working and at that point we realized we could run the football on them and get a score and open it up," said Marshall. "Other things happen sometimes, but one thing we can control is running the football and we did a good job of running the football."
The rest of the quarter and start of the second proved to be a tougher test for the Mustangs, with the Varsity Blues stifling Western's offense and putting together some strong drives of their own.
"At the start we dropped some balls, had some batted down, and sometimes that happens. We have to be better than that but that's football. Sometimes it goes sideways on you and you have to get it back together," said Marshall. "I thought we did a good job of establishing the run and pushing the ball and doing what we do. We got back into what we did and got a good rhythm."
Edwards got Western's running game going gain after finding a gap halfway through the second quarter, breaking through until being taken down at the 30.
Wanadi once again would finish it off for his second of the night, and fifth rushing touchdown of the season.
Quarterback Evan Hillock found Savaughn Magnaye-Jones for his first reception and touchdown of the night shortly later, as the purple and white started to find their usual dominant groove.
To close out the half Western put together a quick drive. A Hillock fake and a pass through the middle to Seth Robertson was finished off with a 6-yard Edwards run who got his name on the scoresheet, for a 28-0 score at the half.
Wanadi started the second half right where he left off, busting through coverage to secure his third touchdown of the game with a 64-yard run.
"It became an inside joke because in the past I had a tendency to get caught up over 50 yards and that was something that was bothering me," said Wanadi. "I stayed after practice running 100-yards because usually I start panicking but this time I just aimed straight and started running and it ended well. I was so happy, because I needed that. I appreciated it. The O-Line made me untouched for 20 yards and then you just got to run."
Edwards added his second of the night shortly later on a short run, while DB Robert Panabaker followed with his fourth interception of the season for a defensive touchdown, putting Western up 49-0 through the third.
"Of course I had to say 'I tied you', but there's no losers," said Panabaker on what he told teammate Daniel Valente Jr. after tying him for number of interceptions on the year. "I saw the ball, made my break, caught it and it was deer in the headlights at that point. It was just get to the end zone."
The shutout wasn't in the cards for Western however, as the hosts got on the board with a touchdown of their own six minutes into the fourth quarter.
Despite the win for the Mustangs being all but official, the pressure didn't stop. Wanadi rushed for 40-yards to bag his fourth of the night with seven minutes left on the clock, adding to his commanding performance.
"2015 [was the last time I got four touchdowns] if ever, honestly I don't think I've ever had four," joked Wanadi. "My record was three in the St. Fx game [last year]."
Toronto added two touchdowns before the end of the quarter, while Olivier Ruest got an interception of his own, in what ended a final 56-21 Western win.
"That fourth quarter was not something we were happy about," said Panabaker on the defence. "We will go into the film rooms, see the mistakes and learn. We'll get better and correct it for the next time."
"You're putting in a lot of players that haven't played and probably didn't get a lot of reps throughout the week," said Marshall on Toronto's push in the fourth. "Our backups don't get all the reps [in practice] but at the same time we aren't going to risk [our starters] playing four quarters when we are winning by 50 points."
The Mustangs now have two games left in the regular season before the playoffs, with a first-round bye still waiting to be secured. The purple and white are in control however with their undefeated 6-0 record and top spot in the standings.
"It feels awesome but it's just another building block. We have a long way to go," said Panabaker. "This is not the ending. We have lots more to learn, we have to get better to get to where we want to go."
"No one is trying to think too far ahead but we know if we put our body into it, all the sacrifices will pay off because a first-round bye is nice for the body. We are aiming towards that," concluded Wanadi.
The Mustangs return home next week for their last home game of the regular season. Western will play host to the Windsor Lancers on Saturday, October 15
th at 1pm in the Oktoberfest themed affair. Tickets can be purchased at westernmustangs.ca
