Hamilton, ON - A trio of Mustangs were honoured with major awards at the annual OUA Football Awards on Thursday afternoon.
Keon Edwards rounds out a dazzling 2022 season being named the winner of the Larry Haylor Award as OUA MVP after he ran for 1032 yards which was first in the league and added 9 TDs on 130 rushes this year.
Edwards exceeded the 100-yard mark in all eight Mustangs regular season games, scoring multiple touchdowns in three of them.
A team-first player, the star running back spread the ground game among his fellow backs with 2022 Second Team OUA All-Star Edouard Wanadi (105.4 YPG), Keanu Yazbeck and Troy Thompson.
With the OUAÂ MVP award recently renamed in honour of the late Western coaching icon Larry Haylor, it seems only fitting that a Mustang is the first to receive the newly named accolade.
He becomes the 15th member of the Mustangs Football program to win the OUAs top prize and will be the league nominee for the U SPORT Hec Crighton award.
"It's an honour, Larry Haylor is someone that Coach Marshall talks to us about all the time, not just that he was a great football coach but how he was a great man and how he helped pave the way for all of us," said Edwards "To be given this award and be the first to receive it is amazing, as a kid you always dream of these types of awards and have it actually happen is great, but we still have work to do."
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The Mustangs were also recognized for their excellence on defence this season as Daniel Valente Jr. finishes his final regular season in purple and white by being named the Outstanding Stand-Up Defensive Player of the Year after he led the league in interceptions with 5 this season.Â
Valente Jr. was ready to go from the very first snap of the season, registering three picks in Western's 34-11 Week 1 win over the Guelph Gryphons.
The former first team all-star and first team all-Canadian also led the OUA in interception yards (116), while adding 16 tackles and a sack for the London squad.
Valente Jr. is the eighth Western player to receive the OUA's President's Award.
"To have my name along side some the other greats to have won this award, especially a few Western guys is incredible," said Valente Jr. "This really is a testament to the coaches and the team, all the work we put in day in and day out and it's really nice to be recognized for that,"
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For the 8th time in his career and 6th time with the Western Greg Marshall is the OUA Coach of the Year, being awarded the David 'Tuffy' Knight Award. Marshall led the Mustangs to another undefeated season this year.
The team led the conference in both offence (45 points scored per game) and defence (14.4 points allowed per game), that dominance on both sides of the ball also helped 14 of Marshall's players collect all-star honours this season, to go along with the pair of aforementioned award winners, and allowed his team to hold steady atop the national rankings throughout yet another unblemished regular season for the legendary coach and program.
Marshall is also a three time U SPORTS coach of the year.
"I was joking with our players today, they were congratulating me and I told them that this award is really more about the hard work they've done," said Marshall "I told them that they don't give the coach of the year award to teams that don't win many football games, to me it's always been more of a team award and this really just reflects on what we've accomplished this year,"
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On top of the major awards, a league best 14 Mustangs were named to the First & Second Team All-Stars for 2022 and one member of the OUA All-Rookie team came from Western.
First Team All-Stars
QB – Evan Hillocks
RB – Keon Edwards
REC – Savaughn Magnaye-Jones
C – Elliot Beamer
T - Zack Fry
G – Phil Grohovac
DT – Malcolm Hinds
FS – Daniel Valente Jr.
HB – Robert Panabaker
Second Team All-Stars
RB – Edouard Wanadi
T - Erik Andersen
DE – Bruce Maas
LB – Riley MacLeod
CB – Richard Aduboffour
All Rookie Team
DE - Jordan Beland
The complete list of 2022 OUA football award winners is as follows:
Larry Haylor Award (Most Valuable Player) – Keon Edwards, Western Mustangs
President's Award (Outstanding Stand-Up Defensive Player) – Daniel Valente Jr., Western Mustangs
J.P. Metras Award (Lineman of the Year) – Silas Hubert, Queen's Gaels
Norm Marshall Award (Rookie of the Year) – Isaiah Smith, Guelph Gryphons
Russ Jackson Award Nominee – Alex Cheng, McMaster Marauders
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award – Darrell Adams, Waterloo Warriors
David 'Tuffy' Knight Award (Coach of the Year) – Greg Marshall, Western Mustangs
Volunteer Coach of the Year – Mike Circelli, Windsor Lancers
Ken Green Officials Award of Merit – Ben Chapdelaine
