The Western Mustangs found a second-half groove against the Queen’s Gaels and advanced to their eighth consecutive Yates Cup with a 47-20 victory at Western Alumni Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Western outscored the Gaels 28-3 over the final two quarters.
Mustang quarterback Evan Hillock was a question mark coming into the game after being knocked out of the final game of the regular season against the Laurier Golden Hawks.
The third-year starter threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns.
Western receiver Savaughn Magnaye-Jones racked up 128 of those yards on 10 catches and scored a second-half TD.
Seth Robertson caught four passes for 115 yards and a first-quarter touchdown.
Ethan Dolby of St. Thomas and Marcell Phillips of Stoney Creek each scored TDs on long runs to put the game away.
Dolby took the ball 54 yards into the end zone with just over two minutes remaining in the game and after Queen’s turned the ball over on downs, Phillips carried the ball 44 yards for a score with 1:03 left on the clock.
The start of the game featured a couple of largely idling offences.
Two and outs outnumbered first downs through the first five minutes.
Good field position helped the Mustangs to score the first points of the game as they began on their own 52-yard line and moved down to the nine before being held to a Garrity field goal. Garrity ended the day perfect with three field goals on three attempts.
Queen’s found the end zone just under four minutes after Garrity’s first field goal on an 86-yard interception return by Josh McBain but Western shot back in front on the ensuing kickoff when Daniel Kabongo took the return 97 yards to make it 10-7.
A 23-yard Tyler Mullan field goal and a seven-play drive that ended in a three-yard run for a touchdown by Gaels running back Jaeden Chisari had Queen’s ahead 17-10.
Hillock engineered a three-play drive that travelled 57 yards and found Seth Robertson for a TD to tie the score and then the Gaels chose to concede a safety with 1:12 remaining in the second quarter to give the Mustangs a 19-17 edge at the half.
In all, Western had 454 yards of total offence and ran for 154 yards against the OUA’s top run defence while missing their top two rushers of the season, Keon Edwards and Keanu Yazbeck. Both are finished for the year after suffering broken ankles.
The Mustangs will now host the Golden Hawks in the Yates Cup on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 1 p.m., at Western Alumni Stadium.
Western edged Laurier 33-30 in the regular season finale.
The Golden Hawks got by the Windsor Lancers in the other Yates Cup semi-final.
The Mustangs last met Laurier in the OUA championship in 2017 and won the game 75-32.
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