Western Mustangs deliver a homecoming hammering

The Western Mustang football team completed a perfect regular season on Saturday afternoon with a 63-7 pasting of the Ottawa U Gee Gees in their homecoming game at TD Stadium.

Western had already wrapped up first place overall in the OUA going into the game and was coming off their bye week.

And their stampeding ground game looked well rested. The Mustangs rushed for 452 yards.

Second-year running back out of Ajax, Trey Humes gained 138 yards. Cedric Joseph ran for 137 and two touchdowns and Alex Taylor picked up 89 yards on 13 carries.

Aside from a fairly early 7-7 tie on the scoreboard, Western dominated the day in front of a large purple and white-clad crowd. That happened following a Chris Merchant, 15-yard touchdown strike to Harry McMaster, as part of an eight play, 78-yard Mustang drive. It was McMaster’s first of three TDs in the game.

Jamie Harry picked off Merchant on Western’s next possession and returned the ball 60 yards for the Gee Gees’ only major score of the afternoon.

From there, Western put up 56 unanswered points.

Merchant went 10-for-15 for 168 yards and three touchdowns.

Stevenson Bone threw one touchdown pass and third-string quarterback, Kevin John ran a ball in from the one-yard line. Bone left the game with an injury and did not return.

The other big Western story continued to be the foot of Marc Liegghio. The sophomore kicker stretched his field goal streak to 22 straight, going 4-for-4 and led the OUA in scoring with 125 points and set a Mustang record with 29 field goals.

Western dominated most of their OUA competition from start to finish in the regular season. The lightning-delayed Monday night game against Guelph was decided in overtime by seven points. The Mustangs defeated every other team by double-digits and beat three teams by more than 50 points.

They led the OUA in both points for and points allowed and their success has earned Western a first-round bye in the playoffs.

They will play the lowest remaining seed in a Yates Cup semi-final on Nov. 4.

Laurier claimed the other bye, beating McMaster 40-15.

The Queen’s Gaels stretched their winning streak to four games and got help from the Guelph Gryphons, who beat Carleton, eliminating the Ravens and giving Queen’s the final playoff spot.

They will go to McMaster next week to play a Yates Cup quarter-final against the Marauders.

Guelph and Ottawa will meet in the other quarter-final.