The Western Mustang football team kept their perfect run alive in 2017 with a 66-12 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday in a Yates Cup semifinal at TD Stadium in London.
Scoring was not an issue for Western on Saturday, but it was a major problem for Guelph. Quarterbacks James Roberts and Theo Landers were interchanged and both came up with similar results against an excellent Mustang defence.
Western held the Gryphons to 77 yards of total offence while putting up 488 total yards of their own. The Mustangs played as close to a perfect quarter as a football team can in quarter number 2, outscoring Guelph 28-3.
The Gryphons seemed out of sync from the opening kickoff and never found a rhythm.
Guelph also struggled mightily in the punting game, averaging just 24.5 yards per punt on 11 attempts. That allowed Western to own the field position battle all afternoon.
Mustang quarterback Chris Merchant threw for 268 yards and a touchdown, but as has been the case all season, Western’s running game powered things, as Merchant, Cedric Joseph, Trey Humes and Alex Taylor combined for 246 yards.
Joseph scored four touchdowns in the game.
Mustang running back Alex Taylor suffered what appeared to be a left leg injury and did not return to the game.
The game ended up being very different from their regular season matchup that saw Western win 41-34 in overtime in a game that was delayed nearly two-and-a-half hours by lightning.
The playoff meeting did not have electricity concerns, but it was dotted by oddities early on. Western kicker Mark Liegghio attempted a field goal after the Mustangs were stopped on their first drive only to have the diagonal wind gusts at TD Stadium force it wide.
Jacob Scarfone was back to field this miss for Guelph and succeeded in touching the ball but not in catching it, and Western recovered on the Gryphons’ one-yard line. One play later, Mustang running back Joseph punched it in for the first score of the game.
Guelph’s first score came while Western was threatening again. Mustang quarterback Chris Merchant fumbled and the Gryphons recovered and a cluster of them protected Nick Parisotto as he ran the ball 102 yards down the sideline to cut Western’s lead to 9-7. That was as close as the game would get.
Guelph struggled with field position all day and surrendered four separate safeties while attempting to get away from their own end zone.
Kevin John saw time at QB for Western in the fourth quarter. Stevenson Bone broke a bone in his arm two weeks ago and was inactive against Guelph.
Fraser Sopik led the defence with five tackles and one of the Mustangs’ two interceptions.
Western has yet to lose in 2017, going a perfect 9-0. They have won four of those games by 50 points or more.
In the other Yates Cup semifinal, Laurier knocked off McMaster 19-6.
The Golden Hawks did not have veteran Michael Knevel at quarterback. Tristan Arndt out of Lucas High School in London started the game.
That sets up a rematch of the 2016 Yates Cup between the Mustangs and Golden Hawks on Saturday, Nov. 11. Laurier overcame a 40-19 deficit with 11:23 to go in the game to win 43-40 on a last-second field goal.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. at TD Stadium.
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