The Western Mustang football team is headed to the Vanier Cup.
After dominating teams in Ontario all season, Western did something that was beyond domination in Wolfville, N.S., on Saturday afternoon as they crushed the AUS (Atlantic University Sport) champion Acadia Axemen 81-3.
Western scored on seven consecutive drives to open the game. They began to take starters off the field with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half. They all but abandoned the passing game at about the same time. The Mustang defence acted like an absolute wall against the Axemen offence which could barely move the ball all day.
Things went so well that when Harry McMaster fumbled a snap on a convert when Western was up 55-0, he was able to pick up the ball and run it in for a two-point conversion.
Play this game 100 times, and there is no reason to believe that the Mustangs would not have one 100 wins.
They had 272 yards rushing and 472 yards of total offence in the first half and led 57-0.
Acadia entered halftime without 61 total yards.
By the end, the Mustangs had totaled 689 yards on the ground and in the air.
The Axemen had the best run defence in the AUS during the regular season.
Quarterback Chris Merchant and running backs, Cedric Joseph and Yanick Harou, each had two rushing touchdowns on the day. Joseph now has nine TDs in his past three games.
Merchant had a nearly perfect day throwing the football, going 10 of 11 for 200 yards and two passing touchdowns.
One thing that could have helped to explain the lopsided result was the fact that the Axemen were being forced to play on three days rest after the fate of the Loney Bowl, which decides the AUS champion, wound up in a courtroom in a dispute over the eligibility of a player. The AUS initially cancelled it.
Find out more about the situation involving St. Mary’s player, Archelaus Jack, click here.
The Loney Bowl should have been played with the rest of the conference championships on Nov. 11 and instead was delayed until Tues., Nov. 14, and wound up going to double overtime as Acadia topped the Huskies 45-38 and then had to turn around and prepare for the machine that is the Mustangs with a crash course and limited recovery time at best.
Western now heads back to the Vanier Cup for the first time since 2008 when they were beaten 44-21 by Laval as the Rouge et Or captured their fourth national championship in six years.
The Mustangs last won the Vanier Cup in 1994 in a 50-40 overtime thriller against the Saskatchewan Huskies. Western kicker, Frank Jagas sent the game to OT by nailing a 42-yard field goal with four seconds left in regulation. Anthony Lane returned a punt 77-yards in overtime to give the Mustangs the lead and Jagas connected on a final kick to help Western claim their sixth national championship.
They get a chance to go after lucky number 7 on Saturday.
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