Western Mustangs win the 113th Yates Cup

A smothering defence and three touchdowns from Keon Edwards led the Western Mustangs to their latest Yates Cup championship on Saturday afternoon in Kingston.

Edwards found the end zone three times in the first half as Western built a big lead and held on for a 29-0 victory over the Queen’s Gaels.

Even with their long football histories, this was only the fourth Yates Cup meeting between the two schools. Western now holds a 3-1 advantage.

It was the sixth consecutive Yates Cup appearance for Western.

Queen’s entered the game as the last remaining undefeated OUA team and through six regular-season games and two playoff games they had yet to fumble the football once.

“They don’t beat themselves,” Western head coach Greg Marshall said before the game. “They don’t turn the ball over. They don’t take very many penalties. They stick to the game plan no matter what the score is.

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“They are a very well-coached and disciplined team.”

Marshall knew they would have to play with the same kind of discipline and did it nearly flawlessly.

The Mustangs held the Gaels to 111 yards passing and 82 yards rushing. Queen’s not only fumbled the ball for the first time this year, they fumbled it four times in total. Three of those ended up as turnovers.

With Western’s powerful offensive line making holes Edwards rushed the ball 21 times for 158 yards. Trey Humes added another 69 yards and Edouard Wanadi ran for 18.

First-year Mustang quarterback Evan Hillock was 14-for-20 for 198 yards through the air and two interceptions.

Savaughn Magnaye-Jones was Western’s leading receiver with four catches on the day.

Austin Fordham-Miller and Riley Macleod led the Mustangs with six and seven tackles, respectively, and Kojo Odoom picked off Queen’s quarterback James Keenan near the end of the first half.

Western will now host AUS champion St. FX on Nov. 27 at Western Alumni Field at 1 p.m. in one U Sports national semifinal.

Montreal will meet the Saskatchewan Huskies in the other semifinal.

The Vanier Cup will be held Dec. 4 in Quebec City.