Strong start leads Mustangs over Waterloo

The Western Mustangs football team got off to a fast start, scoring 21 points in the opening 10 minutes, and never looked back, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 69-3 on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field. 

"You know it is what it is. I thought that up front we're just stronger than they are. We didn't want to just keep running the same plays and hammer and that but guys ran hard— I think we got our feet underneath us," said Western head coach Greg Marshall following the game. "Defensively it wasn't our best game, we were a little bit undisciplined early in the game and made some breakdowns on assignments but coach Gleason gave us a better idea of what those issues were. You know, I just see the chains moving and it's not a good thing so… it wasn't as well as we could play, certainly defensively. I thought on special teams we did a good job returning.

"Waterloo's going to get back and they're going to get back to it and they'll be better. We certainly didn't want to embarrass them today. We tried as much as we could to control the score."

Eight Mustangs had touchdowns in Saturday's win as the team racked up 753 yards of total offence, while limiting the Warriors to 183 offensive yards.

Starting quarterback Will Finch topped the Mustangs score sheet with 207 yards on 10-for-17 passing with three touchdowns. The Burlington native also added 12 yards rushing and one rushing touchdown in his two quarters of action before giving way to backup Stevenson Bone in the second half. Bone went 6-for-8 in the air with 145 yards passing, one touchdown, and one interception, along with 31 yards rushing on five attempts.

The Mustangs rushers recorded 401 yards on the ground with four players running for more than 50 yards on the day. Third-year back Yannick Harou had an excellent game, rushing for 104 yards on only eight attempts with one touchdown, while also recording 94 yards on punt returns for a total of 198 yards in the win. Rookie running back Alex Taylor shined in the second half, rushing for 102 yards on seven carries, including one for 48-yards, and one touchdown. Rounding out the Mustangs top rushers were Alex Sinclair with 74 yards, and Garret Sanvido with 65 yards and two touchdowns.

Ten different Mustangs served as targets in the team's passing attack with four players, Brian Marshall, Matt McDougall, Matt Brazier, and George Johnson, all finding the end zone.

Defensively, Ricky Osei-Kusi led the purple and white with 3.5 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble, which he also recovered. Kicker Zack Medeiros scored 15 points on the day, going 9-for-9 on extra points as well as making both field goal attempts.

"Lots of young guys got in— they got a chance to play," said Marshall. "We got some touches on the ball for Alex [Taylor] and Chuck Wall got in there and played and Stevenson got some reps."

The Mustangs didn't wait long to put points on the board as Yannick Harou racked up 46 yards, including a fantastic 34-yard run, to put Western up 7-0 after the team's first drive four minutes into the game. The score jumped to 14-0 for the Mustangs only a minute later as an interception by Josh Woodman set up a 35-yard touchdown pass from Finch to George Johnson on the ensuing play to extend the Mustangs lead. Garret Sanvido then capped off the Mustangs fast start just over three minutes later, with a three-yard touchdown run to give Western a 21-0 lead less than ten minutes into the contest.

Waterloo got on the board late in the first, as Caleb Girard hit a 41-yard field goal to cut Western's lead to 21-3. It appeared the score would stay that way for the remainder of the quarter, until a forced fumble from Osei-Kusi set up a 45-yard catch-and-run from McDougall to give Western a 28-3 lead entering the second frame.

Western wouldn't let up in the second, scoring only two minutes in off of a four-yard run from Finch to extend the purple and white lead to 32 points. Finch would also round out the scoring in the quarter, hitting Brian Marshall on a 36-yard pass to send Western into the half with a 42-3 lead.

Unfortunately for the hometown crowd it would be more of the same in the second half, with Western adding 10 points in the third off of a Garret Sanvido touchdown run and a field goal from Zack Medeiros, followed by 17 points in the fourth from Taylor, Medeiros, and Brazier, to claim a 69-3 victory.

Source: Western Mustangs