September 6, 2014

Big first half leads Western Mustangs to win in season opener over York

Quarterback Will Finch threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the Western Mustangs to a 61-0 win over the York Lions on Saturday afternoon at York Stadium.

Western 1-0

York 0-2

Final

Western (1-0)

York (0-2)

Photo by Trevor Parkinson

TORONTO – Quarterback Will Finch threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the Western Mustangs to a 61-0 win over the York Lions on Saturday afternoon at York Stadium.

"I thought we did a good job—we played pretty consistent, we did a good job dominating the offensive line and our defensive line was strong," said Western head coach Greg Marshall following the win.

"York's young and they had injuries out there. They're young up front—they lost a couple kids today so I hope they're okay but you know what our guys looked good. They were pretty sharp, they came out pretty hungry. The guys looked pretty sharp out there and Will was good. There were some things, but we kept it pretty basic."

Finch, who was nearly perfect on the day, completed 21 of 25 passes to lead a Mustangs offence that fired on all cylinders in their first game of the 2014 campaign, racking up 650 total yards including 280 yards through the air and another 370 on the ground.

Five different Mustangs found the end zone on Saturday, including Finch with three touchdown passes and Matt Uren with two first half TDs. Brian Marshall, Yannick Harou, and Stevenson Bone also chipped in with one score a piece.

In his first game as a Mustang kicker Zack Medeiros performed well, going 4-5 on field goals with three singles and six extra points to record 21 total points in his Western debut.

On the other side of the ball the purple and white defence was led by Jesse McNair and Malcolm Brown with four tackles tackles each, while Daryl Waud led the team with two sacks. Although he may not have led the team in stops, Kalvin Johnson had the defensive highlight of the day, picking off a pass from York quarterback Todd Hoover and taking it back for six points late in the second quarter.

The Mustangs opened the scoring early, as following a conceded safety from the Lions, Harou scored on a three-yard run to put Western up 9-0 just over five minutes into the game. Finch and Uren then connected for their first touchdown of the day, scoring on a 40-yard pass to give Western a 17-0 lead after the first quarter.

Western's offence continued to roll in the second frame, and it was Finch and Uren connecting once again, this time on a 14-yard pass to extend the Mustangs lead to 24-0. They'd make it 31-0 a short time later on a fantastic catch from Brian Marshall who came down with the ball despite being in traffic with a York defender. Following a 30-yard field goal from Medeiros, Johnson rounded out the first half scoring with a 37-yard interception return.

The second half saw more of the same, although it was Medeiros providing the bulk of the scoring, connecting on field goals from 15, 26, and eight yards along with two singles and an extra point following a rushing touchdown from Bone to cement a 61-0 win for the Mustangs.