Banner Season: Western surges in second half to secure third straight Yates Cup title

London, Ont. (via Western Mustangs) - The Western Mustangs are the 115th Yates Cup champions after a 29-14 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday afternoon.

"I've won lots of these games but this one is very special for so many reasons, it's an incredible tribute to the resiliency and dedication of our group," said Mustangs Head Coach Greg Marshall "You look at the season as a whole, we have played a lot of close games and had to find a way to win them and today we just found a different way to win it,"

It was a tightly contested battle the entire day with Laurier holding the lead at 14-8 at halftime. The MVP of the game and Dalt White Trophy winner was Kicker Brian Garrity who was 6-for-6 today on field goals including a 45-yard completion with 2:45 remaining to seal the win.

"This is awesome, shout out to Seth & Marcus for their incredible work today, perfect snaps, perfect holds, they made my job so much easier today," said Garrity post game "It's such a great feeling but we've got two more games to go and we are ready for them,"

The game started out a little slow with only a Garrity Field Goal and a safety in the opening quarter gave Western the 5-0 lead after the first quarter.

Laurier would respond in the 2nd quarter with a pair of TDs, one through the air and another on the ground, both involving 2023 OUA MVP Taylor Elgersma including an 8 yard run that included several evasive moves to give the Golden Hawks a 14-5 lead late in the 2nd quarter.

A scary moment in the second quarter when Mustangs starting QB Evan Hillock was sacked just ahead of the 10 minute mark and quickly made his way to the sidelines and didn't return to the field before the teams went to the dressing rooms for half time.

Garrity hit his second field goal of the game with just under a minute to play in the half to pull Western within six points at the break.

To start the second half, all eyes were on the Mustangs entry tunnel to see if Hillock would return and the Hamilton, ON native led Western on the field and returned to play for the remainder of the game.

The Mustangs dominated the third quarter including two more field goals by Garrity but the highlight of the frame was a 51-yard reception from Hillock to Seth Robertson which gave the Mustangs their first and only touchdown of the game and the led at 21-14.

After Garrity opened the 4th quarter with his 5th field goal of the game, he would put the exclamation point on his MVP performance with the 45-yard field goal and the 29-14 win.

"Every year is special, no matter what a championship always feels better than the last," said Mustangs offensive lineman Alex Berwick. "We graduated some absolutely amazing players last year and everyone had to come out and write their own history tonight and I am pretty proud of this entire team."

The Mustangs scored 21 unanswered points in the second half on route to the 35th Yates Cup title in program history.

"We may have lost guys like Keon (Edwards) & Keanu (Yazbeck), but the other kids really stepped up today and ran hard, we ran the football and I give credit to our offensive line for helping our guys get those spaces to find the way to win," said Marshall.