LONDON, Ont. - It was advertised as a once in a lifetime showdown between the two best teams in the OUA, and the stakes had likely never been higher for a regular season game. Fans got the show they expected, as both teams played some of the best football we've seen this season.
In the end, the #1 Western Mustangs held onto their status as the team to beat in Ontario – for now – narrowly defeating the #3 Golden Hawks 33-30.
A major sub-plot in this game was the battle for OUA MVP between Laurier quarterback Taylor Elgersma and his Western counterpart Evan Hillock. Elgersma continued to build his case early when he passed Bill Kubas to break the Golden Hawks single-season passing yards record on a 25-yard catch and run by Quentin Scott.
The celebration was short lived, as Elgersma was picked off two plays later by the Mustangs' Chris Cameron-Kogler. Hillock drove his team down the field before coming out for Jerome Rancourt who'd finish it off with a one-yard keeper for the touchdown.
Elgersma didn't get much of an opportunity to respond, as Western brought heavy pressure and sacked the London native on consecutive plays to force a two-and-out. The ponies would take a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.
The Mustangs defensive line continued to cause problems for the Laurier offence, who've looked nearly invincible all season but were brought to sharp halt in this first half. Meanwhile, Western's offensive line looked as dominant as ever, clearing the way for the ground game to get yards even with their first and second-string running backs out due to injury.
It was Hillock who did the most damage, however, tossing a beautiful pass to Brayden Misseri in the endzone to extend the lead early in the second quarter.
The purple and gold finally found a crack in the wall when Luke Brubacher got through for a sack on Hillock, but the momentum quickly swung right back in Western's favour when the defence forced another two-and-out, setting up a 68-yard punt return for another touchdown by Daniel Kubongo.
A cleaner pocket and a big play by Jaxon Stebbings highlighted Laurier's best drive of the half, but it ended in disappointment as the Golden Hawks were unable to score from the one-yard line, with the Mustangs recording yet another sack on Elgersma.
The score was 27-0 Western at halftime.
Needing a complete turnaround in the second half, head coach Michael Faulds said he stressed to his team that "there are no 27-point plays."
"I said, if you add up offence, defence, and special teams, there's going to be about 65 times the balls either snapped or kicked in this half. We've got to win 45 of them. So, I said one play at a time. We've got to believe."
His team took those words to heart, and it took them just four plays to find the endzone coming out of the locker room. Elgersma launched a 40-yard pass down the middle of the field to Ethan Jordan, and the Hawks were on the board.
The offence then watched as the special teams followed up with a big play of their own. Ryan Speight got through to block a Western punt, which Tyriq Quayson recovered and ran into the endzone.
The defence – missing star linebacker Ife Onyemenam who left the game due to injury – forced a two-and-out and put the ball right back in Elgersma's hands. It took another four plays for him to find #4 once again, as he connected with Jordan for the receiver's fifth touchdown of the year. Just seven minutes into the half, it was now a one-score game.
Just two plays later, Nico McCarthy made a diving grab to intercept Hillock's pass. Starting in plus territory, the offence wasted no time once again, as Quentin Scott ran it in from 22 yards out on the drive's third play. Dawson Hodge's extra point made it 28-27 Laurier.
"You start to believe when you make plays," said Faulds, "and as much as we said all week that our team stacks up with their team, guys have to truly believe in themselves."
Separated by just one point to start the fourth quarter, both teams attempted and missed 47-yard field goals early in the frame.
Western wouldn't venture into Laurier territory again until the five-minute mark. Pressure forced Hillock to scramble out of the pocket, and his pass was deflected before being caught by Laurier's Duncan Naudie. Hillock also took a big hit on the play and would leave the game.
The Golden Hawks offence had cooled down somewhat from their third-quarter hot streak, and the Mustangs' defence came up with a clutch stop. Rancourt then found Savaughn Magnaye-Jones for a 25-yard major to take a 33-28 lead.
Laurier got as close as the Western 28-yard line, but couldn't find the endzone with time running out. A few kneel-downs and a conceded safety iced the game.
"We know how good we are and we know when we're clicking what we can do. We just can't let a first half like that happen again," said Elgersma.
"I think we wanted it so badly, we were making uncharacteristic mistakes. We were outplaying ourselves, basically. And so, we settled down after halftime, we realized that we've just got to go play football. I think we can see now that we can make plays, we've just got to do it for four quarters."
Elgersma finished the game with 369 yards on 23-32 passing with two touchdowns and an interception. He finishes the regular season first in the OUA with 2,641 passing yards, second with 18 passing touchdowns, and third with six rushing touchdowns.
He also finishes with a 75.2% completion rate on the year, breaking a conference record previously held by his former battle of Waterloo opponent Tre Ford.
Quentin Scott had himself a game as well. He rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown, and finishes fourth in the OUA with 96.5 yards per game.
The Golden Hawks fall just short of a perfect record and end the year 7-1, good for second in the conference. At 8-0, the Mustangs have earned themselves a bye through the first round of the OUA playoffs and home field advantage for a potential rematch in the Yates Cup final.
TOP PERFORMERS
Laurier Golden Hawks
All five of the OUA's top five receivers in yards per game were playing in this matchup. It was Laurier's Ethan Jordan who'd finish on top, with a final average of 93.6.
Jordan had eight receptions for 172 yards and two touchdowns in this game. He also added twelve yards on three punt returns.
Western Mustangs
The offensive line, a consistent strength year after year for the Mustangs, made the difference in this one. Facing a defence that recorded the second-most sacks in all of U SPORTS this season, they allowed only two in this game.
Both Hillock and Rancourt had clean pockets to work from throughout the game, leading to some game-changing plays.
UP NEXT
After scoring 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat Toronto, the Waterloo Warriors were able to secure the final playoff berth and will face Laurier in the OUA quarterfinals.
"No matter what happened in this game, we knew that we got to take care of business in the playoffs," said Elgersma. "We obviously want to get to a lot bigger goals than just 8-0 in the regular season, so I'm excited for the upcoming games, and we'll use this one as motivation."
Kickoff is set for Saturday, October 28 at 1 p.m. at University Stadium. Tickets are on sale now.
