LONDON, Ont. - The Laurier Golden Hawks kept their season alive in spectacular fashion Saturday afternoon, upsetting the #5-ranked Western Mustangs 55-39 in a must-win regular season finale to secure a berth in the OUA playoffs.
The victory clinched seventh place in the conference standings for Laurier and marked the program's fourth straight win over Western. It also came against former Golden Hawks head coach Michael Faulds, who returned to his alma mater ahead of the 2026 season after getting his first head coaching opportunity at Laurier 13 years ago.
With their postseason hopes on the line, the Golden Hawks leaned on a prolific passing attack led by quarterback
Will Russell, who completed 26 of 38 passes for 481 yards and five touchdowns while adding another major on the ground. The first-year starter's performance was the second-highest single-game passing total in program history, leaving him just 20 yards shy of breaking the 30-year-old school record of 500 yards set by Kevin McDonald.
Russell's outing also marked his second consecutive 400-yard passing game and helped Laurier pile up 647 yards of total offence against one of the nation's top-ranked teams.
Western opened the scoring on a one-yard touchdown run by Jerome Rancourt, but Laurier answered immediately. On the Golden Hawks' ensuing possession, Russell connected with receiver
Ryan Hughes for a 54-yard touchdown strike to even the score.
The Mustangs responded with consecutive touchdown passes from quarterback Ben Casselman to receiver Emmett Charles and surged ahead 21-7 late in the opening quarter. Laurier, however, refused to let the game get away.
Touchdown receptions by
Tayshaun Jackson and Hughes pulled the Golden Hawks back into contention before kicker
Marcus Reypa gave Laurier its first lead of the afternoon with a 39-yard field goal midway through the second quarter.
Western briefly regained the advantage on an Ethan Dolby rushing touchdown, but Russell capped a 90-yard drive with a 20-yard rushing score in the final minute of the half to send Laurier into the locker room with a 37-35 lead.
The Golden Hawks continued to control the game after halftime.
Russell found Jackson for his second touchdown reception of the afternoon early in the third quarter before Laurier's defence delivered several pivotal plays. After Western cut the deficit to six points, Lewc Rayner punched in a three-yard touchdown run, and Reypa added another field goal to extend the Laurier advantage to 55-39 entering the fourth quarter.
Laurier's defence took over from there.
Zidain Allen blocked a Western punt late in the third quarter, while
Paul Loggale and
Javein Smith each intercepted Casselman in the final frame. The Golden Hawks also received sacks from
Vincent Akhabue and
Joey Edlington while shutting out the Mustangs over the final 15 minutes.
Hughes was Russell's primary target throughout the afternoon, hauling in eight receptions for 173 yards and three touchdowns. Jackson added 91 rushing yards, 40 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in another standout performance.
The game capped remarkable regular seasons for several Laurier offensive stars.
Russell finished the regular season as U SPORTS' leading passer with 2,619 yards, the second-highest single-season total in program history. He finished just 25 yards shy of surpassing the school record established by
Taylor Elgersma in 2024.
Hughes also finished atop the national leaderboard, leading all U SPORTS receivers in receiving yards (965), receptions (71) and receiving yards per game (120.6), while tying for third nationally with eight touchdown receptions.
Meanwhile, Jackson concluded the regular season with a career-best 1,484 all-purpose yards, the highest total in U SPORTS.
Casselman threw for 428 yards and three touchdowns in the loss for Western, while Dasani McIntosh recorded 200 receiving yards and a touchdown. Charles added 142 receiving yards and two scores.
The victory secured Laurier's sixth consecutive postseason appearance and capped a strong finish to the regular season, with the Golden Hawks winning three of their final four games to wrap at 4-4.Â
Western, meanwhile, finished 6-2 and second in the OUA standings.
As the dust settled across the OUA, the end result will see Laurier travel right back to London on Saturday, October 31, for the OUA quarterfinal matchup against Western on Halloween. Â
Laurier owns an 8-19 record against Western in OUA postseason play, though the rivals have not met in the playoffs since Laurier defeated the Mustangs in the 116th Yates Cup in 2024.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., with all the action streamed live for subscribers on OUA.tv.
