October 24, 2009
FAULDS BECOMES ALL-TIME LEADING PASSER IN WIN OVER VARSITY BLUES
LONDON, Ont. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Western Mustangs did their part, beating the Toronto Varsity Blues 47-0 at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Oct. 24. Unfortunately, one of two worst-case scenarios with a Western win came true with the Queen's Gaels losing to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 25-13.
After Ottawa's 24-9 win over Windsor and McMaster's 32-29 win over Guelph, four teams finished tied for second spot in the OUA at 6-2 at the end of the regular season.
Record against common opponents came into effect as the deciding OUA tiebreaker. Western, Ottawa and McMaster had 3-1 records against common opponents Guelph, Queen's, Toronto and Windsor, while Laurier was 4-0 against those same four teams and earns second place and the highly coveted first-round bye as a result.
Ottawa (6-2, 4th place) will host McMaster (6-2, 5th place) in one quarter-final, while the Mustangs (6-2, 3rd place) will host Guelph (3-5, 6th place) in the other on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. To order tickets, visit www.westernmustangs.ca and click on the tickets tab.
Queen's (7-1, 1st place) and Wilfrid Laurier (6-2, 2nd place) get opening-round byes and will host OUA semifinal games at 1 and 4:30 p.m. respectively on Nov. 7.
York, Toronto, Waterloo and Windsor all failed to qualify for the post-season.
Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) became the all-time CIS career passing leader finishing his five-year career with 10,811 career yards. He also set the record for CIS single-season passing at 3,033 yards, and moves to fifth place in the CIS record books for passing yards in a game with a 550-yard outing - and he only played in three quarters.
The fifth-year senior in master's of kinesiology was 39-of-52 passing with two touchdowns. He was 11 yards shy of the OUA single-game mark held by Tommy Dennison (561 yards).
Faulds said it was the perfect way to end the regular season, even though the results of the other games did not work out in favour of giving Western a first-round bye.
"It doesn't matter to us, we'll play as many games as we need to so we can accomplish our goal," he said. "It means a lot. It's an individual award but it's just as much a team award. I've had great receivers to catch the ball, great support from all my teammates, and it's a team effort that earns this individual award."
Faulds set the CIS record in the third quarter, hitting Zach Bull (Port Colborne, Ont.) on a 41-yard strike.
"I don't look at individual records. Somebody asked me at the half if I was staying in. I wasn't sure... but he (head coach Greg Marshall) wanted me (to stay in) and break it."
Marshall was proud of Faulds' performance and his great career. It was fitting to see Faulds break the marks on Seniors Day.
"He's played through injury and he really deserved a chance," Marshall said of his decision to keep Faulds in the game despite playing with lower-body bumps and bruises. "He's been our leader here and we were trying to throw the ball on quick plays in the third quarter to help him out."
It wasn't any further complications with Faulds that concerned Marshall post-game.
The Mustangs lost defensive lineman Scott Fournier in this game, having already lost Mike Van Praet to injury earlier in the year and Vaughn Martin to the NFL in the off-season. Running backs Nathan Riva and Da'shawn Thomas were also banged up in the game.
It is a cause of concern for Marshall.
"It might change how we approach things against Guelph," Marshall said. "Both Kenny Eansor and Ben Roberts can carry the ball. We are healthy at fullback and on the offensive line and I think we can run the ball well against Guelph."
"We'll be okay. I'm concerned defensively, losing one more defensive lineman today... We have no days off," Marshall said. "You worry about injuries but the good thing about our team is that we do have depth."
Marshall's Mustangs needed a last-second Darryl Wheeler field goal to defeat Guelph in the Royal City. Marshall knows his team did not play its best and specifically noted the defence will have to evaluate the tape and learn from mistakes.
"Our defence can look at what we didn't do well in the first half and learn from it," he said. "We match up okay with Guelph."
In the race for the CIS all-time passing record, Danny Brannagan (Burlington, Ont.) fell just shy of the all-time mark finishing second to Faulds. Brannagan finishes his career at No. 2 on the all-time list with 10,714 while Faulds finishes first at 10,811.
For a short-time, Brannagan held the all-time mark surpassing Matt Connell (McGill) on a 23-yard pass to Scott Valberg of Kingston, Ont., late in the second quarter. Starting the game, Brannagan needed only 31 yards to move past Connell's career mark of 10,455. Brannagan also led Faulds by 164 yards heading into play.
Brannagan was 25-of-45 finishing with 289 yards and no touchdowns in the game.
Western opened the scoring on a seven-yard Ben Roberts (London, Ont.) run, set up after a successful third-down gamble from the Mustangs. A clutch 31-yard catch from Bull got the ball inside the 10-yard line to set up the score. Bull finished with nine catches for 129 yards.
Toronto conceded a safety to give Western a 9-0 lead.
Western made a huge goal line stance when quarterback Jordan Scheltgen was sacked by Marcus Babic on first and goal on a big play with one minute left in the opening quarter. Three more stuffs on the line and a forced fumble from John Surla (Niagara Falls, Ont.) gave Western momentum - it was as close as Toronto would get all day to scoring.
Riva caught a pass from Faulds and completed the 38-yard scoring play to give Western a 16-0 lead late in the first quarter. He finished the season with a national-best 15 total touchdowns, tied for fifth-best in Western history. He now has 24 in two seasons with Western, and is already on pace to pass Randy McAuley's all-time touchdown mark of 43. He may even catch Frank Jagas' career Western scoring record of 392 points.
Jesse Bellamy (Guelph, Ont.) scored on a 65-yard Faulds pass to make it 23-0 at the half. Faulds had 353 first-half passing yards. He finished with five catches for 109 yards and one touchdown. He moved into the No. 2 spot in the all-time Mustangs reception list (112, trailing only Andy Fantuz with 189).
In the third quarter, Faulds ran in the ball 21 yards to make it 30-0, and Wheeler booted a 26-yard field goal to make it 33-0.
Roberts scored his second major of the day, running in from 12-yards out to make it 40-0, late in the third quarter, and Kenny Eansor (London, Ont.) scored on a 19-yard run with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth to make it 47-0.
Western's defence was solid, registering 11 tackles for losses (33 yards lost), along with three interceptions and four sacks, holding Toronto to under 250 yards of total offence.
The Mustangs offence registered 726 total yards.
Source: Western Mustangs
After Ottawa's 24-9 win over Windsor and McMaster's 32-29 win over Guelph, four teams finished tied for second spot in the OUA at 6-2 at the end of the regular season.
Record against common opponents came into effect as the deciding OUA tiebreaker. Western, Ottawa and McMaster had 3-1 records against common opponents Guelph, Queen's, Toronto and Windsor, while Laurier was 4-0 against those same four teams and earns second place and the highly coveted first-round bye as a result.
Ottawa (6-2, 4th place) will host McMaster (6-2, 5th place) in one quarter-final, while the Mustangs (6-2, 3rd place) will host Guelph (3-5, 6th place) in the other on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. To order tickets, visit www.westernmustangs.ca and click on the tickets tab.
Queen's (7-1, 1st place) and Wilfrid Laurier (6-2, 2nd place) get opening-round byes and will host OUA semifinal games at 1 and 4:30 p.m. respectively on Nov. 7.
York, Toronto, Waterloo and Windsor all failed to qualify for the post-season.
Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) became the all-time CIS career passing leader finishing his five-year career with 10,811 career yards. He also set the record for CIS single-season passing at 3,033 yards, and moves to fifth place in the CIS record books for passing yards in a game with a 550-yard outing - and he only played in three quarters.
The fifth-year senior in master's of kinesiology was 39-of-52 passing with two touchdowns. He was 11 yards shy of the OUA single-game mark held by Tommy Dennison (561 yards).
Faulds said it was the perfect way to end the regular season, even though the results of the other games did not work out in favour of giving Western a first-round bye.
"It doesn't matter to us, we'll play as many games as we need to so we can accomplish our goal," he said. "It means a lot. It's an individual award but it's just as much a team award. I've had great receivers to catch the ball, great support from all my teammates, and it's a team effort that earns this individual award."
Faulds set the CIS record in the third quarter, hitting Zach Bull (Port Colborne, Ont.) on a 41-yard strike.
"I don't look at individual records. Somebody asked me at the half if I was staying in. I wasn't sure... but he (head coach Greg Marshall) wanted me (to stay in) and break it."
Marshall was proud of Faulds' performance and his great career. It was fitting to see Faulds break the marks on Seniors Day.
"He's played through injury and he really deserved a chance," Marshall said of his decision to keep Faulds in the game despite playing with lower-body bumps and bruises. "He's been our leader here and we were trying to throw the ball on quick plays in the third quarter to help him out."
It wasn't any further complications with Faulds that concerned Marshall post-game.
The Mustangs lost defensive lineman Scott Fournier in this game, having already lost Mike Van Praet to injury earlier in the year and Vaughn Martin to the NFL in the off-season. Running backs Nathan Riva and Da'shawn Thomas were also banged up in the game.
It is a cause of concern for Marshall.
"It might change how we approach things against Guelph," Marshall said. "Both Kenny Eansor and Ben Roberts can carry the ball. We are healthy at fullback and on the offensive line and I think we can run the ball well against Guelph."
"We'll be okay. I'm concerned defensively, losing one more defensive lineman today... We have no days off," Marshall said. "You worry about injuries but the good thing about our team is that we do have depth."
Marshall's Mustangs needed a last-second Darryl Wheeler field goal to defeat Guelph in the Royal City. Marshall knows his team did not play its best and specifically noted the defence will have to evaluate the tape and learn from mistakes.
"Our defence can look at what we didn't do well in the first half and learn from it," he said. "We match up okay with Guelph."
In the race for the CIS all-time passing record, Danny Brannagan (Burlington, Ont.) fell just shy of the all-time mark finishing second to Faulds. Brannagan finishes his career at No. 2 on the all-time list with 10,714 while Faulds finishes first at 10,811.
For a short-time, Brannagan held the all-time mark surpassing Matt Connell (McGill) on a 23-yard pass to Scott Valberg of Kingston, Ont., late in the second quarter. Starting the game, Brannagan needed only 31 yards to move past Connell's career mark of 10,455. Brannagan also led Faulds by 164 yards heading into play.
Brannagan was 25-of-45 finishing with 289 yards and no touchdowns in the game.
Western opened the scoring on a seven-yard Ben Roberts (London, Ont.) run, set up after a successful third-down gamble from the Mustangs. A clutch 31-yard catch from Bull got the ball inside the 10-yard line to set up the score. Bull finished with nine catches for 129 yards.
Toronto conceded a safety to give Western a 9-0 lead.
Western made a huge goal line stance when quarterback Jordan Scheltgen was sacked by Marcus Babic on first and goal on a big play with one minute left in the opening quarter. Three more stuffs on the line and a forced fumble from John Surla (Niagara Falls, Ont.) gave Western momentum - it was as close as Toronto would get all day to scoring.
Riva caught a pass from Faulds and completed the 38-yard scoring play to give Western a 16-0 lead late in the first quarter. He finished the season with a national-best 15 total touchdowns, tied for fifth-best in Western history. He now has 24 in two seasons with Western, and is already on pace to pass Randy McAuley's all-time touchdown mark of 43. He may even catch Frank Jagas' career Western scoring record of 392 points.
Jesse Bellamy (Guelph, Ont.) scored on a 65-yard Faulds pass to make it 23-0 at the half. Faulds had 353 first-half passing yards. He finished with five catches for 109 yards and one touchdown. He moved into the No. 2 spot in the all-time Mustangs reception list (112, trailing only Andy Fantuz with 189).
In the third quarter, Faulds ran in the ball 21 yards to make it 30-0, and Wheeler booted a 26-yard field goal to make it 33-0.
Roberts scored his second major of the day, running in from 12-yards out to make it 40-0, late in the third quarter, and Kenny Eansor (London, Ont.) scored on a 19-yard run with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth to make it 47-0.
Western's defence was solid, registering 11 tackles for losses (33 yards lost), along with three interceptions and four sacks, holding Toronto to under 250 yards of total offence.
The Mustangs offence registered 726 total yards.
Source: Western Mustangs
