HAMILTON (October 1, 2022) - The defending Vanier Cup champion Western Mustangs proved why they currently hold the No. 1 rank in the nation, beating the McMaster Marauders 47-14 on Saturday at Ron Joyce Stadium.

Western found the end zone five times with five different players. Mustang quarterback, Evan Hillock of Hamilton, tossed two of those touchdowns on way to 332-yards passing on 21 of 25 completions.

With the result, the Marauders' record falls to 1-4 on the season.  Western sits atop the OUA football standings with a perfect 5-0 record.

The Mustangs held a 33-0 halftime lead and would extend that to 43 before the Marauders were able to get on the board in the third quarter. McMaster quarterback Andreas Dueck of Winnipeg broke the offensive shutout at 5:56 of the third, finding Nick Adair of Kingston for a 34-yard touchdown pass.

Dueck would finish the game with 179-yards passing completing 15 of 21 passes.  Keagan Hall of Burlington, Ont., who relieved Dueck in the fourth quarter, was 5 of 10 with 45 yards and rushed for a 12-yard touchdown. 

Defensively, Devonte Ballantyne of Strathroy, Ont., registered nine solo tackles to lead the defence while DeEmetrius Masuka of Hamilton had six solo tackles and two assists.

Western's five touchdowns came from Keon Edwards, Eduardo Wandi and Jackson White who all scored on the ground. Hillock connected on touchdown receptions to Griffin Campbell and Justin Nickson for the other two majors. 

NEXT UP:  McMaster will make the short trip down Hwy 6 to battle their rival, the Guelph Gryphons, in a rare Friday matchup. Kickoff goes on October 7th (6:00pm) at Alumni Stadium on campus at the University of Guelph.  With both teams sitting with a 1-4 record and only three weeks remaining, both squads need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

McMaster currently holds a 33-19 all-time record against the Gryphons and last year edged them 27-22 in the final game of the regular season on October 30, 2021.

DEFENSIVE RESPECT:  Late in the game with Western leading 46-7, the Mustangs went for it on 3rd and 3 at the McMaster 35-yard line. Mustang backup quarterback, Jackson White, completed his pass to Brayden Misseri but he was tackled by Marauder DeEmetrius Masuka to turn the ball over.

BY THE NUMBERS: 

69 - number of receiving yards put up by McMaster's Nick Adair in today's loss

312 - number of punting yards registered by McMaster's Ben MacDonald. McMaster punted 10 times with Macdonald averaging 31.2 yards.  His longest was 39. 

107 - Western's Keon Edwards posted 107 rushing yards in today's game to lead all rushers. 

THEY SAID IT: 

Stef Ptaszek - Head Coach

On playoff picture despite the loss to Western 
"We are very much in the playoff mix. You got to take care of these next three weeks. That's a team [WESTERN] that most OUA programs are going to struggle against and it actually doesn't impact your playoff odds because it's likely everybody in the league is going to have no [wins] against the Mustangs this year."

On what's ahead in terms of playoff positioning and next week's matchup vs. Guelph.
"We know the bottom line is to control our destiny and get to four and four and I think we're in 100% so that's where we'll go one at a time.  Guelph is talented as heck. They've had a rough start like us, but they've got athletes everywhere. So that [next week] is gonna be a tough one. They are on the bye (week), so they get two weeks to prepare for us."

"So we got to work hard to make sure that's not an advantage to get six days on the short week because of thanksgiving and we gotta get ready for that one. One of those teams is going to be one in five and then it's going to be an uphill battle for either Guelph or us. I think we're both in a must win so it should be an interesting battle of Highway Six."

Josh Cumber,  Cambridge, Ont. - Defensive back 

On how the defense played despite what the scoreboard
It's no secret that Western is the national standard; No 1 in the country, national champions last year. But after playing today, the score may say something different, but I think we learned how you can play with them at a lot of levels in the game. I think our front seven played incredible against the run. We just let up too many explosive plays…. You take away those explosive plays, that's a completely different game. So yes, they're a fantastic team. No doubt about it. But I think we can play with them.