Some of us were at work and couldn't be by a radio, but reading the London Free Press account ("Mustangs Lose Swagger") of the Queen's Golden Gaels 28-9 win over the Western Mustags on Saturday was sweetly satisfying enough for this member of the bleed-Tricolour crowd.
The offence was good enough, co-ordinator Pat Tracey's defence was their usual solid selves and The Big Yellow Guys won in beautifully ugly fashion, prevailing in a game that saw 11 lost fumbles and interceptions.
Let's try not to gloat over this one, but after watching Western hang 49-24 and 50-29 scores on the Gaels during the past two non-playoff seasons, it was sweet turnabout to force Western (5-3) to have to go on the road for the playoffs. Sure, the Gaels (4-4) have to go on the road themselves to face the same McMaster team who trounced them by 32 points earlier in the year, but that's neither here nor there.
Their loss to Laurier four weeks ago pointed out that Western was a very fragile team, one that seemed to have a lot of trouble both establishing a running game and keeping most good teams from doing so. That cropped up again for them against the Gaels, whose defence, which has soldiered on despite losing its best player, linebacker Ian Hazlett, in the early going, held Western to a safety in the first three quarters.
The D took down four interceptions on the day, including one from defensive back Kirby Calvert, whom I believe was playing his final home game. Linebacker Adam Ross had nine tackles and a sack, which should boost his OUA all-star credentials.
Western's defence couldn't get off the field again. A couple weeks back, one of their defensive starters, D-lineman Tom Dolezel, who a couple weeks back quipped that an opposing fullback was a "soft runner" who's "250 pounds, but he runs like a buck-eighty." By Mr. Dolezel's measure, Queen's 232-lb. fullback Mike Giffin runs like he's a buck-ninety, maybe even a buck ninety-five, since he chugged for 149 yards on 31 carries.
Incidentally, as a reader points out, the Gaels resisted any urge to tack on a window-dressing touchdown, calling a quarterback kneeldown with the ball at Western's 1-yard line in the final seconds. Nice touch.
Meantime, Queen's rediscovered the deep passing game, and Dan Brannagan found Rob Bagg and Brad Smith for 43- and 71-yard TDs, and had a 75-yard pass play to Scott Valberg, whom the Whig-Standard's story after the York game referred to as a "forgotten receiver."
Too bad yours truly lacked the confidence to call a Queen's win. Oh ye of little faith. Regardless, it was the first time that a Greg Marshall team ever got schooled by the Golden Gaels. This almost makes up for the '02 Yates Cup and the overtime game in 2003 where the Gaels couldn't cover a last-minute kickoff.
Western has its bigger athletic budget, its fancier stadium, its more more forgiving admission cutoff, its scores of J-school graduates working in the southern Ontario media who variously fawn over and wax nostalgic over the Mustangs. They can have all that. Golden Gaels fans will have to be happy with being 5-2 against the "dominant football school" (the Globe & Mail's phrase, not mine) since the start of this decade.
While we're here, accolades to the nationally ranked Gaels women's hockey and soccer teams. The No. 6-ranked Gaels beat Guelph 3-2 and 1-0, with Michelle Clark-Crumpton scoring the only goal of the second game with a mere 1:56 remaining. On the soccer pitch, Eilish McConville scored five goals over the weekend, giving her a CIS-leading 22 for the season as No. 4-ranked Queen's beat RMC twice to clinch the top playoff seed in the OUA East heading into the playoffs, which start on Wednesday.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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