LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs made a statement with a 36-0 win over the McMaster Marauders in their final regular season game at the UWO Rugby Fields on Oct. 18 in front of 200 fans.
The Mustangs finish the regular season with a 7-1 record and will finish in the top two in the OUA in 2009, earning the opening round bye through to the OUA semifinals.
Western will host the semifinal at either the UWO Rugby Fields or St. Georges Society Rugby Fields in East London on Nov. 7 against a quarter-final winner.
The final placing for the Mustangs - in first or second place - will be determined after the final regular season games are complete next weekend (Oct. 24-25). A Brock win over Queen's on Oct. 18 would create a three-way tie at the top and Western could finish in first place based on the tiebreaker. A Queen's win over Brock would place Western in second spot.
It was the Mustangs defence which stole the show again, as Western has failed to surrender a try now for seven consecutive halves of play dating back to Oct. 3's second-half shutout against Queen's.
"At the start of the year, we said our defence was going to be our priority. They played very well today," said head coach Tony Roes. "Those two stances were huge for us and definitely gave us a boost."
Western had a two-try performance from Marcus Mitchell (Ancaster, Ont.) for 10 points, while Alan Si (Ottawa, Ont.) had a try and a conversion for seven points.
Single tries came from Conor Trainor (Vancouver, B.C.), Aaron Kennedy (Vancouver, B.C.) and Conor Wade (London, Ont.), while Simon Fader (London, Ont.) added a pair of converts for four points.
The Mustangs opened the scoring early on Mitchell's first try and held on to lead 5-0 at the half.
A great defensive stance along the try-line in the final five minutes of the first half gave Western momentum into the second frame.
Western made another great stance early in the second, and after defending deep in their own territory, Trainor coyley intercepted a ball at midfield and ran 65 yards in for a try, sprinting past several Marauders defenders.
The try sunk McMaster, according to Roes, and gave Western the 12-0 lead after Si's convert.
"It was huge and it just deflated them. It's mentally tough for any team to bounce back from that," Roes said. "We have a number of guys on our team who can make plays like that. Conor did a great job but the whole team played really well today."
Si added a try of his own to make it 17-0, capitalizing on some strong prop and lock play up front.
After a teammate kicked the ball 20 yards downfield, Mitchell scored his second try of the day after skillfully catching the ball on the run and running it in 15 yards. After a Fader convert, Western's lead increaed to 24-0.
Wade scored, converted by Fader, to make it 31-0, before Kennedy scored the final try for the 36-0 final.
