Monday night the OUA Marquee Matchup in Week #2 was the Western Mustangs football team hosting the Guelph Gryphons at TD Stadium, set for a 7:00pm kickoff. The Mustangs demolished the York Lions 66-3 on the road, while the Gryphons lost at home to the Ottawa Gee Gees 24-21 in double overtime. The evening started off with a bang, several of them, as a lightning storm roared through Southwestern Ontario forcing a 2+ hour delay to the game. Close to 9:20pm the ball was kicked, as thousands of would be attendees dwindled down to the hundreds of die-hard supporters in the wet stands. The saying ‘good things come to those who wait’ couldn’t of rang more true for those who stayed Labour Day evening, they arguably witnessed one of the most entertaining Canadian football games in recent years. Such an evenly matched battle, that the game needed overtime with Western prevailing 41-34 after midnight, as the game spilled into Tuesday morning.
As you could imagine with players having to wait over 120 minutes indoors, the game started a little choppy for both teams in the 1st quarter of play. Western had their first drive of the game after receiving the opening kickoff stall in the Guelph redzone, after taking 2:37 off the clock on 9 plays. The Mustangs still got points with the Woodbridge, Ontario Kicker Marc Liegghio making a 25-yard Field Goal to give the home side an early 3-0 lead. However after that drive, Greg Marshall’s team offensively struggled for the majority of the first half and failed to find some flow to their game. The Gryphons on the other hand started to gain ground as the game wore on into the night, having Mississauga, Ontario Kicker Gabriel Ferraro make a 21-yard Field Goal to tie the game 3-3 with 2:28 left in the 1st quarter.
Guelph continued their momentum just 1:27 into the 2nd quarter, as Gabriel Ferraro nailed a 42-yard Field Goal to give the visiting team their first taste of the lead 6-3. Just 3:19 later, after recovering not one, but two fumbles, the Gryphons grabbed the first major of the contest with Quarterback James Roberts finding the Montreal, Quebec rookie Wide Receiver Zeph Fraser for a 4-yard Touchdown to make a 13-3 score. A couple minutes later, Ferraro grabbed his third Field Goal of the evening, his longest of the game as well at 46 yards, to make it 16 straight points for Guelph. Western threatened to obtain their first major in front of their home crowd with a 1st and Goal situation from the 4-yard line, but a great defensive stand by Guelph forced the Mustangs to settle for a 9-yard Field Goal from Liegghio with 25 seconds left in the first half. As most people in the Forest City headed off to bed ending their long weekend, Western and Guelph headed off to the locker rooms for halftime with a 16-6 score.
