Queen's at Western - Yates Cup 20131109
Photos of the Queen's Golden Gaels vs. the Western Mustangs in the Yates Cup at TD Waterhouse Stadium, London, ON on November 9, 2013.
All photos are by Jeff Chan. Jeff is past Chairman of the Vanier Cup - Canada's University Football Championship and the Premier University Event in Canada, and was a member of the Canadian College Bowl Board and Vanier Cup Organizing Committee from 1978-2000.
All photos are Copyright (c) Jeff Chan 2000-2013, and may be used for personal non-commercial applications including by Queen's University, Western University, the CIS and its member conferences, so long as photo credits are shown or the photos are otherwise attributed to Jeff Chan. All other rights, including for all corporate use, are reserved.
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QUEEN'S 22, WESTERN 51
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No. 4 GAELS FALL 51-22 TO No. 1 MUSTANGS IN 106th YATES CUP
BY Shawn MacDonald, Queen's Sports Information
The No. 4 Queen's Gaels could not make their way back after falling behind to the No. 1 Western Mustangs at TD Waterhouse Stadium in London. The Mustangs took the 106th Yates Cup 51-22 in front of 5,805 fans.
"Our goal was to get to the Yates Cup game, many of the kids would have been disappointed had we not got here," said head coach Pat Sheahan after the loss. "We did get here and we competed for a championship. Sometimes you have to win some big games on the road and these were the two we couldn't win against the best team. It was a terrific year there is no question about that."
The Gaels were undone by a strong offensive effort from Western QB Will Finch and the Mustang offense. On the day Finch hooked up with Matt Uren on seven occasions with two coming for touchdowns. Gaels quarterback Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) was 21 for 35 for 275 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Receivers Justin Chapdelaine (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Doug Corby (Burlington, Ont.) both finished with 82 yards receiving and a touchdown for the Gaels.
Justin Baronaitis (Rexdale, Ont.) led all defensive players on the day with 13.5 tackles. Preston Huggins had eight tackles and an interception for Western.
After the Gaels put up a 5-3 lead after the first quarter, the Mustangs then exploded for 45 straight points to put the game out of hand. Western running back Yannick Harou ran for his two touchdowns during that span and finished with 98 yards rushing on 20 attempts on the day.
The Gaels managed to get their offense going in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late by that point. McPhee hooked up with Chapdelaine for a score and two point conversion and followed up with a 22-yard pass to Corby to bring it to 51-21. The Gaels added a rouge and for the final score of 51-22.
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MUSTANGS DOWN QUEEN'S 51-22, CLAIM 30TH YATES CUP IN PROGRAM HISTORY
By Ian Speers, OUA Sports Information
The Western Mustangs captured the 30th Yates Cup title in club history with a 51-22 thrashing of the Queen's Gaels before 5,805 onlookers at London's TD Stadium in the 106th edition of the Yates Cup, presented by Pioneer Energy.
Western tallied 45 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, taking full advantage of a forceful and constant wind in its favour.
Western slotback Matt Uren won the Dalt White Trophy as the game MVP, and was named the Porter Airlines player of the game, catching seven passes for 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"It's great to come to such a high point", said Uren. "I've had some tough times, some trials and tribulations, but I've kept at it, done my job, and got the win."
Western quarterback Will Finch completed 20 of 27 pass attempts (74.1%) for 252 yards, connecting on three touchdown passes. He also accounted for 77 yards on the ground on 12 carries. Brian Marshall accounted for one receiving major and 43 yards on five receptions.
On the ground, the Mustangs amassed 220 rushing yards, led by a 20-carry, 98-yard performance by Yannick Harou, who ran in two major scores.
The Western defence held Queen's to 94 yards rushing, and made five sacks, with a pair at the hands of Dylan Ainsworth and 1.5 from Daryl Waud.
"This team is one of the best teams that I've had the pleasure to coach, and it's a really good football team that played a great game today," said Western head coach Greg Marshall. "The defensive line had a challenge: don't let Queen's run the football. And they shut them down. That was as big and as solid a team victory as we've had here in a long time."
The victory gave Western's Greg Marshall his eighth Yates Cup championship as a head coach, tying him with J.P. Metras (Western), Frank Tindall (Queen's), and Larry Haylor (Western) for most lifetime Yates Cup titles as a head coach.
In the losing effort, Queen's pivot Billy McPhee amassed 275 yards through the air, completing 21 of 35 passes and throwing two majors and a pair of interceptions. Receivers Justin Chapdelaine and Doug Corby each amassed 82 yards receiving and a touchdown apiece.
Opening the game playing against the wind, the Mustangs mounted an eight-play opening drive from their own 15-yard line, capped by a 23-yard field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu. Western conceded a safety rather than punt from its own end zone, giving Queen's its first points of the afternoon, and Dillon Wamsey added a field goal to give the Gaels a 5-3 advantage.
Western took the wind in the second quarter, and soon capitalized on a Jesse McNair interception in the dying second of the first quarter with a 31-yard field goal from Hajrullahu. The Mustangs scored on their three subsequent possessions, in turn getting a three-yard rushing major from Yannick Harou, a 49-yard field goal by Hajrullahu, and an acrobatic 16-yard touchdown catch by Uren. Hajrullahu added a pair of singles by driving both post-touchdown kickoffs through the opposing end zone. Western's 22 second-quarter points were unanswered by Queen's, leaving the tally at 25-5 at the intermission.
Western continued to augment its lead in the third quarter, Finch connecting with Brian Marshall and Uren for majors, and Harou adding a second rushing TD on the ground. Hajrullahu pounded two further kickoffs past the deadline to give the Mustangs a 48-5 lead after three quarters.
Although ultimately proving to be too little, too late, Queen's offence finally found its rhythm in the fourth quarter against Western's reserve players, McPhee connecting with Chapdelaine and Corby for two passing touchdowns, and also succeeding on a pair of two-point converts.
The Mustangs travel west next week to contest the Mitchell Bowl, facing the winner of today's Hardy Cup championship game between the Calgary Dinos and Manitoba Bisons.
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WESTERN POSTS DECISIVE 51-22 YATES CUP VICTORY OVER QUEEN'S
By Claude Scilley, SportKingston
LONDON — When a good football team plays well, sometimes you just have to concede the inevitability of the outcome. If, at the same time, you don’t play your best, the result can be the kind of crushing loss the Queen’s Golden Gaels suffered in the Yates Cup game Saturday.
In almost no respect were the Gaels a match for the Western Mustangs, who pinned a 51-21 defeat on Queen’s to capture decisively their league-leading 30th Ontario University Athletics championship.
“I know what our team is capable of and today I think we showed it,” Mustangs quarterback Will Finch said. “We have a good football team. Queen’s is a good football team. Nothing to take away from them but I think we came out and dominated today.”
A crowd of 5,805 watched the undefeated Mustangs, the No. 1-ranked team in the land, win its 10th game in a row. In doing so, they scored 50 points or better for the eighth time this year — the second time against Queen’s — and a stifling defence held the Gaels, 8-1 going into the game, to just 158 yards in the first three quarters, five points and no touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the vaunted Western offence scored a touchdown on five of six possessions in the middle part of the ball game, and kicked a field goal on the other. The Gaels, at times, appeared helpless to do anything about it.
“They’re fully balanced; they’ve got good talent everywhere. To beat them you have to have a great day,” Queen’s coach Pat Sheahan said. “They’re a great team and it wasn’t our best game today. It really wasn’t, and when you get in a championship game you have to play your best.
“Congratulations to them. They’re the best team.
Queen’s looked like they might do some business early in the ball game. Western marched smartly with the opening kickoff, 79 yards from its own 15, but the Queen’s defence resisted and held the Mustangs to a field goal.
A Queen’s punt pinned Western at its own one-yard line to start the next drive and the Mustangs conceded a safety. With a brisk wind at their backs, the Gaels could again do nothing, but Queen’s then recovered a Western fumble at the Mustangs’ 37-yard line. An open Doug Corby dropped a pass in the red zone, Queen’s settled for a Dillon Wamsley field goal — for a 5-3 lead — and on Western’s next possession, Mitchell Spataro blocked the punt.
Queen’s had the ball again in Western territory, still with the wind, but an 11-yard sack followed and then McPhee threw an interception and that led, nine plays later, to Lirim Hajrullahu’s go-ahead field goal.
Then the Western defence took over, allowing Queen’s just 26 yards on its next three possessions and intercepting another McPhee pass. The Gaels last real gasp was a 57-yard drive in the final minute of the first half, which went for naught when Wamsley missed a 25-yard field goal.
After the troubles in the first quarter, the Mustangs played virtually error-free ball.
“We just didn’t execute to the level that we had to,” Sheahan said. “We had some opportunities to get ahead, couldn’t do it, and it came back to haunt us when they had pretty good production when they had the wind (in the second and third quarters).”
McPhee threw touchdown passes to Justin Chapdelain and Corby in the fourth quarter, when the lion’s share of Queen’s offence — 178 yards — was gained. Trailing 48-5 by then, however, it really mattered not a lick.
Western back Matt Uren, who had 128 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns — one on a spectacular, fully extended catch late in the first quarter — won the Dalt White Trophy as the game’s most outstanding player. He said his team’s defence has received less attention this year than it deserves, lost amid the pile of points the Mustangs typically dump on opponents.
“Our defence played phenomenal,” Uren said. “They did a great job getting them off the field and getting the ball in the offence’s hands so we could do our thing. (Queen’s) really had no chance to build momentum.
“The offence couldn’t do what we do without the defence playing so well.”
Uren said the Mustangs were never concerned about weathering the first-quarter storm.
“You know in the game there’s going to be those ups and downs,” he said. “We just experienced an early down. We managed to work through it.”
Finch agreed.
“If things go one way too fast, it can get out of hand the other way,” he said, “(but) we didn’t really think about it too much. We were just trying to execute plays.”
Finch, who completed 20 of 27 pass attempts, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, also had praise for his defensive teammates.
“As a quarterback it’s good to know that if you go two and out, the defence is there to take away the other team’s momentum. It’s good to have that in the back of your mind.”
The Gaels, with just 94 yards rushing — their poorest performance of the season, and more than 100 yards less than they gained on the ground in the regular-season game at Western — appeared to have no Plan B.
“I thought we’d be able to get a little bit more ground production, set up some play action,” Sheahan said. “We didn’t get much inside run today.”
McPhee, however, wasn’t about to let responsibility for the offence’s poor performance rest with anyone but himself.
“Mistakes on my part, especially, hurt us,” he said. “You can’t turn the ball over like that twice.
“From a passing standpoint it’s always best when you can run the ball but at the same time, the mistakes we made in the passing game were by no means the result of (the Mustangs) just pinning their ears back. It was more poor reads, and we had some execution errors.
“As much as the offence is intertwined between running game and passing game, the problems we had offensively were not 100 per cent based on the running game, by any means.”
McPhee said there was nothing new in Western’s bag of defensive tricks that caused the Gaels particular grief.
“That’s kind of the devastating part of it,” he said. “They really didn’t do anything different. They just have athletes and they managed to get after the passer and their linebackers are very active. They may have some of the most underrated linebackers in the country. They play outside themselves and that’s what great teams do. They play beyond their ability in big games. We saw it twice this year.
“Kudos to them. They made plays when they had to and we didn’t.”
McPhee paid tribute to his graduating teammates. Tailback Ryan Granberg, offensive linemen Mike Sullivan, Josh Prinsen, Derek Morris and Matt Kendrick, defensive back Tijani Chase-Dunawa, receiver Justin Chapdelaine and defensive lineman John Miniaci all ended five-year careers at Queen’s Saturday.
“It was a disappointing first half but I’m proud of how we battled,” McPhee said. “There are some guys here who are never going to play again and it showed. They never quit. They fought for every inch.”
Sheahan echoed the sentiment.
“It was an outstanding year,” he said. “There were some great individual performances, some great growth on the team. I feel bad for the seniors. There’s a pretty good group of kids who finished today but they will be more resilient (because of it).
“It was a terrific year. The wins over Guelph were very special and you know what? To finish a (regular) season 7-1 is not too shabby. Losing is always disappointing but you have to put things in perspective, too. Our kids came a long way.”
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GAME STATS
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Queen's STATISTICS Western
19 FIRST DOWNS 33
13 Passing 11
6 Rushing 17
0 Penalty 5
100.00% (1 of 1) THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 66.67% (2 of 3)
336 TOTAL NET YARDS 467
62 Total Offensive Plays 71
5.4 Average gain per play 6.6
275 NET YARDS PASSING 250
21 - 35 Completions-Attempts 21 - 28
7.86 Net yards per pass play 8.93
5 - 33 Sacked:Number-Yards 0 - 0
2 Had intercepted 0
94 NET YARDS RUSHING 220
22 Rushing Attempts 43
4.27 Average gain per rush 5.12
10 - 351 PUNTS: Number-Yards 5 - 193
35.1 Average 38.6
99 TOTAL RETURN YARDS 154
4 - 66 Punt Returns:No-Yards 8 - 84
2 - 33 Kickof Returns:No-Yards 3 - 47
- Int. Returns:No-Yards 2 - 23
7 - 74 PENALTIES: Number-Yards 5 - 25
1 - 0 FUMBLES: Number-Lost 2 - 2
25:54 TIME OF POSSESSION 34:06
SCORING SUMMARY
Quarter #1
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 23 yds 11:38
Queen's - SAF scored by Queen's 08:13
Queen's - FG Dillon Wamsley 30 yds 04:04
Quarter #2
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 31 yds 12:07
Western - TD Yannick Harou 3 yds RUSH (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 06:51
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 05:51
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 49 yds 04:17
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 01:34
Western - TD Matt Uren 16 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 01:34
Quarter #3
Western - TD Brian Marshall 9 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 12:34
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 12:34
Western - TD Yannick Harou 10 yds RUSH (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 08:14
Western - TD Matt Uren 8 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 04:06
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 04:00
Quarter #4
Queen's - TD Justin Chapdelaine 24 yds PASS from Billy McPhee (Justin Chapdelaine convert) 12:41
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 41 yds 04:35
Queen's - TD Doug Corby 22 yds PASS from Billy McPhee (Justin Chapdelaine convert) 02:46
Queen's - 1PT Dillon Wamsley 0 yds 02:34
Read MoreAll photos are by Jeff Chan. Jeff is past Chairman of the Vanier Cup - Canada's University Football Championship and the Premier University Event in Canada, and was a member of the Canadian College Bowl Board and Vanier Cup Organizing Committee from 1978-2000.
All photos are Copyright (c) Jeff Chan 2000-2013, and may be used for personal non-commercial applications including by Queen's University, Western University, the CIS and its member conferences, so long as photo credits are shown or the photos are otherwise attributed to Jeff Chan. All other rights, including for all corporate use, are reserved.
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QUEEN'S 22, WESTERN 51
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No. 4 GAELS FALL 51-22 TO No. 1 MUSTANGS IN 106th YATES CUP
BY Shawn MacDonald, Queen's Sports Information
The No. 4 Queen's Gaels could not make their way back after falling behind to the No. 1 Western Mustangs at TD Waterhouse Stadium in London. The Mustangs took the 106th Yates Cup 51-22 in front of 5,805 fans.
"Our goal was to get to the Yates Cup game, many of the kids would have been disappointed had we not got here," said head coach Pat Sheahan after the loss. "We did get here and we competed for a championship. Sometimes you have to win some big games on the road and these were the two we couldn't win against the best team. It was a terrific year there is no question about that."
The Gaels were undone by a strong offensive effort from Western QB Will Finch and the Mustang offense. On the day Finch hooked up with Matt Uren on seven occasions with two coming for touchdowns. Gaels quarterback Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) was 21 for 35 for 275 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Receivers Justin Chapdelaine (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Doug Corby (Burlington, Ont.) both finished with 82 yards receiving and a touchdown for the Gaels.
Justin Baronaitis (Rexdale, Ont.) led all defensive players on the day with 13.5 tackles. Preston Huggins had eight tackles and an interception for Western.
After the Gaels put up a 5-3 lead after the first quarter, the Mustangs then exploded for 45 straight points to put the game out of hand. Western running back Yannick Harou ran for his two touchdowns during that span and finished with 98 yards rushing on 20 attempts on the day.
The Gaels managed to get their offense going in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late by that point. McPhee hooked up with Chapdelaine for a score and two point conversion and followed up with a 22-yard pass to Corby to bring it to 51-21. The Gaels added a rouge and for the final score of 51-22.
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MUSTANGS DOWN QUEEN'S 51-22, CLAIM 30TH YATES CUP IN PROGRAM HISTORY
By Ian Speers, OUA Sports Information
The Western Mustangs captured the 30th Yates Cup title in club history with a 51-22 thrashing of the Queen's Gaels before 5,805 onlookers at London's TD Stadium in the 106th edition of the Yates Cup, presented by Pioneer Energy.
Western tallied 45 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, taking full advantage of a forceful and constant wind in its favour.
Western slotback Matt Uren won the Dalt White Trophy as the game MVP, and was named the Porter Airlines player of the game, catching seven passes for 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"It's great to come to such a high point", said Uren. "I've had some tough times, some trials and tribulations, but I've kept at it, done my job, and got the win."
Western quarterback Will Finch completed 20 of 27 pass attempts (74.1%) for 252 yards, connecting on three touchdown passes. He also accounted for 77 yards on the ground on 12 carries. Brian Marshall accounted for one receiving major and 43 yards on five receptions.
On the ground, the Mustangs amassed 220 rushing yards, led by a 20-carry, 98-yard performance by Yannick Harou, who ran in two major scores.
The Western defence held Queen's to 94 yards rushing, and made five sacks, with a pair at the hands of Dylan Ainsworth and 1.5 from Daryl Waud.
"This team is one of the best teams that I've had the pleasure to coach, and it's a really good football team that played a great game today," said Western head coach Greg Marshall. "The defensive line had a challenge: don't let Queen's run the football. And they shut them down. That was as big and as solid a team victory as we've had here in a long time."
The victory gave Western's Greg Marshall his eighth Yates Cup championship as a head coach, tying him with J.P. Metras (Western), Frank Tindall (Queen's), and Larry Haylor (Western) for most lifetime Yates Cup titles as a head coach.
In the losing effort, Queen's pivot Billy McPhee amassed 275 yards through the air, completing 21 of 35 passes and throwing two majors and a pair of interceptions. Receivers Justin Chapdelaine and Doug Corby each amassed 82 yards receiving and a touchdown apiece.
Opening the game playing against the wind, the Mustangs mounted an eight-play opening drive from their own 15-yard line, capped by a 23-yard field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu. Western conceded a safety rather than punt from its own end zone, giving Queen's its first points of the afternoon, and Dillon Wamsey added a field goal to give the Gaels a 5-3 advantage.
Western took the wind in the second quarter, and soon capitalized on a Jesse McNair interception in the dying second of the first quarter with a 31-yard field goal from Hajrullahu. The Mustangs scored on their three subsequent possessions, in turn getting a three-yard rushing major from Yannick Harou, a 49-yard field goal by Hajrullahu, and an acrobatic 16-yard touchdown catch by Uren. Hajrullahu added a pair of singles by driving both post-touchdown kickoffs through the opposing end zone. Western's 22 second-quarter points were unanswered by Queen's, leaving the tally at 25-5 at the intermission.
Western continued to augment its lead in the third quarter, Finch connecting with Brian Marshall and Uren for majors, and Harou adding a second rushing TD on the ground. Hajrullahu pounded two further kickoffs past the deadline to give the Mustangs a 48-5 lead after three quarters.
Although ultimately proving to be too little, too late, Queen's offence finally found its rhythm in the fourth quarter against Western's reserve players, McPhee connecting with Chapdelaine and Corby for two passing touchdowns, and also succeeding on a pair of two-point converts.
The Mustangs travel west next week to contest the Mitchell Bowl, facing the winner of today's Hardy Cup championship game between the Calgary Dinos and Manitoba Bisons.
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WESTERN POSTS DECISIVE 51-22 YATES CUP VICTORY OVER QUEEN'S
By Claude Scilley, SportKingston
LONDON — When a good football team plays well, sometimes you just have to concede the inevitability of the outcome. If, at the same time, you don’t play your best, the result can be the kind of crushing loss the Queen’s Golden Gaels suffered in the Yates Cup game Saturday.
In almost no respect were the Gaels a match for the Western Mustangs, who pinned a 51-21 defeat on Queen’s to capture decisively their league-leading 30th Ontario University Athletics championship.
“I know what our team is capable of and today I think we showed it,” Mustangs quarterback Will Finch said. “We have a good football team. Queen’s is a good football team. Nothing to take away from them but I think we came out and dominated today.”
A crowd of 5,805 watched the undefeated Mustangs, the No. 1-ranked team in the land, win its 10th game in a row. In doing so, they scored 50 points or better for the eighth time this year — the second time against Queen’s — and a stifling defence held the Gaels, 8-1 going into the game, to just 158 yards in the first three quarters, five points and no touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the vaunted Western offence scored a touchdown on five of six possessions in the middle part of the ball game, and kicked a field goal on the other. The Gaels, at times, appeared helpless to do anything about it.
“They’re fully balanced; they’ve got good talent everywhere. To beat them you have to have a great day,” Queen’s coach Pat Sheahan said. “They’re a great team and it wasn’t our best game today. It really wasn’t, and when you get in a championship game you have to play your best.
“Congratulations to them. They’re the best team.
Queen’s looked like they might do some business early in the ball game. Western marched smartly with the opening kickoff, 79 yards from its own 15, but the Queen’s defence resisted and held the Mustangs to a field goal.
A Queen’s punt pinned Western at its own one-yard line to start the next drive and the Mustangs conceded a safety. With a brisk wind at their backs, the Gaels could again do nothing, but Queen’s then recovered a Western fumble at the Mustangs’ 37-yard line. An open Doug Corby dropped a pass in the red zone, Queen’s settled for a Dillon Wamsley field goal — for a 5-3 lead — and on Western’s next possession, Mitchell Spataro blocked the punt.
Queen’s had the ball again in Western territory, still with the wind, but an 11-yard sack followed and then McPhee threw an interception and that led, nine plays later, to Lirim Hajrullahu’s go-ahead field goal.
Then the Western defence took over, allowing Queen’s just 26 yards on its next three possessions and intercepting another McPhee pass. The Gaels last real gasp was a 57-yard drive in the final minute of the first half, which went for naught when Wamsley missed a 25-yard field goal.
After the troubles in the first quarter, the Mustangs played virtually error-free ball.
“We just didn’t execute to the level that we had to,” Sheahan said. “We had some opportunities to get ahead, couldn’t do it, and it came back to haunt us when they had pretty good production when they had the wind (in the second and third quarters).”
McPhee threw touchdown passes to Justin Chapdelain and Corby in the fourth quarter, when the lion’s share of Queen’s offence — 178 yards — was gained. Trailing 48-5 by then, however, it really mattered not a lick.
Western back Matt Uren, who had 128 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns — one on a spectacular, fully extended catch late in the first quarter — won the Dalt White Trophy as the game’s most outstanding player. He said his team’s defence has received less attention this year than it deserves, lost amid the pile of points the Mustangs typically dump on opponents.
“Our defence played phenomenal,” Uren said. “They did a great job getting them off the field and getting the ball in the offence’s hands so we could do our thing. (Queen’s) really had no chance to build momentum.
“The offence couldn’t do what we do without the defence playing so well.”
Uren said the Mustangs were never concerned about weathering the first-quarter storm.
“You know in the game there’s going to be those ups and downs,” he said. “We just experienced an early down. We managed to work through it.”
Finch agreed.
“If things go one way too fast, it can get out of hand the other way,” he said, “(but) we didn’t really think about it too much. We were just trying to execute plays.”
Finch, who completed 20 of 27 pass attempts, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, also had praise for his defensive teammates.
“As a quarterback it’s good to know that if you go two and out, the defence is there to take away the other team’s momentum. It’s good to have that in the back of your mind.”
The Gaels, with just 94 yards rushing — their poorest performance of the season, and more than 100 yards less than they gained on the ground in the regular-season game at Western — appeared to have no Plan B.
“I thought we’d be able to get a little bit more ground production, set up some play action,” Sheahan said. “We didn’t get much inside run today.”
McPhee, however, wasn’t about to let responsibility for the offence’s poor performance rest with anyone but himself.
“Mistakes on my part, especially, hurt us,” he said. “You can’t turn the ball over like that twice.
“From a passing standpoint it’s always best when you can run the ball but at the same time, the mistakes we made in the passing game were by no means the result of (the Mustangs) just pinning their ears back. It was more poor reads, and we had some execution errors.
“As much as the offence is intertwined between running game and passing game, the problems we had offensively were not 100 per cent based on the running game, by any means.”
McPhee said there was nothing new in Western’s bag of defensive tricks that caused the Gaels particular grief.
“That’s kind of the devastating part of it,” he said. “They really didn’t do anything different. They just have athletes and they managed to get after the passer and their linebackers are very active. They may have some of the most underrated linebackers in the country. They play outside themselves and that’s what great teams do. They play beyond their ability in big games. We saw it twice this year.
“Kudos to them. They made plays when they had to and we didn’t.”
McPhee paid tribute to his graduating teammates. Tailback Ryan Granberg, offensive linemen Mike Sullivan, Josh Prinsen, Derek Morris and Matt Kendrick, defensive back Tijani Chase-Dunawa, receiver Justin Chapdelaine and defensive lineman John Miniaci all ended five-year careers at Queen’s Saturday.
“It was a disappointing first half but I’m proud of how we battled,” McPhee said. “There are some guys here who are never going to play again and it showed. They never quit. They fought for every inch.”
Sheahan echoed the sentiment.
“It was an outstanding year,” he said. “There were some great individual performances, some great growth on the team. I feel bad for the seniors. There’s a pretty good group of kids who finished today but they will be more resilient (because of it).
“It was a terrific year. The wins over Guelph were very special and you know what? To finish a (regular) season 7-1 is not too shabby. Losing is always disappointing but you have to put things in perspective, too. Our kids came a long way.”
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GAME STATS
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Queen's STATISTICS Western
19 FIRST DOWNS 33
13 Passing 11
6 Rushing 17
0 Penalty 5
100.00% (1 of 1) THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 66.67% (2 of 3)
336 TOTAL NET YARDS 467
62 Total Offensive Plays 71
5.4 Average gain per play 6.6
275 NET YARDS PASSING 250
21 - 35 Completions-Attempts 21 - 28
7.86 Net yards per pass play 8.93
5 - 33 Sacked:Number-Yards 0 - 0
2 Had intercepted 0
94 NET YARDS RUSHING 220
22 Rushing Attempts 43
4.27 Average gain per rush 5.12
10 - 351 PUNTS: Number-Yards 5 - 193
35.1 Average 38.6
99 TOTAL RETURN YARDS 154
4 - 66 Punt Returns:No-Yards 8 - 84
2 - 33 Kickof Returns:No-Yards 3 - 47
- Int. Returns:No-Yards 2 - 23
7 - 74 PENALTIES: Number-Yards 5 - 25
1 - 0 FUMBLES: Number-Lost 2 - 2
25:54 TIME OF POSSESSION 34:06
SCORING SUMMARY
Quarter #1
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 23 yds 11:38
Queen's - SAF scored by Queen's 08:13
Queen's - FG Dillon Wamsley 30 yds 04:04
Quarter #2
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 31 yds 12:07
Western - TD Yannick Harou 3 yds RUSH (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 06:51
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 05:51
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 49 yds 04:17
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 01:34
Western - TD Matt Uren 16 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 01:34
Quarter #3
Western - TD Brian Marshall 9 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 12:34
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 12:34
Western - TD Yannick Harou 10 yds RUSH (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 08:14
Western - TD Matt Uren 8 yds PASS from Will Finch (Lirim Hajrullahu convert) 04:06
Western - 1PT Lirim Hajrullahu 0 yds 04:00
Quarter #4
Queen's - TD Justin Chapdelaine 24 yds PASS from Billy McPhee (Justin Chapdelaine convert) 12:41
Western - FG Lirim Hajrullahu 41 yds 04:35
Queen's - TD Doug Corby 22 yds PASS from Billy McPhee (Justin Chapdelaine convert) 02:46
Queen's - 1PT Dillon Wamsley 0 yds 02:34
