Western Mustangs beat Guelph to advance to ninth straight Yates Cup, will face Laurier

Western quarterback Evan Hillock takes a snap during their win over Guelph to advance to the Yates Cup in London, Ont. on Nov. 2, 2024. (Source: Brent Lale/CTV London)

It’s a rare occurrence where the Yates Cup game is not being played at Western’s Alumni Stadium.

The Mustangs defeated Guelph 30-19 to advance to their ninth straight OUA football final. But, for only the second time in nine years, it’s being played outside of London.

“It’s my fourth Yates Cup in a row and it means the world to me,” said Western Defensive Lineman Soren Hallschmid.

“I wish it was here at Western but dropped that one game early in the year, and now we have to go back there (Wilfrid Laurier University) with a vengeance and take care of business, because the means so much, man, this is history if we can win four in a row.”

The Laurier Golden Hawks beat Western 43-28 on Sept. 14, en route to an undefeated season, so now the Mustangs will have to go on the road to Waterloo next Saturday.

Western advanced to the championship with a rock-solid defensive performance. They have allowed just two touchdowns over the past four games.

"We knew they had a well-rounded and balanced offence and that their offensive line was one of the better ones we've seen in a long time, so we had to take our game plan and put it into action," said Hallschmid, who had 1.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles.

"I'm not going to take credit for my sacks because our coverage held up and gave me time to get there.”

Wide Receiver Brayden Misseri had the play of the game. With the score 20-19 for the Mustangs in the fourth quarter, he bounced off multiple tackles and went down the sideline for the touchdown, which put the game out of reach.

“I won't lie, there was a little anger behind that run,” said Misseri.

“I didn't like the way we played. We got the job done, but I know that we can do better than that. So, honestly was just a lot of anger and just trusting my guys to make a block ...  Just getting in the end zone.”

In what will be a rematch of last year’s Yates Cup game, the Mustangs will face the Golden Hawks, who are led by London native Taylor Elgersma as quarterback.

He threw for 385 yards and two touchdowns in the previous meeting.

“He’s good, you know, he makes plays with his legs,” said Greg Marshall, Western’s head coach.

“He throws the ball and the one thing that Taylor has he's got some really, really dynamic receivers. What we what we have to do is we have to keep pace with them. We need to be able run the ball next week … We have to be able to score points and we cannot let Laurier get a lead on us and then let them get comfortable.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at University Stadium at Wilfrid Laurier University.