LONDON, Ont. – Saturday afternoon in cold, windy conditions at TD Stadium in London, the Guelph Gryphons football team saw their memorable 2018 campaign officially come to an end with a 63-14 loss to the Western Mustangs in the 111th edition of the Yates Cup. The Gryphons, who were making their fourth Yates Cup appearance in the last seven years, were never able to recover after a slow start which saw them trailing 39-7 at halftime versus the defending Vanier Cup champions. The No. 1-nationally ranked Mustangs will now host the Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies next Saturday (Nov. 17) in a national semi-final Mitchell Bowl matchup.
"We knew that coming into today, we could not afford to make many mistakes," said Gryphons head coach
Todd Galloway. "Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a hole early on, and they're too good of a football team to do that against."
On the Mustangs' opening drive of the game, the Gryphon defence was able to help dig the team out of an early hole when
Elijah Walker forced a fumble on Western running back Alex Taylor at the U of G five-yard line.
Gryphons' free safety
Dotun Aketepe would jump on the loose ball in the endzone to give the visiting Gryphs the first turnover of the day. That miscue, however, would prove to be just a blip on the radar for the high-powered Mustangs, who racked up 637 total yards of offence on the day.
To make matters worse for the Gryphons, not only was the Western offence in rhythm throughout the day, they also got a boost with a defensive score when Makenzie Ferguson coming up with a 36-yard pick six to put the hosts in front 14-0 with just under five minutes to go in the opening quarter.
A pair of long touchdown runs from Western QB Chris Merchant and running back Cedric Joseph would help push the Western lead to as much as 39-0 before the Gryphons were able to salvage some momentum from that first half with a touchdown pass from Theo Landers to
Kian Schaffer-Baker on the final play of the 2nd quarter.
The Guelph would score another touchdown on their opening possession of the 3rd quarter when rookie running back
Jean-Paul Cimankinda broke through for a 57-yard touchdown run to make it 46-14 game. The Mustangs would squash any hopes of a Gryphon comeback with a touchdown of their own on the ensuing drive to keep the game out of reach and ultimately eclipsed the 60-point mark for the fourth time this season. The Mustangs have put up points at an unprecedented rate over the past year, including a 75-point performance in last year's Yates Cup versus Laurier, followed by an 81-3 Uteck Bowl victory over Acadia.
Few teams in the country have been as impressive defensively as the Gryphons in 2018. However, even the talented Gryphon D, like the rest of the defences across U SPORTS, struggled to find a way to slow the potent Mustang attack, with Western quarterback Chris Merchant going a near perfect 19-22 through the air for 324 yards and a touchdown.
One of Merchant's few mistakes on the day came in the form of a
Job Reinhart interception, with the Gryphon middle linebacker coming up with a pick in his own endzone in the 3rd quarter. While Merchant impressed through the air, the Mustangs were equally dangerous on the ground, with five different Western ball carriers combining for 286 yards rushing on the day, with Cedric Joseph leading the way with 122 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 13 carries.
One of the bright spots on the day for the Gryphons offensively was standout freshman J.P. Cimankinda, who continued his impressive late season form by racking up 148 yards on 20 carries, highlighted by his 57-yard TD run in the early 3rd quarter. The Gryphons were unable to move the ball consistently through the air, with fourth-year quarterback Theo Landers limited to just 69 yards passing on 12 completions.
The Gryphons and Mustangs did not meet during the 2018 regular season, making Saturday's matchup their first head-to-head meeting since the 2017 OUA semi-finals. The Gryphs loss on Saturday in London also marked the team's first defeat since September 22, snapping a five-game win streak. The dramatic mid-season turnaround is something not lost on head coach Todd Galloway, "When we were 2-3 earlier this season, there were not a lot of people who thought the guys would even get this far. We're proud of the way they came together and fought to get to this stage. And we want to say a special 'thank you' to our fifth-year guys who have given so much to this program."
