GUELPH, Ont. – Although a simple one, the task at hand for the No. 6-nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons does not get much tougher than the one they will face on Saturday. Heading to London for the OUA West Final, the Gryphons will need to find a way to defeat the No. 2-nationally ranked Western Mustangs for a second time this season should they wish to reach their second Yates Cup final over the past three seasons.
The Mustangs, who were ranked No. 1 in the country when Guelph defeated them 23-21 in Week 2 of the OUA season, have not lost two games to the same opponent in the same calendar year since 2014, meaning history is not necessarily on Guelph's side when they head to TD Stadium.
However, the last time Western did lose twice to the same team in one year, it was at the hands of the Gryphons who downed Western 49-46 in the 2014 regular season before punching their ticket to the 2014 Yates Cup with 51-26 victory over the Mustangs. Now, the Gryphs will have a chance to repeat that exact same scenario on Saturday.
Heading into the 2021 OUA West Final, the Gryphons put together one of their best performances of the season this past Saturday in Waterloo against the Laurier Golden Hawks. Led by their rookie quarterback, who was making his OUA playoff debut,
Shawn Lal sliced up the Laurier defence to the tune of 261 yards and three touchdowns on 20 of 24 passing. Speaking of debuts, it was the gunslinger from Abbotsford, BC making his OUA debut on September 25 when he led his Gryphons to that 23-21 season opening win over Western.
Given that it was seven weeks ago when these two teams last met, there has certainly been some key changes on both rosters since that contest.
For the Gryphons, not available in the game against Western due to injury, receiver,
Clark Barnes is now back in full force. Despite having only played in five games this year (regular season and playoffs), the 2nd-year eligible out of Brampton sits fourth in the OUA receiving standings with 427 yards, one spot behind his teammate,
Kiondre Smith who has tallied 530 receiving yards in six games.
On the Mustangs side, it was just one week after their loss to Guelph when Western Head Coach Greg Marshall made a switch at quarterback midway through their win against Laurier.
Since that contest on October 2, Evan Hillock has taken over at the position for Jackson White who had begun 2021 as the number one option. Since taking over the starting job, Hillock has yet to suffer a loss, while throwing for 1153 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 66% of his passes.
One thing that has remained the same from that late September match-up until now though, has been the incredible play of the Gryphon defence. Recording two sacks, an interception and only allowing one Western touchdown in their early season meeting, the Gryphons set the bar quite high for their defence this year. Despite the high standard set early on, Guelph's defensive unit has continued to further raise it all throughout 2021. In their seven games played this year, Guelph's defence, under the direction of Defensive Coordinator, Dennis McPhee, leads the conference in sacks with 28, while currently sitting 3rd in both interceptions (9) and points allowed per game (14.9). Leading the Gryphon's defence on the field, senior linebacker
A.J. Allen, a draft pick of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, has recorded 43 tackles and four sacks. Along with his fellow linebackers,
Jared Beeksma (44.5 tackles and three sacks) and
Justin Lauzon (20.5 tackles and four sacks), along with defensive linemen
Kristian Stewart (24 tackles and 4.5 sacks),
Jeremy Kapelanski (15.5 tackles and 4 sacks) and
Josh Campbell (13.5 tackles and 2.5 sacks), the Gryphon's defence has been able to get after the quarterback using many different looks.
Getting their first look at Hillock under centre for Western, Guelph will look to make the 1st-year quarterback as uncomfortable as possible. Also, in an attempt to slow down Western's signal-caller, the Gryphons will try to slow down his top options. Receiver, Savaughn Magnaye-Jones leads the OUA in receiving yards with 651, while running back Trey Humes has been a force once again in 2021 rushing for 423 yards while averaging 6.8 yards per carry.
In a game that could come down to the last moments and be decided by special teams, both teams will have zero problems with running out their kicker in crunch time. Arguably two of the best kickers in the conference, with perhaps the two strongest legs in the conference, Guelph and Western will not be shy about securing three points when they have the chance. For the Gryphon's,
Eric Stranz has gone 18 for 23 with his longest kick of the season coming from 50-yards out. Similarly for the Mustangs, Brian Garrity has knocked through 17 of 21 kicks with his long coming from 47-yards away.
Coming into the contest as the top-seed in the OUA West, the Mustangs advanced to the West Final with a 51-24 win over Waterloo, while the Gryphons, the 3-seed in the West, defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks 31-18.
Kick-off from TD Stadium in London is scheduled for 1:00pm on Saturday. The game can be seen live online at OUA.tv.
