It was a rainy practice Wednesday, but the Western Mustangs are confident ahead of their semi-final game against the Windsor Lancers.
Western Head coach Michael Faulds (Credit: Daniel Thuss XFM news)
“This is an energetic and motivated group of guys that are improving every day,” said Western Mustangs Head Coach Michael Faulds.
The Mustangs are coming off a bounce back win against the Laurier Golden Hawks 58-41, after dropping the season finale to the Golden Hawks 55-39.
“We got to limit our turnovers, create our team turnovers on defense and spread the ball around offensive,” Faulds said. “Windsor has one of the best defensive lines in the country and a physical quarter back so we need to execute in all three phases.”
Faulds is in his first season as head coach after Greg Marshall being head coach for almost 20 years.
Western QB Ben Casselman (Credit: Daniel Thuss XFM news)
Ben Casselman is one of the QB for Western and Faulds said he’s come out of his shell sharing the ball.
“We’re taking it week by week and Faulds stated we’re four quarters away and it’s a new game,” Casselman said. “Windsor is a physical team and are good offensively.”
Casselman shares his spot with Jerome Rancourt both in the top 10 passing touchdowns in the OUA. Casselman is also one of the top passing completion percentage at 71.4 per cent.
“Winning the Yates cup is the dream of every kid doing this and I’ve been to some games having my parents being Western Alumni,” Casselman said. The Mustangs have the most Yates cups in OUA history but haven’t won since 2023 and haven’t won the Vanier cup since 2021.
The last time the two teams meant was early in the season with Western winning 44-37.
“Both teams have grown a lot and both teams have changed quite a bit,” Faulds said. “Some of our guys were playing in their second game and we have to be ready.”
Western practice (Credit: Daniel Thuss XFM news)
Kick off for the semi-final game is set for 1:00 p.m. at Western Alumni Stadium.
Heavy offensive teams
Western practice in the rain (Credit: Daniel Thuss
The Mustangs and Lancers are two of the countries top scoring teams with Windsor in 3rd at 312 points scored and Western a top with 370 points scored. However Western is 15th for points scored against while Windsor is 8th. Faulds said playoff football does involve heavy rushing games and both team sit in the top 3 for rushing yards.
