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All eyes on battle between Ontario’s finest

November 11, 2011
By Ryan Stern

The regular season seems like a blip in the Mustangs’ rear view mirror because from this point on, there is one goal in mind—bring home the Yates Cup and the pride and glory that accompanies it.

After breezing through the season, the Mustangs and McMaster Marauders have reached the pinnacle of Ontario University Athletics and it is time for them to seize the moment. After defeating the Windsor Lancers by a score of 33-27, the Mustangs will look to repeat as Yates Cup champions and the only thing that stands in their way is the team with the same regular season record.

Finishing with an equal 6-1 record, the Marauders looks to avenge not one but two recent losses to the Mustangs. Defeating the Queen’s Gaels’ in their semifinal matchup, the Marauders will be looking to take revenge on the only squad to have topped them this season.

“[It] certainly gives us a healthy respect for the talent and the coaching and the entire program. They outplayed us and deserved to win big too,” Stefan Ptaszek, Marauders coach, said of the two team’s regular season meeting.

Having also lost to the Mustangs in last season’s OUA semifinals by the heartbreaking score of 34-28, the Marauders will surely be playing this game with a moxie that is on par with how their offensive leader, Kyle Quinlan, has been playing of late. Suffering a three game suspension that stemmed from an incident occurring on the weekend of these two teams’ regular season meeting, Quinlan has come back with a vengeance as one of the OUA’s best passers.

“The privilege of football was taken away and having it taken away, the passion and the energy and having fun playing the sport he loves is at an all-time high,” Ptaszek said. “He is a great kid and he has had a wonderful season and dealt with these trying times as well as anybody could have possibly dealt with them.”

The largest question surrounding this Mustangs team is the availability of offensive leader Donnie Marshall. Having been sidelined with an ankle injury suffered on October 1 during the Mustangs Homecoming game against the York Lions, all indications are that Donnie will be able to play in Saturday’s game. Having relied on their run game for most of the season, regardless of Donnie’s status it will probably be much of the same versus the Marauders.

“Like any injury, he is getting better every day. He practiced fairly hard [on Tuesday] so we may take it a bit easier on him. He is not going to be 100 per cent this year, he is going to be 100 per cent sometime next spring. It was a significant injury so we will just have to see how he is and make that decision on Thursday or Friday.” Greg Marshall, Mustangs head coach, said.

Having a healthy Matt Norman, Tyler Varga and Dan Duff back for the Windsor game seemed to do the trick as the Mustangs rushed for 263 yards on the day. Though the Mustangs may continue to use the ground game in order to control the clock and move the ball, they will surely be aware of the plays that McMaster has on tape from their last meeting.

“It is a little bit difficult because we ran the ball pretty well on them last time and beat them pretty handily, so you know that they are going to change some things. Our dilemma on offence is how much do we change?” coach Marshall said. “We don’t want to outcoach ourselves and change things that were successful the last time, but you do know that they are going to make some changes.”

Having been in the Yates Cup for the past four years, these Mustangs understand what it takes to play in a big game. An experienced team like the Mustangs have undoubtedly had their sights on this game since the beginning of the season, but now that push has come to shove, this game should determine where this team lands in the OUA history books.

“We wanted to make the playoffs, we wanted to finish in first place, we wanted to host the Yates Cup so this is just one of those things. We have lots of goals so this is just one that we have to knock off,” coach Marshall said. “I really believe that McMaster is one of the top teams in the country and that they may be the best team we play so we have to take care of a team that is vastly improved.”

The questions going into the game should surround Donnie Marshall and Kyle Quinlan, but it will take a full team effort to capture the 104th version of the Yates Cup and to the victor will surely go the spoils and a trip to the Uteck Bowl on November 18.

“From the start of the season our goal was the Vanier Cup so this is just another step along the way. It is going to be a tough game because McMaster is a good team, but this is what we have been practicing for,” Donnie Marshall said.

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