Mustangs win OUA Bronze with 31-17 victory over McMaster

LONDON, Ont. – Despite facing a more resilient McMaster Marauder contingent than seen in the past, the Mustangs prevailed to win the OUA bronze medal with a 31-17 win on home soil on Sunday afternoon.
 
OUA All-Star Mark Denton's 11 points topped not only the purple and white half of the scoresheet, but allowed him to be the highest scoring member of the game. Also putting up points for Western were Josh Bald, Glen Thomson-Bullock, Mitchell Rothman, Isaac Butler and Ryan Anderson.
 
Leading the Marauders was Graham Dobbs, whose two converts and penalty goal put up seven points for the Marauders.
 
"Our composure, our defence," responded Butler when asked about what allowed Western to post the victory. "The majority of the game when we were playing defensively, we were able to shut them down."
 
The scoresheet remained blank for the first 13 minutes of the game, with play concentrated between half and McMaster's 22 metre line. Denton finally broke through the Marauder defensive line to land the first try of the night, and record a subsequent convert.
 
Butler matched Denton's effort around ten minutes later to put the Mustangs up 12-0.
 
The Marauders responded with a deep push into the purple and white portion of the field, but were unable to make it past the line. Slowly working the ball back up the field, the Mustangs were able to exploit the power of their scrum to send Anderson into the Marauder in-goal area for the final try of the half.
 
Again McMaster pushed back, carrying the ball beyond the purple and white 22 metre line. Still unable to break through, they finally settled onto the scoreboard with a penalty goal from Dobbs.
 
Headed into the half, Western held a 26-3 lead over the Marauders.
 
Returning to play, McMaster upped the intensity to better challenge the eventual bronze medal contingent, and just past the 62-minute mark McMaster picked up their first try of the day.  After playing along the goal line for minutes, Mike Smith finally saw an opportunity to breakthrough the resilient Mustangs defence, and following the convert from Dobbs, the score sat at 26-10.
 
Playing back on forth with neither team making substantial gains, it wasn't until Bullock got his hands on the ball that the stalemate was broken. Picking up the ball past half, he ran almost 25 metres into the Marauder in-goal area, weaving through defenders in order to find a clear lane.
 
Just two minutes later McMaster pushed out an additional try and convert, but were unable to overcome the point differential with Western taking the bronze with a 31-17 win.
 
"There's mixed feelings," said head coach David Knowles about the end of the Mustangs season. "We feel like we should have been in the final game. Other than that, overall, it was a good season, a good building step […] Overall a positive season."

Source: Western Mustangs