Golden Hawks look to build on last week’s victory over Waterloo as they face No. 2 Western
WATERLOO, Ont. – Fresh off their first win of the season, the Wilfrid Laurier University men’s football team will look for their first winning streak of the year as they host the No. 2 Western Mustangs on Saturday afternoon.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at University Stadium and tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting tickets.laurierathletics.com. Fans are also welcomed to attend the Hawks pre-game party in the West end zone where discount food and beverages will be available starting at 11:30 a.m. until kickoff. Admission to the area is free of charge with the purchase of a game ticket.
Saturday’s game marks the 65th all-time meeting between the two long-time rivals as Laurier has faced no other team in the country more than the Mustan gs. However, for head coach Michael Faulds, this will be the first time that he has faced Western, the team he played five seasons for in the CIS. His task in going up against his former team will be to end the Mustangs’ seven-game winning streak against Laurier, a streak that he helped start as a player back in 2008.
The job won’t be easy for Faulds and his young squad as Western enters this weekend ranked No. 2 in the country after beating up on the Ottawa Gee-Gees by a score of 83-27. In that game, the Mustangs posted a whopping 743 yards of offence, including 424 on the ground. Those numbers helped bump Western’s game average totals to 65.5 points per game and 689 yards of offence per game.
For Laurier to stay competitive with the Mustangs, they will need to put forth a similar effort to the one that gave them a 41-10 victory over Waterloo last weekend. The Hawks were strong in every aspect of the game, especia lly on offence where the duo of quarterback James Fracas of Waterloo, Ont., and running back Dillon Campbell of Whitby, Ont., helped the purple and gold post over 500 yards of offence.
Defensively, the Hawks have been strong all season as they rank second in the conference in pass defence, allowing only 216 yards per game, and fourth in scoring defence, allowing just 22.8 points per game. This group will face their stiffest test of the season on Saturday but have shown that they can limit the production of good teams, including holding the No. 6 Guelph Gryphons to just 21 points in their season opener.
Fans that can’t make it out to University Stadium will be able to tune into the live webcast of the game on Hawk TV and audiocast on RadioLaurier.com.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Campbell enters Week 5 of the season currently ranked second in the conference in rushing yards with 383…the Hawks have two defensive players currently in the Top 10 in total tackles this season in Thomas Majka of Mississauga, Ont., and Chris Ackie of Cambridge, Ont….Majka is seventh in the OUA with 22.5 tackles while Ackie is ninth with 21…thanks to a 4-for-5 performance against Waterloo, kicker Ronnie Pfeffer of Kitchener, Ont., now has seven field goals on the season, which is the fourth most in the conference.
By Jamie Howieson
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
