Western Mustangs cruise to victory over McMaster Marauders in home opener

The Western Mustangs made their 2018 home opener worth the wait.

Western demolished the McMaster Marauders 44-6 on Saturday afternoon at TD Stadium to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The Mustangs opened their year on the road with an overtime victory over the Carleton Ravens in Ottawa on August 26 and then had a bye week in Week 2 of the OUA schedule. That pushed their first game in London to Week 3.

Western did a very good job cutting down on the things that made life difficult for them in their first game, committing fewer penalties and creating more opportunities on offence.

After two first half-field goals from Marc Liegghio and rushing touchdowns from Cedric Joseph and Alex Taylor, the Mustangs stretched their lead to 24 points on a Chris Merchant long bomb to Harry McMaster. The play went for 55 yards and a touchdown and gave Western complete control of the game heading into the break.

Joseph ended the day with 103 yards on the ground and three TDs.

Even though only one of his passes found the end zone, Merchant had a massive game, putting up 354 yards through the air on 21-of-27 passing.

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Backup quarterback Kevin John made his first appearance as a Mustang and went a flawless 5-for-5 for 28 yards.

Eleven different receivers caught at least one pass for Western. McMaster led all receivers in the game with 87 yards.

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Liegghio kicked three field goals in total and remained perfect on the season. He is now 7-for-7 on both field goals and PATs.

Defensively, Mustang defensive back Daniel Valente Jr. picked off two passes and had three tackles. Andrew Thurston racked up a pair of sacks. Western recorded four sacks in total.

The Mustangs are back at home in a week as they meet the York Lions at TD Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. The Lions opened the season with a lopsided loss the Queen’s, followed by a 33-18 defeat at Guelph, before picking up their first win — 29-22 — at home to Windsor on Friday night.