On a day when the result was completely overshadowed by an incredible and record-breaking career coming to a close, the Varsity Blues football team left TD Waterhouse Stadium on Oct. 24 after witnessing history and suffering their worst defeat of the 2009 season, a 47-0 loss to the No.6 Western Mustangs.
Western quarterback Michael Faulds (Eden Mills, Ont.) became the all-time CIS career passing leader, finishing his five-year career with 10,811 career yards. He also set the record for CIS single-season passing at 3,033 yards and moves to fifth place in the CIS record book for passing yards in a game with a 550-yard outing.
The fifth-year Master’s of kinesiology student completed 39 of 52 passes with two touchdowns. He was 11 yards shy of the OUA single-game mark held by Queen’s Tommy Dennison (561 yards).
The Blues started the game with an impressive opening drive. Using two quarterbacks, first-year pivot Jordan Scheltgen and third-year veteran Andrew Gillis, the Blues marched 49 yards, stalling at the Western thirty and forcing a Willie Sharpe (Ottawa) punt.
Western opened the scoring on a seven-yard Ben Roberts (London, Ont.) run. A clutch 31-yard catch from Zach Bull got the ball inside the 10-yard line to set up the score. Bull finished with nine catches for 129 yards.
Toronto conceded a safety to give Western a 9-0 lead and on Mustang possession, Faulds drove his squad 75 yards in three plays to give the home team a 16-0 lead after the opening quarter and they didn’t look back.
Down 23-0, the Blues put together another great drive midway through the second quarter as they looked to gain momentum heading into the second half. A Scheltgen (Surrey, B.C.) pass to rookie David Green (Georgetown, Ont.) left Toronto first and goal on the Mustangs one-yard line.
However, the Western defence stepped up, denying Toronto three times on a goal-line stance: Scheltgen was sacked by Marcus Babic on first and goal with a minute left in the opening quarter. Three more stops at the line and a John Surla (Niagara Fall, Ont.) forced fumble gave Western the ball back and deflated a Blues team that has been ‘that’ close all season long. That was as close as Toronto would get to scoring on this day.
In the third quarter, Faulds ran in the ball 21-yards to make it 30-0, and Wheeler booted a 26-yard field goal to make it 33-0.
Roberts scored his second major of the day, running in from 12-yards out to make it 40-0, late in the third quarter, and Kenny Eansor (London, Ont.) scored on a 19-yard run with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth to make it 47-0.
Scheltgen was 12-of-28 for 135 yards but was sacked four times and threw three interceptions. Gillis (Markham, Ont.) threw for 73 yards and rushed 15 yards on five carries.
Third-year engineering student, Willie Sharpe (Renfrew, Ont.) led the Blues defensively with eight solo tackles, two assisted tackles, a forced fumble and a sack. First-year linebacker Elbron Barzegar (Mississauga, Ont.) amassed seven tackles, two assisted tackles and had another of the Blues four sacks on the day.
The Varsity Blues end the regular season with a 1-7-0 record and finish out of playoff contention, while the Mustangs finished 6-2-0 and in third place in the OUA after tie-breaking procedures. Western moves on to host the Guelph Gryphons in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday, Oct. 31st.
