Western Mustangs celebrate their Mitchell Bowl university football victory against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, in London, Ont., Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021.Nicole Osborne/The Canadian Press
The Western Mustangs emphatically punched their ticket to the 2021 Vanier Cup, with a 61-6 rout of visiting St. Francis Xavier in the Mitchell Bowl on Saturday.
Western led 23-0 after the first quarter and 51-3 at the half in front of a home crowd in London, Ont.
The Mustangs did most of their damage on the ground. The X-Men had no answer for Western rusher Edouard Wanadi, who racked up 238 yards and three touchdowns.
Trey Humes also had three touchdowns on 91 rushing yards, and Keon Edwards had 104 yards and a TD.
“We certainly dominated. They struggled to stop our run,” Mustangs coach Greg Marshall said. “I thought going into the game that might be the case, but I really thought their offence would be a little more productive. Our defense played flat out unreal and just kept getting us the ball back.”
Quarterback Evan Hillock attempted just 10 passes, completing eight, for 114 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown strike to Griffin Campbell in the first quarter.
Western kicker Brian Garrity converted all eight of Western’s touchdowns and added a 32-yard field goal.
Max Capriotti had field goals of 42 and 47 yards for StFX.
Western will face the winner of Saturday’s Uteck Bowl between Montreal and Saskatchewan in the Vanier Cup.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.