Western fullback Jay Akindolire rushed 19 times for a career-best 157 yards as the Western Mustangs held on for a sloppy 20-16 road victory over the No. 8 Windsor Lancers in the mud on Saturday afternoon in an Ontario University Athletics quarter-final game.
The five-foot-nine senior bowled up the middle for a 55-yard gain to set up a field goal and then scored off a one-yard plunge in a 10-point third quarter.
Teammate Randy McAuley broke off a 50-yard scoring run in the second quarter and finished with 17 carries for 127 yards as the Mustangs produced 365 combined rushing yards off 54 carries.
In the end, home field advantage meant nothing for both OUA playoff quarter-final games as the Queen's Golden Gaels came from behind to upset the No. 9 McMaster Marauders 25-19 in Hamilton.
In other Canadian Interuniversity Sport football games on Saturday, all regular season finales, it was No. 6 Montreal 7, No. 1 Laval 2; McGill 14, Bishop's 0; Acadia 34, Mount Allison 15; Calgary 39, Simon Fraser 7; and Sherbrooke 29, No. 4 Concordia 15.
At Windsor, CIS rushing leader Daryl Stephenson cracked off a 60-yard rush for a touchdown on Windsor's opening possession and finished with 18 carries for 128 yards but the Lancers sputtered for most of the day after the initial drive.
Coach Larry Haylor, retiring at season's end after 22 seasons as head coach with the Mustangs, improved to 22-2 versus Windsor, which hosted a home playoff game for the first time in 30 years.
"It's a very difficult day to play," said a smiling Haylor at the half with the teams tied 10-10.
Lancers defensive back Logan Lenarduzzi had a pair of interceptions off Mustangs backup quarterback Mark Howard, including a 60-yard return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Western (6-3), travels to Kitchener, Ont. to face the reigning Vanier Cup champion Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (6-2) in an OUA semifinal next Saturday.
Golden Gaels 25, No. 9 Marauders 19
At Hamilton, the Queen's Golden Gaels scored 19 straight points in the second half, including a pair of Mike Giffin touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, for a road upset over the No. 9-ranked McMaster Marauders in the other OUA quarter-final.
Giffin scored on a one-yard plunge 2:24 into the final stanza to give Queen's its first lead of the game at 18-17 and then scored from nine yards out at 8:35 to make it 25-17.
Giffin finished with 73 yards on 23 carries for the Golden Gaels, who are playing in the post-season for the first time since 2003.
Queen's quarterback Danny Brannagan overcame six sacks to complete 14 of 26 passes for 171 yards with an interception, while Adam Archibald was 20-of-35 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and three costly interceptions.
McMaster, also hurt by three lost fumbles, had won at least one playoff round each of the last seven years.
Queen's travels to Ottawa next Saturday for an OUA semifinal against the No. 3-ranked Gee-Gees (7-1).
No. 6 Carabins 7, No. 1 Rouge et Or 2
At Montreal, the No. 6-ranked Montreal Carabins edged No. 1 Laval 7-2, preventing the Rouge et Or from posting back-to-back undefeated regular seasons.
The loss puts and end to a pair of long Laval winning streaks as the three-time defending Quebec champions had not lost in their last 20 games in the regular season and their last 20 duels against QUFL opponents, both streaks dating back to a 14-13 defeat at the hands of Montreal on Sept. 19, 2004.
The two points mark the lowest offensive output in history for Laval since joining the CIS in 1996.
Montreal is now 2-8 lifetime against Laval.
Laval (7-1) will host McGill (4-4) next Saturday in a QUFL semifinal. Montreal (6-2) will visit No. 4 Concordia (6-2).
Vert et Or 29, No. 4 Stingers 15
At Sherbrooke, Que. the Vert et Or jumped to a 21-0 lead en route to a upset of the No. 4-ranked Concordia Stingers, in a game with no playoff implications.
The victory was Sherbrooke's first over Concordia in five lifetime match-ups since joining the CIS in 2003.
Playing without a number of veterans including 2005 CIS defensive player of the year, linebacker Patrick Donovan, Concordia came back to within six points at 21-15 but couldn't make it closer.
Redmen 14, Gaiters 0
At Montreal, quarterback Matt Connell accounted for all the scoring as he rushed 12 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter and threw 20 yards for a score in the fourth quarter to lead the playoff-bound McGill Redmen to a shutout of the Bishop's Gaiters (1-7).
It marked the first Redmen shutout since a 44-0 playoff win, also over Bishop's, on Nov. 2, 2002.
Connell of St. Bruno, Que., good on 21 of 38 passes for 192 yards, finished the QUFL season with 2,146 yards in only seven games to become the first Redmen quarterback to pass for over 2,000 yards in a season.
His 172 completions on the season are second on the QUFL all-time list.
The Gaiters had three sacks on Connell but lost four fumbles as quarterbacks Jesse Andrews and Joel Lefebvre combined for four completions and 19 yards on 16 attempts with two interceptions.
Axeman 34, Mounties 15
At Sackville, N.B., running back Cale Inglis scored on a 22-yard run five minutes into the game and finished with 115 yards on 18 carries as the AUFC-leading Acadia Axemen wrapped up a 5-3 regular season with a win over Mount Allison (2-5).
Acadia quarterback Chris Judd found Matt Carter for a 13-yard score in the second quarter and finished with 15 completions for 239 yards. Judd also scored on a five-yard run in the third quarter.
Trailing 12-0 early on, Mount Allison came back to within five points, at 19-14, when quarterback Kelly Hughes connected with Jeff Coull on 23 yards in the end zone with 12 seconds left in the opening half, but the Mounties couldn't get closer.
Acadia churned out 534 yards of offence to Mount Allison's 278.
The two teams will meet again next Saturday in Wolfville, N.S. in a AUFC semifinal.
All four teams qualify for the playoffs this year in the Atlantic conference following the cancellation of two games due to an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.
Dinos 39, Clan 7
At Calgary, rookie tailback Anthony Woodson scored four touchdowns and freshman quarterback Dalin Tollestrup passed for a career-high 462 yards as the hometown Dinos defeated the Simon Fraser Clan in a game between teams eliminated from Canada West playoff contention.
Calgary finishes the season with consecutive wins for a 2-6 record, while Simon Fraser goes winless for a second straight year and has lost its last 17 games.
Woodson, who scored twice on the ground and twice on receptions, rushed 17 times for 143 yards and caught 10 passes for 77 yards.
Tollestrup completed 32 of 50 passes for 462 yards. The 32 completions were the most in school history in a single game and the 462 yards the third most in a game by a Calgary quarterback.
Jim Lillico was Calgary's top receiver with seven receptions for 156 yards.