Around U Sports: Western Mustangs complete comeback, beat Queen’s in quadruple overtime

The U Sports football season is officially underway as three U Sports conferences — Ontario University Athletics (OUA), Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), and Atlantic University Sport (AUS) — hit the field with nine games of action on the weekend.

Around U Sports is a weekly feature on 3DownNation that takes readers across the country to summarize collegiate football action, highlighting standout performances and tracking possible playoff matchups. It will run until the second round of the playoffs, at which point 3DownNation will produce standalone articles for each game.

This year’s Vanier Cup is scheduled for Saturday, November 22 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Sask., marking only the third time the game will ever be played west of Ontario.

Western Mustangs, 45 — Queen’s Gaels, 42

It’s a damn shame this game wasn’t on national television. The Gaels held a 16-point lead at the three-minute warning, after which the Mustangs added two touchdowns and the teams both scored field goals to send the game to overtime. The OUA rivals then played four rounds of overtime as Jérôme Rancourt, who replaced an injured Evan Hillock under centre for Western, hit Seth Robertson for a touchdown before Brian Garrity made his fifth field goal of the day to secure the win for Western and complete the comeback.

Acadia Axemen, 7 — Saint Mary’s Huskies, 35

The Huskies generated 506 yards of net offence in their blowout win, led by Carleton transfer Justin Shibley, who threw for 227 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in his Saint Mary’s debut. Malik Williams ran for 75 yards and three touchdowns, while Reece Wyke, Liam Legge, and Nicholas Park combined for another 147 yards along the ground. Acadia quarterback Tyran Duval hit Xander Matheson for a 75-yard touchdown but also threw two interceptions to Ryan Butler and Lucas Latulippe.

Sherbrooke Vert et Or, 22 — McGill Redbirds, 38

Dual-threat quarterback Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald had a strong start to the season for McGill in the win as he threw for 289 yards and one touchdown and rushed six times for 62 yards and two scores. Jerry Momo was also effective along the ground for the Redbirds as he rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown. Samuel Goulet-Menard, who hails from Sherbrooke, Que., struggled on behalf of his hometown team, throwing for 102 yards and three interceptions for the Vert et Or.

McMaster Marauders, 24 — York Lions, 31

Official statistics aren’t yet available for this game due to technical difficulties (there were plenty of those this week on the U Sports website and app), so this report will be updated when the data becomes available. Here’s an interesting note in the meantime: with the win, the Lions are now over .500 for the first time since 2016.

Bishop’s Gaiters, 43 — Mount Allison Mounties, 7

Justin Quirion got off to a hot start in his second full season as Bishop’s starting quarterback, throwing for 367 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. Joey Julien led the Gaiters with 104 receiving yards, while Oliver Burnett caught two touchdown passes. Mount Allison generated only 284 yards of net offence as Spencer Joudry hit Nolan Cheeseman for the lone Mounties touchdown of the day.

Concordia Stingers, 14 — Montreal Carabins, 41

The Carabins may have dominated this game on the scoreboard but the stat sheet was far more even as Concordia was outgained by only 10 net yards. Xavier Tremblay threw for 326 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the loss and was also the team’s leading rusher, adding 29 yards along the ground. Rakim Canal-Charles and José Alejandro Gonzalez Garza shared the quarterback duties for Montreal in the first game of the post-Jonathan Sénécal era, throwing for a combined 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Toronto Varsity Blues, 42 — Carleton Ravens, 23

Scott Barnett was brilliant for the Varsity Blues as he threw for 567 yards and four touchdowns, setting a new single-game program passing yardage record. Chris Joseph caught a whopping 18 passes for 257 yards and two scores, setting a new single-game school record for receptions and finishing one shy of the national record currently held by Andre Talbot (Laurier, 2000) and Tylor Henry (Alberta, 2016). Elijah Barnes threw for 423 and one touchdown for Carleton in the loss.

Ottawa Gee-Gees, 27 — Waterloo Warriors, 12

The Warriors kept this game within two points until early in the fourth quarter when Charles Asselin punched in a score from one yard out to help put the game out of reach for Ottawa. Riley Hildebrandt recorded 1.5 sacks for the Gee-Gees, while Marc Djonay Rondeau made a team-leading 7.5 tackles. The Warriors, who slightly outgained Ottawa in the loss, have now dropped 10 straight games dating back to 2023.

Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, 33 — Guelph Gryphons, 28

This was a tale of two halves as the reigning Yates Cup champions led 23-0 at halftime before the Gryphons stormed back in the second half to almost complete the comeback. NCAA transfer Cal Wither was solid in his Golden Hawks debut, throwing for 186 yards and three touchdowns, but it was Tristan Aboud who stole the show for Guelph as he threw for 415 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception and added another 96 yards and two scores along the ground.

The reigning Vanier Cup champion Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ) opened the season with a bye, as did the Windsor Lancers (OUA) and St. FX X-Men (AUS). Canada West will open its season this coming week as the Manitoba Bisons visit the UBC Thunderbirds, Regina Rams visit the Calgary Dinos, and Saskatchewan Huskies visit the Alberta Golden Bears.

Atlantic University Sports (AUS)

Bishop’s Gaiters 1-0
Saint Mary’s Huskies 1-0
St. FX X-Men 0-0
Acadia Axemen 0-1
Mount Allison Mounties 0-1

Ontario University Athletics (OUA)

Laurier Golden Hawks 1-0
Ottawa Gee-Gees 1-0
Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0
Western Mustangs 1-0
York Lions 1-0
Windsor Lancers 0-0
Carleton Ravens 0-1
Guelph Gryphons 0-1
McMaster Marauders 0-1
Queen’s Gaels 0-1
Waterloo Warriors 0-1

Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ)

McGill Redbirds 1-0
Montreal Carabins 1-0
Laval Rouge et Or 0-0
Concordia Stingers 0-1
Sherbrooke Vert et Or 0-1

Canada West

Alberta Golden Bears 0-0
Calgary Dinos 0-0
Manitoba Bisons 0-0
Regina Rams 0-0
Saskatchewan Huskies 0-0
UBC Thunderbirds 0-0