BOX SCORE LONDON, Ont. (September 28, 2013) - The No. 3 Queen's Gaels and the No. 2 Western Mustangs battled to keep their undefeated seasons in check at the Mustangs 100th homecoming anniversary in front of a crowd of over 12,000 at TD Waterhouse Stadium. In the end the Mustangs were able to capitalize and beat Queen's 50-31. The Gaels Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) broke the team's career rushing record passing Mike Giffin who had 3,035 in his career, Granberg finished the day with 117 yards.

Gaels quarterback Billy McPhee (Burlington, Ont.) finished 22-36 with 336 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Granberg led the way on the ground with his 117 yards and a touchdown while Daniel Heslop's (Scarborough, Ont.) one reception for 87 yards led all receivers. Granberg hit the 3,000 yard rushing plateau and passed Gaels greats Larry Mohr and Mike Giffin in the school's all-time record books to become the career leader. He currently sits at 3,085 yards.

"When I came off the field a few people told me that I had won it so that was nice but I rather would have had a w," said Granberg on the record after the game. "Right now we're worried more about our playoff run and how we place so that had more impact on me."

Coach Sheahan thought the team played well but knows there are improvements to be made, "I thought our offense was pretty good, we came down the field well and made a lot of big plays to get ourselves in a position to score. We just didn't finish off a couple of drives if we can do that we'll be back in the hunt."

The Mustangs Will Finch proved his legs can be as lethal as his arm running for 153 yards and a score while throwing for 254 yards and two touchdown passes.

The Western offence didn't take long to show what they are capable of as Finch hooked up with Adam Sinclair on an 11-yard reception touchdown on their opening drive of the game. Queen's was able to put together a strong drive of their own, with Jesse Andrews (Arnprior, Ont.) picking up a 17-yard rush and Giovanni Aprile (Scarborough, Ont.) nabbing an 18-yard reception. On their first and goal attempt however, Andrews fumbled and the Mustangs took over.

The Mustangs opened up the second quarter in the same fashion as the first and Adam Sinclair rushed for 42-yards and a touchdown putting Western up two scores. Mid-way through the second frame on a play that had McPhee scrambling, the Gaels quarterback got a pass off that deflected off the intended receiver's hands and into those of Mustang Preston Huggins who took the ball 54-yards for a score. After two rouge's the Mustangs opened up a 23-0 lead over the Gaels.

Before the end of the first half the Gaels were able to get some momentum going. Heslop got the Gaels started with a big 16-yard rush setting the Gaels up with a first and goal. After Aprile got a near score but was downed on the 1-yard line, Heslop rushed to his right and found the end zone. The Gaels finished the first half trailing 23-7.

In the second half Dillon Wamsley (London, Ont.) connected on a 46-yard field goal to cut the lead to 23-10. The Gaels got great field position when Cory Dyer (Gananoque, Ont.) forced a fumble and the Gaels recovered. The Mustangs quickly responded with seven points however, as Will Finch continued to show off his running abilities and ended the Mustang drive with a 1-yard rushing score.

Just when things seemed to be slipping away, the Gaels special teams unit came through in the clutch. William Zed (Halifax, N.S.) blocked a punt attempt by Lirim Hajrullahu and after the ball spiraled around Zed was able to pick the ball up and take it 45-yards for the score and Queen's trailed 32-17.

McPhee connected with Heslop for an 87-yard play but the Chemistry major stepped out of bounds at the five yard line and Queen's was unable to score on their three attempts. The Mustangs responded with a field goal.

Granberg got his first touchdown of the game to bring the score to 35-24 but Western added two scores and a single to put the game out of reach. Queen's added an Aprile reception touchdown and the game finished 50-31.

On defense, the Gaels were led by Justin Baronaitis (Rexdale, Ont.) who finished with 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Sam Sabourin (Stittsville, Ont.) added 11 tackles as well for Queen's. Western was led by Malcolm Brown with 7.5 tackles.

Next up for the Gaels is their first of two homecoming games, when they welcome the Laurier Golden Hawks to Richardson Stadium Saturday at 1pm.