Queen's Golden Gaels Football

Mustangs upset Gaels; Western wins playoff semifinal over Queen's

Posted By Brock Harrison

There was a moment in the Queen's Golden Gaels' 27-19 playoff loss to the Western Mustangs on Saturday where it looked as though the Gaels would stage another spectacular comeback against their rivals from London.

With visions, no doubt, of repeating their dramatic come-from-behind win over the Mustangs on the opening week of the Ontario University Athletics football season, the Gaels marched down the ravaged turf of Richardson Stadium. Down 27-16 with six minutes left the fourth quarter, they cleared the way for quarterback Danny Brannagan to find his favourite target in the end zone.

Slotback Rob Bagg settled under the tightly arched pass from Brannagan and with an easy catch temporarily brought the Gaels back into a football game that was slipping away.

In his finest sequence of plays, Brannagan scrambled for a first down and threw his longest completion to Scott Valberg, a 52-yard pass and run, before floating that perfect ball to a wide-open Bagg in the end zone on first-and-10 for a major that may have helped write a different ending in this tale of upset.

The ball plunked into Bagg's lap, the 4,000 in attendance at Richardson Stadium rose and roared.

"I started to send the convert team out," coach Pat Sheahan would later admit. "I thought he hauled it in."

As fast as the ball appeared to zip into Bagg's hands, the fifth-year slotback playing in his last intercollegiate game lost it. A lone Mustang managed to swat at the ball after Bagg corralled it. The ball fell to the grass, and along with it the hope for a comeback that would propel the Gaels to second and, more important, improbable victory over the Mustangs.

An incomplete pass on second down and a missed field goal on third would follow the missed major. The Mustangs wouldn't let the Gaels get that close again.

When asked to diagnose his team's win, Mustangs coach Greg Marshall brought up something his counterpart touted in the lead up to the game.

"Coach Sheahan said the game would be won and lost on the offensive line," Marshall said. " I don't know what their tailback had, but our guy had a pretty good day."

Indeed, the Gaels defence, which spent well over half the game on the field, could scarcely contain Randy McAuley. The fifth-year back rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns but was used as more of a clock-killer in the game's later stages, taking the ball from quarterback Mike Faulds and crashing through the Gaels defence for tough yards.

By game's end, he had carried the ball 38 times, tying Drew Soleyn's school record for most rushes in a single game, also set against Queen's in 2001.

"If that's what it takes for us to control the game, I'll do it," McAuley said, "but when you talk about my game, you have to talk about the offensive line, too. You can't separate the two. They were incredible today."

Led by two 300-pounders in Scott Nason and Richard Zulys, the Mustangs offensive line not only cut swaths for McAuley but held up Gaels defenders to give Faulds ample time to find receivers. Faulds ended up 18 of 24 passing for 253 yards.

The Gaels came out of the first quarter ahead 7-6 after a scintillating missed-field goal return by defensive back Jimmy Allin on the last play of the quarter. Allin caught the errant Derek Shiavone kick five yards into the end zone, hit a seam on the right side of the field, and bolted the distance of the field for the major. The 115-yard return was the second-longest in OUA playoff history.

Despite the lead, the Gaels' offence was dreadful in the opening quarter, gaining just nine total yards on six plays. The Gaels had five two-and-outs before executing their initial first down with seven minutes left in the second quarter. But that drive was cut short by a Matt Carapella interception on the one-yard line.