A titanic struggle. A battle of the unbeatens. The game of the season. A classic match up. Name your cliche. In reality, it was none of the above. From the opening kick-off to the final whistle it was all Western. A fitting last homecoming at Little Stadium.

The story of the game, as it has been all season, was the defence. At the conclusion of this game the Western defence had not given up a touchdown since the first quarter of the season. That's 15 touchdown-less quarters of football. Today, Laurier's offence amounted to only two field goals, both in the first quarter, and 153 yards total offence.

And because of the defenses outstanding play, this game was over when it was only seconds old. After the ceremonial kick-offs by former Hec Creighton winners Jamie Bone, Blake Marshall and Tim Tindale and the ceremonial coin toss by long-time equipment manager Clay Warner Laurier was set to kick-off. The kick went about 57 yards where Marty Robertson was waiting on his own 8 yard line. Fourteen seconds and 102 yards later he was standing in the Laurier end zone. With the Guilio Fricano convert, the game was over. Western 7, Laurier 0. It was all they would need.

Prior to the game there was a lot of London media coverage surrounding the large Laurier offensive line, averaging over 300 pounds, and how they were larger than most American football O-lines. The implication was that the Mustang defence would have real trouble stopping the run and wouldn't get near Laurier quarterback Adam Lane. But size isn't everything and the Western defence had no trouble with them. The Golden Hawk rush amounted to only 72 yards all game. Quarterback Lane was rushed on several occasions as was Laurier kicker John Katsaouni. One kick was so close to being blocked it must have gone between the Mustang defenders arms.

On the offensive side of the ball the story once again was the running game and tailback Scott Crawley. The Mustang running back carried 17 times for 159 yards - more than the total Laurier offence - and two touchdowns. He was also named the games MVP with a per carry average of 9.3 per carry. Fullback Fabian Rayne carried 23 times for 148 yards and one touchdown averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Other ball carriers included Mike Laszlo - 6 carries for 26 yards - and Ron Shalit, whose name you'll more of in the future, had 24 yards on 4 carries. Mike O'Brien scrambled four times for 14 yards.

The passing game was somewhat anemic although not completely absent. Quarterback Mike O'Brien had a below average game passing. He completed only five of 14 attempts for a total of 70 yards and 1 interception. He spread out the receptions though with four different receivers having catches.

Western's special teams had a good day. Western head coach Larry Haylor must have seen something on the Laurier game films or maybe after the opening kick-off. After Laurier scored their first of two field goals, he called for a kick return rather than opting for scrimmaging at their 35. It worked. Kristopher Aiken returned the kick 50 yards and almost broke free for another special teams touchdown. They tried the kick return again after the Golden Hawks second field goal but it didn't work out. With Western's great defence, they didn't get another chance. Kicker Guillio Fricano was 3 for 3 in the field goal department. He split the uprights from 43, 34 and 32 yards. As usual, he was perfect in the convert department.

Notes

• This was a hard hitting game. After several plays throughout the game there were bodies on the ground. Mustang injuries included offensive linemen Mike Chuk and Jonathan Hill, receivers James Prescott and Chris Murphy and defensive back Tim Jones. Jones is expected to miss about two weeks with a partially torn MCL. The status of the others is not known.

• Over 10,000 people showed up for the game, the largest crowd ever at Little Stadium. The event was the last homecoming game at Little Stadium. Extra bleachers were brought in an placed behind each endzone and standing room tickets were sold for around the track.

• All of you who are regular followers of this site will know that we try to select, as player of the game, someone who had a real impact but not necessarily the most obvious impact on the outcome of the game. The "offical" MVP was Scott Crawley. The obvious choice. This week's mustangfootball.com player of the game is Marty Robertson. His opening kick-off return for a touchdown set the tone for the game and likely blew some of the wind out of the Laurier sails. Runners-up this week were the defensive line and linebackers for their handling of the large Laurier O-line and Guillio Fricano who went 3 for 3 in the field goal department.

The Ugly - All you people who don't know how to dress for a Canadian fall and all you people with umbrellas. Next time, dress for the conditions and bring a rain coat and rain pants. Leave the umbrellas at home. That way the people beside you won't get dripped on and the people behind can see the game!