Football | 10/8/2025 10:00:00 AM
The York University Lions football team will host its final game of the season Friday night at York Lions Stadium when they welcome in the Western Mustangs on senior night.
The Lions will be graduating seven members of the Pride, including six players and former player, current York student, and defensive assistant Greg Minto-Clarke. Among the most impactful players leaving the program this year will be Avontae McKoy and Sterling May, both of whom have spent five years in a Lions uniform. McKoy, a running back/receiver hybrid, led the team with 651 all-purpose yards last season, and has played in 28 games in a York uniform.
May, a defensive end, hasn't missed a game since the opener of his rookie season, having played in 35 consecutive games entering play Friday. He has amassed 10 sacks over his time at York, and a total of 70.5 tackles. Other graduates include Darren Bumstead, Malachi Morrison, Tucker Almert and Riley Berfelo.
As for the game itself, the Lions will be looking to pull off one of the upsets of the year against a Mustangs team that is currently ranked No. 2 in the country, and is undefeated on the year at 6-0. Western comes in off a low-scoring, hard-fought win over the Windsor Lancers in the border city by a score of 15-6, in a game that was a deviation from the norm for a Western team that had allowed an average of 30.4 points per game over their first five games.
However, despite being a team that has allowed more points than usual, the Mustangs still have the weapon that makes them most lethal: their offence. Despite only scoring 15 – their lowest output in a non-U SPORTS championship game in six years – against Windsor, they had scored 45 or more points in each of the previous five games, including four in a row in which they scored 50+ points.
York, meanwhile, is coming off a devastating loss to the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday that saw them surrender a nine-point lead with under three minutes to play, to fall 34-33 and drop their third straight. A win would have given York its first three-win season since 2018 and would have made their path to their first playoff spot in 21 years much clearer. Now, with the Mustangs on the horizon, the Lions will need to rebound from one of the toughest losses in recent program history, as, despite the loss, there is still a path to the playoffs available to the Lions should they win one or both of their final two games.
The Lions will have to be on their game defensively against a Western team with the most high-powered offence in the nation. The way for York to come away with this game, while not easy, is simple: be efficient offensively, win the turnover battle and turn those turnovers into points. The Lions – like the Mustangs do with Evan Hillock – boast one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Keagan Hall. They will need to use that to their advantage to keep themselves within striking distance. If they can do just that, and force Western into more mistakes than they make, we might just be talking about one of the biggest upsets in recent U SPORTS history.
Can they pull it off? Come join us at York Lions Stadium by clicking here or stream the game live on OUA TV.
