HAMILTON (October 26, 2013) – The No. 8 McMaster Marauders dumped the Ottawa Gee-Gees 41-7 at a rain soaked Ron Joyce Stadium on Saturday to advance to the OUA semifinals set for next week.
McMaster’s Marshall Ferguson of Kingston, Ont., tossed two touchdowns and ran for another while Wayne Moore of Etobicoke, Ont. rushed for 140 yards on 22 carries in the win.
Ottawa mustered just 10 first downs and 30 rushing yards in the game as the Marauder defence stymied the Gee-Gee offence.
McMaster’s defence and special teams also chipped in two touchdowns with Jeremy Kyei of Hamilton recovering a Gee-Gee fumble on a bad punt-snap while Steven Ventresca also from Hamilton intercepted Ottawa native Aaron Colbon for a touchdown.
With the win, McMaster advances to the OUA semifinal and will meet either Western or Queen’s next week pending the outcome of tonight’s Guelph – Windsor quarter-final match-up.
If Guelph wins, then the Marauders will travel to Western to face the Mustangs at TD Stadium (Kickoff 4:30 p.m.). If the Gryphons lose, then McMaster will head to Kingston to meet Queen’s (Kickoff 1:00 p.m.). Both semifinal games will air nationally on Sportsnet360.
McMaster scored on its first two drives of the game to build a 14-0 lead which would be all the Marauders needed to finish off the Gee-Gees.
Moore dominated the opening drive which saw McMaster cruise to 78 yards on nine plays. Ferguson capped the drive with a one-yard quarterback sneak but Moore did the heavy lifting rushing for 50 yards on six carries to set up the score.
On McMaster’s next possession, Ferguson tossed a 21-yard pass to Daniel Vandervoot of Barrie, Ont., to finish another nine play drive, this time for 79-yards.
Ottawa’s Aaron Colbon closed his CIS career throwing for 181-yards going 17-for-39 and no interceptions.
The Gee-Gee’s lone points came on two conceded safeties and a 28 yard field goal kicked by Ward Lewis of Kingston, Ont.
McMaster’s other touchdown was on a 27-yard pass from Ferguson to Ben O’Connor of Kingston, Ont., coming at 13:10 with the game well in hand at the time.
NOTES: McMaster`s defence has not allowed an offensive touchdown in the last 17 quarters of play; Guelph was the last team to score a touchdown against McMaster which happened on September 21st at Guelph… The entire McMaster defence was named as the player of the game.
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X-Men last-minute rally falls short
Despite a late fourth-quarter comeback, the StFX X-Men dropped a hard fought 12-6 defensive battle to the Saint Mary’s Huskies in AUS football action Saturday afternoon at Oland Stadium.
Quarterback Tivon Cook (9-16-81), who replaced freshman starter Dante Djan (9-18-89), engineered two drives in the final minutes, with the last one ending in an incomplete Hail Mary pass to Devon Bailey (5-68), which deflected off the leaping wide receiver’s hands just short of the goal line.
On that final drive, Bailey made three consecutive catches to help set up the last second toss from Cook.
With the loss, the X-Men (3-5) finish fourth in league play and will not make the playoffs, while the Huskies (5-3) secured first place and the right to host the Loney Bowl, which is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 9 in Halifax.
In an opening 30 minutes dominated by the defenses, special teams’ play and penalties, the X-Men opened the scoring on a 30-yard field goal from Jeremy Ford, who connected on two out of four attempts in the game.
The seven-play, 38-yard scoring drive was keyed by a soaring reception in coverage by Devon Bailey and back-to-back rushes by Ashton Dickson (25-109).
Djan (9-43) also converted a third-and-short on that march.
In the final minute of the first half, Huskies’ quarterback Jack Creighton (12-24-155) connected with Mohamed Abdalah (5-86) to start a two -play touchdown drive culminated by a one-yard rush by Michael Dawes.
With the Chase Kodejs point-after, the Huskies took a 7-3 lead to the locker room at halftime.
In his first game action, X-Man Kyle Sovie blocked a Kodejs’ punt in the opening half, but the blue and white could not convert the momentum changer into points.
The offense also stalled after a highlight reel 37-yard punt return by Randy Roseway in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the X-Men conceded a safety, giving the Huskies a 9-3 lead.
With less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Huskies made it a two-possession game (12-3) on a Kodejs’ 10-yard field goal.
Cook then led the X-Men on a 13-play, 59-yard drive, which culminated in a Ford 23-yard field goal.
The X-Men defense, which held the Huskies to 292 total yards, stiffened and gave the offense its last-minute possession.
Linebacker Ron Omara led the X-Men defense with 6.5 tackles, while Samni Adereti added five, along with a quarterback sack and a tackle for a loss. Brett Hubbeard and James Menzies each chipped in five tackles.
Nathaniel Fermin recorded a second-half interception for the X-Men.
With 3.5 tackles, defensive back Hugo Rajotte extended his all-time X-Men tackle total to 157.5. Second on the blue-and-white list, with his tackles against the Huskies, is Hubbeard with 152. Former X-Man and current Winnipeg Blue Bomber Henoc Muamba is in third with 149.5 tackles.
On offense, the X-Men gained 265 net yards, including 109 rushing and 170 through the air.
Donald Tabor, with 38 yards, joined Bailey with a team-leading five catches. Travis Rasch and Keon Hughes caught three balls, for 32 and 26 yards, respectively.
Dawes led a balanced Huskies’ rushing attack with 54 of the team’s 138 yards, while Melvin Abankwah and Dave Sabourin amassed 41 and 39 yards, respectively.
For the Huskies, Matt Lalande led with 11.5 tackles, while Marvin Golding collected 8.5 tackles, two sacks and five tackles for loss.
In other AUS action Saturday afternoon, the Mount Allison Mounties (4-4) scored a 23-14 home win over the Acadia Axemen (3-5).
In the league semi-final game, which will take place Saturday, Nov. 2, the Mounties will host the Axemen in Sackville, NB.
LENNOXVILLE, Que. — Bishop’s quarterback Jordan Heather came into Saturday’s game against McGill needing 400 yards to surpass the Canadian Interuniversity Sport record of 3,047 passing yards in a single season set by Western’s Will Finch last week.
He finished the day with 484.
Heather was 26-for-47 passing for four touchdowns to lead the Gaiters in their 40-21 thrashing of the Redmen in Lennoxville.
Receiver Alexander Fox picked up 256 yards and scored all four TD’s for Bishop’s (6-2), while kicker Mathieu Pacquette added 16 points on four field goals.
Running back Matthew Burke had 132 yards on 19 carries.
McGill quarterback Jonathan Collin was 29-for-43 passing for 357 yards and three touchdowns in the loss. He also threw one interception.
Casey Cook was the Redmen’s (3-5) top receiver with 137 yards and two scores. Damian Massey-Hirt had McGill’s other touchdown.
McGill opened the scoring when Collin found Cook for a 28-yard TD at 3:44 of the first quarter, but the Redmen were held off the scoreboard until Cook’s second touchdown at 13:35 of the fourth quarter.
The Gaiters led 23-8 at halftime and 40-8 heading after the third quarter.
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Mounties 23 Axemen 14
At Sackville, N.B., quarterback Brandon Leyh completed 11-of-17 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown as Mount Allison (4-4) topped Acadia (3-5).
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No. 2 Rouge et Or 30 No. 6 Carabins 11
At Montreal, Guillaume G-Bourassa scored two touchdowns as the second-ranked Laval (8-0) scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to rally past Montreal (5-3).
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No. 10 Huskies 33 Rams 15
At Regina, Saskatchewan’s defence returned six Regina interceptions for 150 yards and running back Dexter Janke had two touchdowns to lead the Huskies (5-3) past the Rams (2-6).
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