McMaster Marauders have advanced to the OUA football semi-finals, after a hard-fought 12-9 win over Queens Gaels at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton.
Marauders running back Jordan Lyons carried the ball 39 times for 319 yards.
Lyons, a Burlington native in his second year, fell just short of the Marauders team record for yards in a game, 344, set by Jesse Lumsden in 2004.
The USport (national) record for most yards rushing in a playoff game, is 327, set by Davie Mason of the Ottawa GeeGees in 2008.
The Marauders opened the scoring in the first quarter, when Jackson White connected with Dan Petermann with a 24 yard TD pass. A 12 yard field goal by Adam Preocanin and a safety, gave the Marauders a 12-0 half-time lead.
In the second half, all the scoring was done by Queen’s kicker Nick Liberatore, who connected from 27, 30 and 33 yards.
The game came down to one big defensive play by the Marauders. With Queens driving, and the ball at the Mac 39 yard line, linebacker Eric Blake intercepted a pass by Nate Hobbs at the 35 yard line with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter.
McMaster will play the second place Laurier Golden Hawks, Saturday November 4 in Waterloo.
It’s the same Laurier squad who not only beat the Marauders 40-15 on October 21, but upset McMaster in the quarter-finals in 2015, and beat Mac in 2016 in a semi-final game.
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