Gaels give Marauders a scare
Article content
HAMILTON — The Queen's Golden Gaels put in a solid effort on Saturday, nearly upsetting the No.4 Marauders in their Homecoming game in Hamilton, but McMaster came out on top with a 28-19 win.
The Gaels had a strong outing on both sides of the ball. Jesse Andrews had an impressive showing for Queen's, rushing 18 times for 131 yards on the day while Alex Carroll caught nine passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Billy McPhee completed 21 of 29 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns throwing one interception. On defence Yann Dika-Balotoken had an interception and 1.5 tackles for the Gaels.
McMaster was led by Chris Pezzetta, who rushed 24 times totaling 154 yards and one score, while Marshall Ferguson completed 22 of his 33 passing attempts for 376 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
The game started off slow in the opening quarter, but Queen's proved to be a problem for the Marauders. McMaster missed a field goal attempt early and the Gaels hoped to take advantage. Andrews and the offensive line created space that was capitalized on for big gains and the Gaels were in a position to put points on the board and take the lead. McPhee found himself in trouble, however, and was unable to hit his receiver and instead found a Marauder who intercepted the pass.
McMaster responded and Daniel Vandervoort hauled in an impressive one handed 23-yard pass from Feguson for the major.
In the second quarter the Gaels had their own chance for a field goal early but could not convert as Dillon Wamsley missed by the slightest of margins. McMaster was shut down on offence by the Gaels secondary and McMaster conceded a safety bringing the score to 7-2 for the Marauders.
In what looked like a flashback from their meeting a year ago, Dika-Balotoken picked off Ferguson and took it 90 plus yards to the endzone for what looked to be a pick six for the Gaels, but the play was called back due to an offside on Queen's.
The Gaels defence kept the pressure on the Marauders and it paid off, Kingston's Corey Flude recovered a Marauder fumble at the Gaels 16 yard line to halt the McMaster offensive attack. Queen's could not put much together on offence and were forced to concede a safety as well restoring the seven point Marauder lead. McMaster tacked on a field goal late in the half and went to the locker room up 12-2.
Carroll and McPhee were simply in-sync in quarter three. Carroll caught passes of 17, 23 and finally another 17 for a touchdown in one drive to put the Gaels all-square with McMaster at 12-12. Dika-Balotoken came up with an interception that held up this time as McMaster was approaching the Gaels red zone. Queen's offensively couldn't get much going and conceded another safety to put the Marauders up 14-12.
The field position after the safety didn't hurt McMaster as they marched down the field for a touchdown to end the the third quarter. Queen's responded in kind on six plays with a Corby five-yard touchdown reception to bring the game back to a two-point spread. McMaster was relentless, however, and marched 76 yards for a touchdown on the next drive killing enough of the clock to stop any Queen's comeback attempt and sealing the score at 28-19.
The Gaels have a bye next week and will return to action on Oct. 11 when they host Toronto.
