McMaster Football wins Yates Cup
- Bennett Swan
- 11 Nov 2019
Saturday marked a banner day for the mighty McMaster Marauders.
A 29-15 victory for the McMaster Marauders over the Western Mustangs brought the Yates Cup back to Hamilton for the first time since 2014. The victory came in true Marauder fashion, a balanced offensive attack and lock-down defense.
The Marauders shook off three early turnovers in the first quarter, and rallied back from an early 10-0 deficit. In the second quarter, the Marauder offence erupted with 22 points, all three on the ground. Third year quarterback but first year starter, Andreas Dueck, threw 24 passes, completing 17 of them for 238 yards and the win.
However, it was the defense that truly came out to play.
With 8 total turnovers, the Marauder defence held one of the best offences in the country to just 1 touchdown. Certainly the second quarter injury of Western’s starting quarterback, Chris Merchant, interrupted the fluidity of this Western offence.
That being said, the quality of McMaster’s defence would have torn through any team, regardless of who the quarterback was. With a combination of immense pressure from the front seven, and exceptional coverage from the secondary, Western quarterback Kevin John struggled to find any rhythm.
Visibly emotional, the pride and happiness that Dueck displayed in his team after the game shows the personality of this Marauder team. They are a tightly knit group of guys who know what it really means to play for each other; a team that knows what it takes to rally back from a disastrous opening quarter and come back to win the game in dominant fashion.
With that in mind, the Marauders have to do something that all great teams have done – forget about their win and move on. With sights on the Vanier Cup, the Mac Men have to first battle against the Calgary Dinos in Calgary for the Mitchell Bowl.
A win in Calgary would advance them to the Vanier Cup against the winner of Acadia and Montreal in the Uteck Bowl. One thing potentially bodes well for the Marauders here: last time they beat the Mustangs in the Yates Cup, they went on to win the Vanier Cup.
Lead image courtesy of @usportsca
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