The McMaster Marauders advanced to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Yates Cup Championship game for the first time since 2004 with a 40-13 defeat of the Queen's Gaels in the second OUA semi-final on Saturday evening.

McMaster will face the No. 3 Western Mustangs in London for the Yates Cup title. Kickoff is 1:00 pm at Western's TD Waterhouse Stadium.

The Marauders didn't waste any time in the first quarter against Queen's scoring on the opening drive of the game. A 38-yard Kyle Quinlan (South Woodslee, Ont.) completion to Brad Fochesato (Windsor, Ont.) setup the Marauders first attempt in the red zone. Quinlan took full advantage running a bootleg after a fake handoff and crossed the goal-line for the six yard touchdown run. It was the first rushing touchdown the Gaels defence had surrendered all season.

Quinlan finished 14 of 23 for 214 yards with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed the ball nine times for 96 yards and a touchdown.

Gaels starting quarterback Ryan Mitchell (Toronto, Ont.) wasn't on his game in the first quarter as Porter Player of the Game Joey Cupido (Hamilton, Ont.) intercepted Mitchell on his first pass of the day.

The first Cupido interception resulted in a Teddy Peters (Mississauga, Ont.) 29 yard field goal to give McMaster an early 10-0 lead. Peters was appearing in his first career CIS game replacing starting kicker Tyler Crapigna (Ottawa, Ont.) who was unavailable due to an illness. Peters connected on both of his field goal attempts in the game.

The Marauders intercepted Mitchell five more times in the half with four total coming from Cupido. His four interceptions set a new McMaster record, and tied the CIS and OUA records for most interceptions in a game.

Cupido's second interception setup a drive start at the Queen's 35 that Quinlan quickly converted into his second passing touchdown of the day. He found Chris Pezzetta for the nine yard touchdown strike to cap the five play drive.

The McMaster special teams also contributed. Backup quarterback Marshall Ferguson, handling the punting duties for the first time, completed a 13 yard pass to Tyler Loveday (Kitchener, Ont.) on a fake punt to keep the ensuing McMaser drive alive. Pezzetta found the end zone again, this time with his legs, carrying the ball four times for 35 yards after the fake. He capped off the drive with a a two yard touchdown run.

With McMaster already ahead 23-3, Aram Eisho (Hamilton, Ont.) picked off Mitchell and returned it 58 yards for the touchdown to increase the Marauder lead to 30-3.

Dan Village (Abbotsford, B.C.) hit a 30 yard field goal for the Gaels only points of the half.

In the third quarter after the Marauders fumbled the opening kickoff the Gaels would recover. The Marauder defence would hold and Queen's was forced to settle for another Village field goal on the drive.

The Marauders kept the pressure coming as Quinlan hit Michael DiCroce (Hamilton, Ont.) for his second passing touchdown of the day making it 40-6. DiCroce finished with six catches for 103 yards and the touchdown. Combined with his three rushes for 27 yards, DiCroce led the Marauders in all-purpose yardage with 131.

Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) looked to spark a comeback giving the Gaels back-to-back first downs pushing the ball deep into the Marauders end. Granberg would finish off the drive with a six yard touchdown run making it 40-13 for McMaster. That was the extent of scoring in the game as the 40-13 score held until the final whistle.

The Marauder defence had contributors on all fronts. Aram Eisho (Hamilton, Ont.) was the top tackler with seven and the one interception. Steven Ventresca (Hamilton, Ont.) added the sixth Marauder interception of the ball game that he returned 41 yards to setup Petter's second field goal of the game from 33 yards.

Granberg was the Gaels most productive player on offence with 128 yards and the Gaels' lone touchdown rushing on 20 carries. Mitchell finished with 143 yards on 15 completions. Chris Patrician (Toronto) was his favourite target with four catches and 69 yards.

Frank Pankewich (Thunder Bay, Ont.) was the team's top tackler with eight tackles and a sack.

The 104^th Yates Cup Championship game will be broadcast live on the Score starting at 1:00 pm.