HAMILTON (September 30, 2017) - The No. 7 McMaster Marauders knocked off the York Lions 32-2 during homecoming weekend at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ont.

The win improved McMaster's record to 4-1 while dropping York to 1-4. McMaster now sits tied with Wilfrid Laurier for second place in the OUA football standings with three weeks left to play in the regular season.

Jordan Lyons of Burlington, Ont., had one touchdown and collected a workmanlike 186 yards on 25 carries in the victory over York. It marked just the second time in Lyons career that he has broken 100 yards rushing, and his final total was his career high.  

McMaster's defence gave up just two points all game and extended their streak of not allowing a touchdown to 12 quarters. They gave up a mere 143 offensive yards, which improved their per-game average to 287 yards for the season, ranking them second in the OUA behind only Western (286 yards).

Rookies Justice Allin of Toronto and Jackson White of Cambridge, Ont. also contributed in the win, with Allin pulling down a touchdown and registering a career high 141 all-purpose yards. White was 19 for 25 with one touchdown pass and a career-high 303-yards passing.

For York, Erick Kimmerly of Oshawa, Ont., recorded a team high 52 yards receiving on five carries while quarterback Brett Hunchak of Calgary posted 125 yards passing on 16 completions.  

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:  McMaster's kicker Adam Preocanin of Burlington, Ont., recorded 17 points in the win against York. He registered five field goals with his longest being 42 yards. He added field goals from 12, 14, 18 and 15 yards.  He also tallied a rouge, an extra point and helped set up a bizarre scoring play on a blocked field goal in the third.

FINDING NEW WAYS TO SCORE: In the third quarter, with the Marauders leading 17-1, Preocanin had a 25-yard field goal attempt blocked, with the Marauders recovering after a scrum on the goal line. That unique play set up a one-yard touchdown punch-in by Jordan Lyons to push the score to 24-1.

LOOK SMART WITH FRIENDS:  McMaster's defence has gone 186 minutes and 56 seconds without allowing a touchdown. The last touchdown scored against McMaster came against Western (Sept. 9) with 6:57 remaining in that game, when Mustang Cedric Joseph of Montreal scored on a three-yard run.  Overall, McMaster has only given up four touchdowns all season (three vs. Western in week 3 and one vs. Saskatchewan in exhibition play).

HOMECOMING: A total of 4,502 McMaster faithful and alumni watched the Marauders dust the Lions 32-2 on a cool and sunny afternoon at  Ron Joyce Stadium.

BIG SCREEN: Ron Joyce Stadium is celebrating its tenth season, and on Saturday, McMaster unveiled a brand new scoreboard and high definition jumbotron to their game day experience. The screen features a high definition 32'x19' high definition screen. Paul Leskew of the Scoreboard Man, along with RBC, made the video board and scoreboard possible.

UP NEXT: It will be a short turnaround for McMaster, with the Thanksgiving weekend approaching.  McMaster (4-1) will travel to Toronto to play under the lights on Oct. 5 vs. the Toronto Varsity Blues.  Toronto holds a 1-4 record and are enjoying a bye this week. Their only win of the year came back on Sept. 4 with a 19-12 victory over Windsor. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

QUOTABLE:

McMaster running back Justice Allan on today's game flow...
"We wanted to put on a show for the fans, first and foremost, especially with the alumni in the building. That was an expectation for us. The first half was slow, and I think right now we're a first half team. We need to work on the first half, but we had a great speech that motivated everybody, and we came out fired up in the second.

Allin on the McMaster's defensive play this season...
"We can always expect our defence to show up."

McMaster head coach Greg Knox on slow starts to games
"We're a young, inexperienced group, and what's happening is that it's taking us awhile to get where we need to get emotionally. We'll need to collectively do a better job of getting into a mindset and getting mentally and physically ready to answer the bell at opening kickoff."

Knox on his defensive play to date...
"We're limiting mistakes more and more. That's important if you want to be a championship-calibre defence. That's probably the biggest step forward, and really what we're aiming to do. If you limit mistakes, you force teams to beat you instead of beating yourself."

Knox on establishing the run during today's game...
"It's critical to be a balanced offensive attack. Sometimes it's easier against throw the ball all over the field. But we need to be able to run the ball come playoff time against playoff-calibre defences. It's best to establish that every step along the way over the course of the season."

Jordan Lyons on the causes of the Marauders slow starts:
"Little things go wrong. Guys make small mistakes, and those add up. We've just got to come together as a whole and start getting it. That's what starts happening in these second halves. Everyone executes on their assignments and good things happen."

Lyons on the danger of complacency with the schedule ahead:
"We have to understand that we're young and we're not a perfect team yet. We're not a team that can just come out and destroy anyone when we feel like it. We're a team that needs to improve every week, and we want a Yates Cup. Nothing less. We're not here to make the quarterfinals or the semis. But we have to build to that, and little steps like today are part of that."

Lyons on the backfield combination with Allin:
"We work off of each other. He's a little faster than I am, but we work off of each other. I do the inside work and he does the outside work. And then we have packages where he can get out of the backfield and I can sit in and block. He's a great guy and I've taken him under my wing and I just keep teaching him. He's getting better and better every week."