Hamilton - (October 19, 2019) - The No. 9 McMaster Marauders used 24 first half points to earn a 31-14 win on Saturday over the Waterloo Warriors and secure a bye through the first round of the OUA football playoffs in the process.

The win clinches second place in the OUA football standings for McMaster, as the Marauders closed out the regular season with a 6-2 record four points behind the No. 1 Western Mustangs, who finished a perfect 8-0.

Head Coach Stefan Ptaszek emphasized postgame why the quarterfinal bye is important on the road to getting to the Yates Cup and beyond.

"Realistically, I don't think there's a lot of difference in this league between first and eighth," said Ptaszek.  "There's going to be a couple of good football teams that don't make this playoffs, and having to play a quarterfinal game, you're going to play a hornet's nest - a battle - and then have to go through another one in the semifinal and then another one in the Yates."

"The competition in the quarterfinals, I don't buy is any easier than the semifinal. All six teams that make the playoffs are going to be good football teams. You're going to get tired, you're getting worn out. The best track is to get the bye and load up, trying to get on a one game win streak to get into the Yates."

McMaster held a 24-0 halftime lead, and put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter when Justice Allin added a 57-yard rushing touchdown to hand the Marauders their 21st straight trip to the playoffs dating back to 1998.

Ptaszek was impressed with his team's first half performance, which did not give Waterloo much room to work with either on defence or offence.

"I think our student-athletes played desperate; they were lights out in the first half, said Ptaszek. "Overall, it was a great game plan and the student-athletes played their butts off"

Allin was awarded the Mark Timpany Memorial Trophy as the homecoming game's most valuable player. He broke the 100-yard mark for the first time this season, finishing with 135 yards on 12 carries. He averaged 11.2 yards per carry and registered a touchdown.

Jordan Lyons also broke the 100 yard mark by gaining 117 yards on nine carries, pushing two Marauders running backs over the 100-yard plateau for the first time this season.

Marauders quarterback Andreas Dueck had 21 completions, finishing with two touchdowns, 224 yards passing and two interceptions. His 21 completions pushed his single season mark to 200, which is good for second place (three completions) behind McMaster's all-time single-season leader Asher Hastings, who amassed 203 completions in 2015. 

McMaster got on the board quickly, stopping Waterloo on their opening drive and then using just four plays to march 56 yards into the endzone, with Blake Reason capping the drive on a three-yard touchdown score.

In the second quarter, kicker Adam Preocanin knocked in a 13-yard field goal and Dueck hit Tommy Nield for a nine-yard touchdown strike. Two drives later, Lyons made the score 24-0 when he caught a six-yard pass from Dueck for a touchdown.

Nield was Dueck's top receiver, hauling in 75 yards on five receptions. 

Waterloo showed some life late in the third quarter, putting together a 10-play, 67-yard drive capped when running back Dillon Pellerin scored on a 10-yard run to set the score at 24-7. He also added a late rushing touchdown after Allin broke the game open.  

Pellerin finished with 20 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

Waterloo's quarterback Tre Ford threw for 157 yards on 18 completions with no touchdowns. 

BY THE NUMBERS: 
10 - consecutive years McMaster has won its Homecoming game at Ron Joyce Stadium.
267 - total rushing yards by McMaster - a season high
58 - The total offensive yards McMaster's defence allowed to Waterloo in the first half.   
491 - total number of offensive yards registered by McMaster

LOOK SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS:  The Marauder defence was relentless in the opening half, giving up just 58 offensive yards to the Warriors and surrendering just four first downs. Comparatively, McMaster registered 312 offensive yards along with 22 first downs in the first half.

WHAT A RUSH: McMaster registered 267 yards rushing against Waterloo with Justice Allin and Jordan Lyons leading the way. Allin had 135 of those yards while Lyons registered 117. It was the first time McMaster had a running back eclipse 100 yards rushing this season. McMaster's previous season high as a team along the ground was 167 yards rushing against Windsor. Individually, Lyons held the top mark prior to this game, recording 94 yards against York.

FOR THE RECORD: 

Jordan Lyons concluded his career with 381 rushes, overtaking Jordan Kozina (2005-06, 2008-09) for fifth in McMaster's all-time list. He also surpassed Ross Tripp (1973-76) for sixth on the school's all-time rushing yardage list with a career total of 2184.

HALL OF FAME: McMaster University honoured its 2019 Athletics Hall of Fame induction class on Saturday morning at the McMaster Students Centre's CIBC Hall. This year's inductees included Nicole Pirko (Carroll) (Squash, '01), Lindsay Sutherland (DeGroot) (Basketball, '09), Dan and Mike Pletch (Rugby, '06 and '08), Jason Pottinger (Football, '08 & '10) and Jeremy Sparrow (Swimming, '99). Find full biographies of the 2019 inductees here: https://marauders.ca/news/2019/7/18/six-to-be-inducted-into-mcmaster-athletics-hall-of-fame-in-2019.aspx 

UP NEXT: With today's win, McMaster has earned a quarterfinal bye and will host one of the OUA football semi finals held on November 2, 2019. Kick off for that game will be 1:00 pm. Tickets for the game will go on sale Tuesday online at www.marauders.ca/tickets