HAMILTON (November 2, 2019) - The No. 4 McMaster Marauders will battle the No. 2 Western Mustangs in the 112th Yates Cup, as they took down the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons 19-9 in their OUA semifinal football game at Ron Joyce Stadium on Saturday.

Quarterback Andreas Dueck led the Marauders by dashing for a touchdown and tossing another to send McMaster to its 11th Yates Cup appearance. Dueck finished 17 for 32, passing for 216 yards and rushing for another 89 on the ground.

With Guelph leading 7-5 coming out of halftime, McMaster's offence started to click and converted two touchdowns on their first three drives of the half to break the game open. Dueck showed his mobility in the first of those, taking the ball himself and running up the middle untouched for a 55-yard score.

Two McMaster drives later, the Marauders extracted a touchdown on a 12-play, 90-yard drive, using up seven minutes and 10 seconds of clock time. Blake Reason capped that drive on a 24-yard pass from Dueck.

"We were able to have some big plays in the first half and we just couldn't string it together," said Dueck. "In the second half we just put it all together and you need to make a couple key drives that turn out our way. "Execution [in the second half] was better."  

In the fourth quarter, the Gryphons efforts to mount a comeback were denied by key defensive stands by the Marauders. With just over two minutes remaining in the quarter, the Marauders defence stopped Guelph on third and goal, with Nate Edwards stuffing quarterback Theo Landers inches from the goal line.

On Guelph's next drive, Edwards sacked Landers for an 11-yard loss, and two plays later, Lucas Bill iced the game with his second interception of the game to send the Marauders to the Yates Cup.  

Overall, McMaster's defence finished with three sacks and two interceptions.

Head coach Stef Ptaszek lauded Guelph as a tough opponent, and it took time to break open the game as Mac's defence continued to play the shutdown role.

"A couple of big plays and finishing a few drives in that third quarter greased the wheels a bit," said Ptaszek. "Our defence has been championship calibre since week one and this game was no different."

McMaster's defence held Guelph to just 262 total offensive yards, limiting their passing game to just 142 yards while their rushing game gained 122.

Guelph held a 7-5 lead at halftime with Gryphon Juwan Jeffrey punching in a two-yard run to take the lead. Prior to that, Adam Preocanin drained a 31-yard field goal and the Marauders added two points through a safety.

AROUND THE LEAGUE: Western defeated the Waterloo Warriors 30-24 in the other OUA semifinal game to set up next week's Yates Cup in London, Ont.  

NEXT UP: McMaster will travel to London to battle the Western Mustangs for the 112th Yates Cup. It will mark only the second time that McMaster and Western have played off against each other for the OUA title; the first meeting was in 2011 when McMaster defeated Western 41-19 en route to their first Vanier Cup title. 

BY THE NUMBERS: 
421 - total offensive yards McMaster collected in today's semifinal game vs. Guelph
262 - total offensive yards by Guelph in today's game
32:54 - Time of Possession for the Marauders
24 - yards lost by Guelph from the three McMaster sacks

ANALYTICS DEBUNKED: Guelph was ranked ahead of McMaster heading into the game through the Football Reporters of Canada-U SPORTS Top 10, even though the Marauders had defeated the Gryphons in head-to head play. Both teams finished with a 6-2 record, but the Marauders earned a 25-10 win over Guelph in the opening week of the OUA season. National media members gave the edge to McMaster, but the "Elo" algorithm preferred Guelph and gave higher ranking to the Gryphons.

THE LAST WORD: Head Coach Stef Ptaszek on his return to the program and the build up to advancing to the Yates Cup

"This demonstrates that the right choices have been made for several years. From recruiting to fundraising to all the positional coaches and things that have been in place, and the development of the first-year kids who are now my fifth-year seniors. Guys like Frank Gesztesi and John Behie, Greg Knox and Tom Pain who aren't here anymore, played a big part in getting us here.

I've been here almost 12 months now, and I feel like we've made great use of time, and I feel like the guys that I brought in really complement the guys that are currently here. So I'm very proud of all of those things, and the relief is for my seniors and all those kids that have busted their butt for 12 months, and who believed in what we're doing without any evidence that it was the right thing to do. 

I think in this world, most people wait and see if it's the right thing to do before they decide whether to invest. I believe if anybody in this organization had done that, we would not be going to a Yates Cup today, because we wouldn't be where we are. And so, I'm proud of the eight months we spent. I'm not naive to the fact that we had some great pieces and so there's been lots of great decisions over several years to get us here."