HAMILTON (October 22, 2022) - In a duel for a final playoff spot, the Toronto Varsity Blues edged the McMaster Marauders 13-10 in a come-from-behind victory to advance to the postseason.
McMaster held a 10-9 halftime advantage but the Varsity Blues were able to stymie the Marauder offense and secure two team safeties in the second half to steal the victory and the final playoff position.
A McMaster victory would have sent the Marauders to the OUA quarterfinals, but instead they finish with a 2-6 record tied with the Waterloo Warriors for eighth place in the OUA standings.
McMaster's defence kept Toronto out of the endzone all day with the Varsity Blues earning their 13 points on special teams.
The game's only touchdown was credited to McMaster's Nicholas Adair (Kingston, Ont.) who caught a 15-yard pass from quarterback Andreas Dueck (Winnipeg, Man.) at 9:02 of the first quarter.
That gave McMaster a 7-0 lead before setting the score at 10-9 on field goals by Toronto's Samuel Henke (3) and Marauders' kicker, Michael Horvat (1).
Despite the 2-6 record, the Marauders were in the hunt for a playoff position all season long. They opened the year at 0-3 with their first two games being forfeited due to the participation of an ineligible player.
Undeterred by the setback, they kept their name in the playoff conversation picking up convincing victories against Waterloo (43-0 on Sept 17) and Guelph (41-12 on Oct. 7). They also nearly upset the No. 2 seeded Queen's Gaels holding them to 14 points in a 14-10 loss in Kingston on Oct. 15.
A LONG LONG TIME AGO: The last time the Marauders finished with a sub .500 record was back in 1997 when Greg Marshall (now Western) coached the team to a 2-5-1 record in his first year with the Marauders. That was also the last time the Marauders failed to make the playoffs in an eight game season. Last year, McMaster missed the playoffs on a tiebreak going 3-3 in a shortened season due to COVID-19.
A STREAK IS OVER: This marked the first time in 26 years (1996) that the Marauders have lost to the Varsity Blues. Toronto's last win was on Sept 21, 1996 with a 30-13 victory at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Overall the Blues hold a slight 27-25-1 all-time record against the Marauders.
THEY SAID IT:
Stef Ptaszek I Head Coach
On today's game
"Unfortunately, the game kind of reflected the consistency we've had for the year, and in spurts we played some good football. My defense held the fort, but they had trouble getting them [Toronto] off the field. That scrambling quarterback was pretty special athletically and kept things alive and made a ton of plays. Tip our hats to them; they stayed on the field"
"Offensively, our opening drive to start with seven and ended up with 10 after that. It's kind of a disjointed offense we've had all year. Our special teams can make plays, but they take too many penalties."
These are the recurring themes now for nine weeks… and so here we sit. We're not in the playoffs back to back."
On his seniors and how the season played out
"I have such strong feelings for the senior group for them to miss the playoffs (during COVID) and miss this one…. This isn't as bad as it gets. Never a game that I wanted to win more than this one. We worked as hard as we could to not be in this situation but it didn't play out that way.
"It's not trophies and stuff and their legacy. They were a positive force through some challenging times with the years that they had. I hold them in as high esteem as anybody I've ever worked with.
Nicholas Adair I Wide Receiver
On how the team performed this year
"I thought we fought hard from start to finish but like Coach (Ptaszek) was saying, it just seemed like a reoccurring theme that other teams made plays, and we'd need to make plays and we just didn't."
"We're gonna look into that and obviously we need to work really hard in the offseason. I know that we're gonna come back better and I know we have the talent next year to do something special. So I mean, got to get to work now. Can't go back."
