HAMILTON (September 3, 2022) - Andreas Dueck (Winnpeg, Man.) tossed two touchdowns enroute to a lopsided 39-1 win over the York Lions on Saturday in OUA football action.

The Marauders used 19 unanswered points in the first half to top the Lions in sweltering heat. Temperatures with the humidity reached into the high 30s all afternoon.  McMaster improves to 1-1 on the season while York drops to 0-2. 

Dueck finished the day with 338-yards passing, recording 26 completions with two touchdowns. Jackson Cooling (Burlington, Ont.) was the game's top receiver hauling in 100-yards on eight catches.  Nicholas Adair (Kingston, Ont.), David Bazzo (King City, Ont.) and Dima Ignajatovic (Barrie, Ont.) eached notched a touchdown reception.

McMaster's defence was on lock down all day holding York to a single point (rouge) in the third quarter.  York mustered only 146 total offensive yards. 

Devonte Ballantyne (Strathroy, Ont.) was the game's top defensive player registering two interceptions along with three total tackles. 

Kicker, Ben MacDonald (Kamloops, BC), was a perfect 4 for 4 in field goals with his longest coming from 36-yards.  He registered 15 of McMaster's 39 points. 

NEXT UP:  McMaster will host the Ottawa Gee-Gees (1-0) on Saturday, September 10th at Ron Joyce Stadium. Ottawa is set to host Queen's later today. The Marauders are 23-18 all-time against the Gee-Gees with their last meeting occurring in Week 2 of 2019.  McMaster won that meeting 35-22 at Ron Joyce Stadium. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED: Jacob Patten (Stoney Creek, Ont.) set up the first touchdown of the game hauling in a 65-yard pass from Dueck.  Ignajatovic scored on the very next play on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Dueck.  

UNANSWERED:  McMaster won the game in the opening half, scoring 19 unanswered points by registering three team safeties, two field goals and a touchdown by wide-receiver, Ignajatovic.  Offensively, the second half was much better for the Marauders with Dueck hitting Adair for a touchdown and later, backup quarterback Keagan Hall (Burlington, Ont), connected with Bazzo on a 15-yard strike. 

BY THE NUMBERS: 

39 - the number of wins McMaster now has against York all time.  Their all-time record now sits at 39-13 and the Marauders hold a 23 game winning streak against the Lions.  York's last victory against McMaster came on September 6, 1997.

51 - Dueck finished with 338-yards, 51-yards shy of a career high. He recorded 389-yards passing on September 21, 2019 in a 47-19 win over the Windsor Lancers.

146 - Total offensive yards given up by the Marauders' defence in today's game

35:46 - Total time of possession for the Marauders

5 - McMaster was five of six on red-zone scoring chances

THEY SAID IT:

Andreas Dueck - Quarterback, Fifth Year

On what helped give them a victory this week
"What we really wanted to do this week was clean ourselves up. We made a lot of… far too many mental errors last week, and I think that's what cost us a game (vs Carleton). 

So this week, we really just wanted to clean ourselves up, make sure, we didn't beat ourselves and we were able to go out there and just execute and be in the right spots, make the right plays and, and not not beat ourselves. 

That was kind of our focus this week. So I think we I think we accomplished that too. Maybe not to the extent we would have liked to obviously there's always things that we can clean up. But yeah, definitely a good good bounce back win.

On how the offense planned to play York this week
"We wanted to really attack them and and I mean, we have the guys..right? We just wanted to get the ball out and be able to let them go make plays. So it's kind of what we did. Sometimes it just takes a bit to settle into the game to get rolling and you kind of build that momentum and get a feel to get into it a little bit."

On Stoney Creek's Jacob Patten
He's legit. He's legit. He's a Hamilton guy played at UBC for a couple years but he's legit it's huge. Huge having him around. Yeah, we gotta get him the ball. He's a good big time playmaker. 100%!

Devonte Ballantyne - Defensive Back, Third Year

On picking up first win of the season at home. 
"We emphasize really defending our house and defending our home field. We prepped really hard this week we had a great week of practice. Our front played amazing our linebacker core played amazing and our DB core played amazing."

On McMaster's defence today
"We were definitely great with communication, and everything, because we didn't allow any points on defense. We gave up a rouge on a field goal so it is what it is. We didn't get the shutout but we're aiming for more shutouts (on defence) but as a defensive unit, I can't ask for a different group to play with.