OTTAWA – The McMaster Marauders football team saw their season come to end in Ottawa this past weekend with a 23-9 loss at the hands of the Ottawa Gee-Gees, ending any hope of a push for the playoffs.
 
For the second straight week, McMaster conceded a major early. Ottawa had a near perfect start to the game. After a short punt by the Marauders, Ottawa started their opening drive in good field position and in just two plays, found the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead. Just over a minute later, the Gee-Gees extended their lead to nine after McMaster conceded the safety for better field position.
 
The second frame saw the Marauders concede their second safety of the game, making the score 11-0 in favour of the hosts. In the closing minutes before halftime, McMaster found some momentum, recording three straight first downs to set up a 37-yard field goal by Michael Horvat. On the next series, the Marauder defense came up big. Ethan Stuart intercepted a pass by the Gee-Gee quarterback and returned it 13-yards. Michael Horvat hit his second field goal of the game, this time from 44 yards to narrow the advantage to 11-6 at the halftime break.
 
After the break, the two squads exchanged possessions for nearly ten minutes before the Gee-Gees added one more point to their total with a rouge. The Ottawa defense had a big play on the next series, recording a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. McMaster conceded a safety to give the Gee-Gees a 21-6 lead headed into the final frame.
 
The Marauders would concede another safety and add a 36-yard field goal from Michael Horvat but would never threaten the Ottawa Gee-Gees lead, falling 23-9 to end the season.
 
Despite combining for 500+ yards of offense, only one major was scored by either offense during the Week 8 contest. It was the two defenses that put on a show, combining for 85.5 tackles. Ethan Stuart, Drake Bodi and Mitch Price led the Marauders with 13 solo tackles between the trio, while also contributing a sack and interception.
 
For the Marauders, Keagan Hall completed 19 of 38 attempts for 201 yards and recorded one interception in the contest. He was also sacked twice. Brayden Kelly and Ricardo Chisholm split the running game for a combined 63 yards on the ground. Jackson Cooling led all McMaster receivers with 113 yards, including a long of 29 yards.
 
With a 2-6 record, the Marauders finish the OUA season in seventh place in the standings. This is the second back-to-back season that McMaster has ended an OUA campaign with a sub .500 record and also the third year in a row that the Marauders have failed to make the playoffs.