No. 8 Marauders top Gee-Gees in OUA quarterfinal
In windy, rainy conditions at Ron Joyce Stadium it was no. 8 McMaster's newfound running game, functioning early and often, which set the tone in the Marauders' 41-7 victory over the Gee-Gees.
Ottawa, in addition to a series of costly mistakes at key points, suffered from a ground-game power outage and registered only 30 yards while McMaster's defensive backs forced graduating quarterback Aaron Colbon to work sideways all day. In the final quarters the maroon-clad backs picked up the pressure to finish with two interceptions.
McMaster's second-year running back Wayne Moore ruled the day, amassing 140 yards on the ground. It was Moore who put the Marauders in charge on the opening drive, carrying the ball six times to take his team all the way to the goal line before quarterback Marshall Ferguson capped off the drive with a one-yard dive over the line.
McMaster's passing game kicked in on second scoring drive, which came about following a roughing the kicker penalty by Ottawa negated a punt attempt and handed the ball back to Ferguson. A ten-play drive resulted in a 21-yard pass to Danny Vandervoort which put McMaster ahead 14-0 just ten minutes in.
"McMaster was physical and they controlled the ball. We couldn't get anything going offensively." said Gee-Gees head coach Jamie Barresi. "Despite the score, our defence were pretty tough. McMaster came at us pretty good at the beginning of the game, but our defence stiffened after that.
The Gee-Gees broke onto the scoreboard for the first time thanks to a safety with 3:24 left in the first half. Ottawa showed signs of breaking out after that as Lewis Ward narrowed the lead to 17-5 with a 28-yard field goal, and Matt Bond had his first of two interceptions at the Ottawa 25-yard line.
The Gee-Gees strung together a series of catches following the interception to push the total number of first downs in but could not quite get into field goal range for Ward, and the score stood at 17-5 as the teams went into the locker rooms.
Ottawa then suffered a disastrous start to the second half when, following a Michael Kashak sack, punter Dominic Bellardini mishandled the snap and was forced to chase it back into his own endzone. He was still unable to corral the bouncing ball and linebacker Jeremy Kyei jumped on it to extend the lead to 24-5.
The action slowed until the end of the third quarter when Ottawa's Kevin Hanson forced a fumble and brought Ferguson down awkwardly on the McMaster 47-yard line. However, Ferguson returned, the Gee-Gees were unable to take advantage of the opportunity to swing things, and the third quarter closed with the McMaster lead at 27-7.
The fourth yielded no more success for Ottawa while Ferguson added his second passing major and the Marauder defence added their second touchdown of the day on an interception return by Steven Ventresca.
Aaron Colbon wrapped up his career with the Gee-Gees with a 17-39-2 performance for 181 passing yards. "It's tough to go out like this," said the emotional senior. "It was a good turnaround season and getting back here to the playoffs was a big step back in the right direction. This program has a winning tradition and I have every confidence that the guys next year will be in a position to continue it."