Thursday, October 1st 2009

By unknown

Ron Joyce Stadium was the site of Saturday’s battle of the beaks, in which the 3-1 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks defeated the 2-2 McMaster Marauders by the score of 30-14. Laurier was led by receiver and returner Dylan Heap (Waterloo, ON), who had 420 all-purpose yards for the day on the way to being named OUA and CIS Special Teams Player of the Week. The game was also a battle between two former backup quarterbacks, Laurier’s Evan Pawliuk (Kingston, ON) and Mac’s Kyle Quinlan (South Woodslee, ON).

Pawliuk started in place of the injured Luke Thompson (London, ON), who was hurt a week ago against Waterloo. In his first start of the year, Pawliuk outshone Quinlan by throwing for 276 yards and had 12 completions on 17 attempts, with two touchdowns and an interception in a solid outing. Quinlan, who earned the start ahead of Ryan Fantham (London, ON), ended the day with 136 yards passing, no touchdowns, two interceptions and a 36.1 completion percentage.

With the score still tied 0-0 in the opening quarter, the Marauders appeared to score the games first points on a gadget play. Quinlan threw the ball to Mike Dicroce (Hamilton, ON) behind the line of scrimmage, and Dicroce proceeded to throw the ball to Matt Peressini (Hannon, ON). Peressini made the catch and evaded a pair of Golden Hawk defenders before scoring the major. The play, however, was called back as it was deemed that the initial pass from Quinlan to Dicroce was in fact a forward pass, making Peressini an ineligible receiver.

Laurier finally opened the scoring on a 33 yard drive. The drive was setup by a 47 yard punt return by Heap, who would have scored if not for a touchdown saving tackle by rookie Andrew Surya (Burlington, ON). Laurier would not be denied and three plays later the Hawks found the end zone on a 10 yard Pawliuk pass. On Laurier’s next possession, first year defensive back Cody Lynch (Stoney Creek, ON) intercepted a Pawliuk pass and returned it 27 yards for the touchdown. The first half ended with the score tied up and both teams seemed to be one big play away from taking control.

Unfortunately for Marauder fans, it was the Hawks who came up with the big play in the third quarter, when Pawliuk connected with wide receiver Shamawd Chambers (Markham, ON) for an 88 yard touchdown.

Only one play before it had been third down with Laurier punting, but a roughing the passer penalty against the Marauders gave the Hawks the first down and another shot. It was but one of several devastating penalties that hurt McMaster during the game. Laurier scored one more third quarter touchdown and the Marauders gave up a safety to make the score 23-7 going into the fourth.

On the last play of the third, Pawliuk found Heap for an 84 yard reception that set up Laurier’s final touchdown two plays later. Trailing 30-7, the Marauders needed a spark to ignite the offence and Dicroce seemed to deliver. The punt returner took a Laurier punt 75 yards for the touchdown, the first return for a touchdown on the year for the Marauders. Dicroce finished the day with 51 yards receiving and 154 punt return yards in what was probably his best game of the season thus far.

But the Marauder offence could not take advantage of the swing in momentum and on the next drive Quinlan threw an interception that was returned to the McMaster six yard line. If not for a defensive stand and a field goal block, the score would have further favoured Laurier.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Ryan Chmielewski (St. Catharines, ON) had an outstanding day, making 12 solo tackles. Saturday also marked the most passing yards against the Marauders all year, but the majority of the 276 Golden Hawk passing yards came in two plays, the 88 yard throw to Chambers and the 84 yard toss to Heap. “I thought our defence played in spurts but when they got us they got us for 80 or 90,” said head coach Stefan Ptaszek after the game. Apart from those two lapses, the defensive secondary continued its strong play, especially in the first half. Laurier star running back Mike Montoya (Burlington, ON) had a case of the fumbles, losing the ball twice in the first quarter and once in the third. On Montoya’s third fumble, the ball bounced into the end zone, only to be recovered by a Laurier player for the touchdown. This was but one of many unlucky plays the Marauders encountered on the day.

For the second time this year the Marauders failed to score an offensive touchdown against a quality OUA opponent, and McMaster will need a strong offensive game next week by whichever quarterback Coach Ptaszek decides to start. Up next is the suddenly not invincible Western Mustangs, who squeaked out a win against the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday on a last second field goal. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. in London and is part of Western’s homecoming, guaranteeing a full crowd and tough atmosphere for the Marauders. The Mustangs have one of the country’s best offences and if the Marauders hope to be the first team to knockoff the 4-0 Mustangs, then both the offence and defence will need to be at their absolute best. “It’s back to the drawing board for our football team, we’re a good football team who on the right day can compete with anybody, today was not the right day,” added Ptaszek.

Tags: football, Marauders, McMaster Football, McMaster Marauders