Mac beats Toronto 55-33

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After trailing 26-24 at halftime, the McMaster football team responded with a strong second half outscoring the Toronto Varsity Blues 31-7 to a 55-33 win at Varsity Stadium.

Starting off with a weaker display of performance in the first half with turnovers and penalties hurting the Marauders, the improvement from the first half to the second half led the team to their first season win.

Mac quarterback Asher Hastings put together a stellar CIS debut, completing 26 of 34 throws for 384 yards and five touchdown passes.

With first and second year players taking up more than half of the roster, the youthful team has had to make necessary adjustments. A new season means new players and the team modifying their playing style.

“On any given year, we adjust our offense based on our personnel. It’d be silly of us to stick with the same stuff every year,” said Jon Behie, assistant coach and offensive coordinator. “We’re always adapting and changing based on our strengths and weaknesses.”

Second year wideout Dan Petermann caught nine balls for 100 yards and a touchdown. Third year standout wide receiver, Danny Vandervoort was the recipient of four of Hastings’ five touchdown passes. Vandervoort tallied 10 receptions for 168 yards including an 89-yard touchdown reception—a firm defense of his OUA First Team All-Star selection from last season. Vandervoort’s performance against Toronto also earned him an OUA Player of the Week mention.

Although the numbers may tempt you to think that Vandervoort is Mac’s only vertical threat, Behie insists otherwise.

“Those four touchdowns could have gone to anybody else. We’ve got a great receiving core with a lot of capable guys. We’ve got Dan Petermann, Max Cameron, Declan Cross, Josh Vanderweerd. These are all guys that are capable of big games like that,” said Behie. “It just happened to be Danny’s number last week but that could change week to week.”

Up next for the Marauders is their home opener against the Ottawa Gee-Gees this weekend. Mac will use their bye this week to fine-tune certain aspects of their game.

“In training camp you don’t always have time to perfect the little details. There are little intricacies in our offensive and defensive schemes that our guys just need time to figure out. A bye week allows us to focus on those little things,” said Behie.

The season opener win has landed the Marauders in fifth place in the CIS football rankings.

Look for McMaster to display a more polished game all around as they host Ottawa on Sept. 12. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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