McMaster football 39-one win vs. York reversed following forfeit 

After discovering and self-reporting an ineligible player on the roster, the Marauders were forced to forfeit each game played to that point

A season that seemed to start on a strong note for the Marauders turned sour rather quickly. The team dropped their first game against the Carlton Ravens to a close score of 24 to 18 but followed up with an absolute blowout against the York Lions, winning 39 to one. Despite the lopsided score, the game will officially go down as a loss.  

On Sep. 9 news broke that McMaster University would have to forfeit their win against the Lions due to an administrative error. This error made a member of the team who participated in both games ineligible, reversing the outcome of their lone season win. The final line score on the Marauders website now reads as a win for the Lions with a final score of one to zero.  

The initial statement on the issue came from McMaster Athletics and Recreation itself. They cited an administrative error, stemming from a student transfer. Upon discovery, they passed along this observation to U Sports and the OUA, who made the ruling shortly thereafter.  

Following the third game of the season — a 20 to 14 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees — the team fielded questions on the matter at their postgame press conference.  

“As the head coach and manager of the football team, it’s 100% on me. I’ve got a player on the roster that shouldn’t be. . . One of my guys is not eligible, and that's got to be on me to make sure,” said Stefan Ptaszek, the team’s head coach. 

Not only was the team directly affected by the matter in terms of the overturned game, but the issue also appeared to create further problems heading into their week three matchup. Although Ptaszek stressed that the team was well prepared and in a strong mental state, the devastating news and the extreme recency were more than likely a factor.  

“We only had 20 hours to digest what happened prior to this kickoff. . . Captains [found out] at 2:00 p.m. yesterday, the team at 3:00 p.m. [They] were a little shell shocked and stoic for sure,” explained Ptaszek.  

Following the announcement, the team fell to zero wins and three losses on the year, and sat dead last in the Ontario University Athletics standings as the only team without a win. McMaster has also since lost their spot on the U Sports top 10 national ranking, having been displaced by the Mount Allison Mounties. 

The team has rebounded moderately well since those disastrous initial three games, winning two of their last four games, but it might simply be a case of too little too late. It was going to take a herculean effort from the team in order to return to the postseason for the first time since their provincial title victory in 2019-2020. Although it’s technically possible for them to still secure a playoff spot, the stars would have to perfectly align, and their chances are diminishing by the game as a direct result of this costly mistake.