Hamilton, Ont. (September 1, 2014) – In the 2014 season opener the Guelph Gryphons football team dropped a 37-24 overtime final to the McMaster Marauders at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ont.
 
The Gryphons led 24-9 late in the third quarter before the Marauders mounted a furious comeback, scoring 18 points in the final 15 minutes to pull even at 27, setting up a thrilling overtime ending.
 
McMaster's Marshall Ferguson scored the game-winning touchdown on a nine-yard broken bootleg on the Marauders only possession of overtime while Guelph failed to score with
their possession.  
 
Overall the Marauders held 47.29 time of possession compared to Guelph's 25.45. Head coach Stu Lang noted that his team needs to figure out the mistakes and do better.
 
"We're not very happy, there is no reason why it should've come down to overtime. We have to score when we get into the red zone and it's as simple as that. We're going back to watch the game film and find out what the mistakes are, in a short eight game season we can't lose a game like that."
 
The game got interesting with 2:34 remaining in the fourth when Ferguson found Max Cameron for a 33-yard touchdown strike. That set up the game-tying two-point conversion which saw Ben O'Connor of Kingston, Ont., convert to deadlock the game at 27-27.
 
The Gryphons had their chances to shut down the Marauders comeback blocking two field goals including a potential game winner with just 26 seconds left in regulation.
 
Guelph's Jazz Lindsey of Markham, Ont. finished 14-of-30 for 195 yards and one touchdown pass while Robert Farquharson of Niagara Falls, Ont., was the game's leading rusher posting 143 yards on 21 attempts with a touchdown score.
 
The Marauders comeback started with 21 seconds remaining in the third as McMaster scored a touchdown and two-point conversion pass to pull the score to 24-17. They then tacked on an additional two points after pinning Guelph deep in their zone forcing them to concede a safety.
 
Guelph added an 18-yard field goal by Daniel Ferraro of Mississauga, Ont., to push the score to 27-19 before the Marauders put the finishing touches on their come-from-behind victory.
 
The Marauders never had a lead in the game up until the game winning touchdown with Guelph building a what looked like a comfortable 24-9 lead with Lindsey connecting with Alexander Charette of St. Catharines, Ont. for a touchdown and the Farquharson touchdown. Guelph also was able to pin the McMaster offence deep in its own zone forcing the Marauders to surrender
two safeties for a total of four points.
 
Ferraro hit all three of his field goal attempts scoring from 11, 14 and 18 yards. Also of note offensively was the play of A'dre Fraser of Halifax, NS who returned a missed field goal 50 yards, helping setup a Gryphon touchdown. Fraser finished with 103 yards on six carries to lead all receivers in the contest.
 
Leading the Gryphon defence was Mackenzie Myers of Guelph, Ont. with nine solo tackles while Michael Carney of Burnaby, BC and Tristan Doughlin of Toronto tallied seven and six each.
 
The Gryphons will look to turns things around next weekend with their home opener on Saturday (Sept. 6) against the Toronto Varsity Blues. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.