HAMILTON, Ont. – The No. 3-nationally ranked Guelph Gryphons saw their 2019 season officially come to an end on Saturday afternoon at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton in a hard-fought, 19-9 loss to the No. 4-ranked McMaster Marauders. With the result, the Marauders advance to the 112th Yates Cup next Saturday (Nov. 9) where they will face the top-ranked Western Mustangs.
"You have to commend McMaster, they played tough," said Gryphons head coach
Ryan Sheahan, who in his first season in charge of the University of Guelph football program led the Gryphons to a 6-2 regular season record and their highest national ranking (No. 3) in 22 years.
"We came in here with a different plan. We wanted to focus on playing tough defence and running the ball with some heavy sets. It was working for us early on. We had the lead at the half. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. Had we not got stopped inside the 5-yard line, it would have been a different final two minutes. But I'm really proud of our team and how our kids battled."
A low-scoring first half saw Guelph take a 7-5 lead to the locker room thanks to a 2-yard touchdown run from Gryphons running back
Juwan Jeffrey late in the 2nd quarter. With points hard to come by for both teams in cold, wet conditions at Ron Joyce Stadium, the McMaster offence would finally find a breakthrough early in the 3rd quarter.
Marauders third-year quarterback Andreas Dueck, who finished the regular season 2nd in the OUA with an average of 303.9 passing yards per game, was held to a season-low 216 yards passing on Saturday by the Gryphon D.
But on McMaster's first offensive possession of the 2nd half, the Winnipeg native would come up with the game's biggest play, and unexpectedly, Dueck was doing it with his feet. After rushing for just 128 yards all season, the Marauder QB would pull it down and break off a 55-yard touchdown run to put McMaster in front 12-7. It marked the longest rush attempt allowed by the Gryphon defence all season long.
Late in the 3rd quarter, the Gryphon defence nearly came up with an interception on Dueck when veteran defensive back
Dotun Aketepe jumped a route, only to have a 50-50 ball wrestled out of his hands by McMaster receiver Xander Tachinski. The near-turnover was instead a Marauder first down. And a few plays later, Mac would strike again.
This time, the scoring play came on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Andreas Dueck to fullback Blake Reason. And with :19 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter, the Marauders suddenly led 19-7.
The Gryphons would show some life late, putting together an 11-play, 52-yard drive that would take the Gryphons down inside the McMaster 5-yard line.
But the Marauders would come up with their biggest defensive stand of the season, stuffing the Gryphons on three straight rushing attempts to force a turnover on downs with two and a half minutes remaining.
Throughout the game, the Gryphon defence, which was the OUA's top-ranked scoring defence during the regular season, once again put in an impressive performance. Not only did Guelph limit McMaster quarterback Andreas Dueck to a season-low in passing yards, they also held Marauders running back Justice Allin to 93 yards on 17 carries (5.5 avg). In 10 games in 2019, the Gryphon defence allowed an opponent to eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark just once (Western's Trey Humes in Week 5).
Offensively, the Gryphons were in tough against a talented McMaster defence. Fifth-year quarterback
Theo Landers finished the day 16-26 for 142 yards and was intercepted twice. Landers also led his team in rushing with 64 yards on 8 carries.
Jordan Terrio led the Gryphons in receiving with 6 catches for 45 yards.
The Gryphons, who have qualified for the OUA playoffs in each of the past eight straight seasons, have now seen their season end in the playoffs at Ron Joyce Stadium on four separate occasions (2019 semi's, 2016 quarter-finals, 2014 and 2012 Yates Cups).
"For the seniors, we thank them for everything they gave us. For the fourth-years, I hope we get a few of them back because that will help us. We'd love to be one of the eight teams remaining in the country next Saturday, but that's not the case. So like everyone else, we're going to have to use a tough season-ending loss from the previous year to help us moving forward."
The 112th Yates Cup between McMaster and Western will kickoff on Saturday, November 9 at 1pm and will be broadcast live on CHCH.
