Marauders cool off Guelph Homecoming
Two years ago when McMaster showed up in Guelph to be the Gryphons’ Homecoming opponent, a near hurricane severely affected proceedings. Sheets of torrential rain, accompanied by galeforce winds, made the highlights more suitable for The Weather Network than any sports station.
The visit before was Noah-esque as well. So the fact Saturday’s contest — won by the Marauders 29-9 — was dry was a nice change from that. Trouble is, what was gained in non-precipitation was lost in Hades-like heat. With temperatures approaching 40 scorching degrees on the field, this was equivalent to playing football in Luciano Pavarotti’s armpit.
“I think it’s part of the rivalry,” quipped defensive tackle Hassan Barry after it was over. “Mother Nature just wants to make it even better.”
If sweatier is better, so be it. Either way, one key in such conditions is to make sure you keep your defence off the field as much as possible and force the other team’s D to run around and get worn down. Especially the big boys. So when Mac’s offence struggled horribly in the first quarter and failed to pick up a single first down in three possessions, things weren’t looking great. Worse, the Gryph’s preferred style of play is a punishing ground game that takes the steam out of the run stoppers.
In front of a huge crowd and facing a hyped-up team, this was a recipe for disaster for Mac. Allowing the defence to get exhausted early could translate into watching the points pile up in the late stages when it’s completely wiped.
Funny thing, though. The Marauder D corps didn’t get softer as the players’ light grey shirts got darker. Instead, it got better and better and better as the game went on.
Then when the McMaster offence finally came to life, it was the Guelph defenders looking fatigued.
“It’s tough,” defensive end Mark Mackie admits. “You just have to grit it out.”
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but this Mac defence is really good at that grit thing. It now leads the OUA in points allowed having given up just 54 points in four games. And it’s fantastic at creating frustration.
None of the four starting QBs that have faced Mac this year have played the entire game. Three have been pulled for a replacement. On Saturday, Guelph starter James Roberts exited when Mackie nearly broke him in two with a clean-butdevastating sack.
“He wasn’t looking and I was coming full speed,” he says. “I got a really good lick on him.”
In short, this is a group that’s outstanding at what it does and wants to get even better. Which means — consider this a public service announcement for other schools facing them — they need no additional motivation.
Yet before kickoff, Guelph’s PA announcer explained that some dude with a giant Gryphon flag would run a lap every time the home side scored a touchdown. As he announced this, the flag guy stood right by Mac’s bench waving it giddily. He never ran a single lap. Just before the game ended, it was the maroon defence gathering near that very spot and offering up a loud chant/cheer of its own. That was a new touch.
“The kids were pumped and they deserved to be,” says head coach Greg Knox. “(Guelph is) a good football team.”
Mac now has York on tap for its own Homecoming on Saturday. The Lions are not good. After that it’s Toronto. The Blues are really not good. Then it’s Windsor. This year’s Lancers are football’s answer to the Washington Generals.
This will be time to work on some stuff and get prepared for the finalweek matchup with Laurier that will likely decide who gets a bye in the first round.
Thankfully, none of these games will be played in sizzling conditions like these. Then again, the Mac defenders looked shockingly fresh after it was over. Way more than they probably should have. They chalked it up to hard practices and gruelling off-season workouts. Still, it wasn’t like it had no effect. Barry is a big boy. Does he know how much he weighed at the start of the game?
“I started the game at 317,” he laughs. And what about at the end? “Oh,” he laughs even harder, “maybe 300.”