Markham, Ont. (November 8, 2008) – The Gaels quest for its first championship since the 2001 season ended on Saturday as the McMaster Marauders downed Queen's 18-10 in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) rugby championship at Fletcher's Field in Markham, Ont.
Chris Barrett of Vancouver scored all 10 of Queen's points in the loss. Barrett opened the scoring just five-minutes into the game and then 15 minutes later added his second try after being set up by a long run from Scott Kyle of Singapore. Queen's missed both converts, making the score 10-0.
The momentum shifted in McMaster's favor after Queen's saw two players sent to the sin bin and were forced to play short-handed. McMaster capitalized when Sean Windsor of Stoney Creek, Ont. hit a penalty at 36:10. A minute later Mike Scholz of Oakville, Ont. scored a try for McMaster and Windsor converted the kick to tie the score at 10.
Windsor would convert another penalty at 42:13 to make the score 13-10 going into halftime. Queen's would come out strong in the second half with a majority of play being held in McMaster's end.
Windsor added a final try for the Marauders in the final minute after the Gaels came close to scoring, but lost control of the ball on the McMaster goal line. Windsor's score would close the scoring at 18-10 for McMaster.
“We left nothing on the field,” said Gaels third-year centre, Zach Pancer of Unionville, Ont. “It's not the end of the season we wanted, but [McMaster] worked really hard and they deserved the win today. They played really well.”
Head Coach Peter Huigenbos credited McMaster on their performance, but believed his team was stronger for the majority of the game.
“I think we were the better team,” said Huigenbos. “Hat's off to McMaster, they deserved to win. Our players have a lot to be proud about but sometimes the bounces don't go your way.”
“We're extremely proud of the season we put together and how hard we worked,” continued Huigenbos. “It's a bittersweet ending of course, but it's the best season we've had in a long time and we'll take that and build on it for next year.”
Queen's recorded an undefeated regular season posting a 5-0-1 record which was the first since the 2001 season. In the playoffs, Queen's easily disposed of Toronto 70-3 and then dropped Western 19-8 to set up the championship match-up against McMaster. In the regular season, the Gaels had defeated the Marauders 14-10.
