KINGSTON, Ont. (October 31, 2011) - The no. 8 Queen's Gaels continue their quest to capture football's oldest trophy this Saturday when they travel to Hamilton for a date with the no. 4 McMaster Marauders.
Historically the Gaels lead the head-to-head matchup between these two teams by a 14-10 margin. The Marauders, however have taken the last three games between these two teams. Most recently, McMaster beat the Gaels 26-2 in their 2011 home opener on Labour Day.
The Gaels are riding high off of a 14-10 victory over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in their quarter-final game at Richardson Stadium. The Gaels were led by a surprise starter at quarterback as Toronto's
Ryan Mitchell filled in the injured Burlington, Ontario native,
Billy McPhee. Mitchell was solid in his first career start as he threw for 272 yards on 23 completions. OUA rushing champion
Ryan Granberg of Sherwood Park, Atla. had the lone Gaels touchdown on the afternoon with a one yard touchdown run.
Dan Village of Abbotsford, B.C. rounded out the Gaels scoring with two field goals and a rouge.
Defensively, the Gaels received strong performances all over the field. Ben D'Andrea of Calgary was the team's leading tackler with 8.5 tackles, including one which went for a seven yard loss.
Stephen Laporte of Ottawa and
John Miniaci of Toronto each sacked Laurier quarterback Shane Kelly of Basking Ridge, N.J. while
Sean Plumley of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.,
Andrew Lue of Markham, Ont. and Josh Sultana of Etobicoke, Ont. all intercepted Kelly passes, totaling three for the defence.
The Marauders come in to the semifinal game after a week off due to their bye as the two seed in the OUA and haven't lost a game since September 10 when the Western Mustangs beat McMaster in Hamilton by a 48-21 margin. Since then, McMaster has rattled off six consecutive victories, the most recent of which was a 51-24 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Star quarterback Kyle Quinlan of South Woodslee, Ont. led the charge for the Marauders as he provided 434 yards of offence and one touchdown in the win.
Saturday's semifinal game will mark the third consecutive season these two teams meet in the playoffs dating back to 2009. The Gaels and Marauders have split the previous two games with Queen's winning 32-6 in 2009 and McMaster coming out on top in 2010, 40-19. The Gaels lead the all-time playoff series between these two teams at 3-2.
Kickoff between the Gaels and Marauders at McMaster is set for 4:30 pm. It can be seen on television live on theScore and streamed on theScore.com. Gaels fans who can't catch theScore's broadcast can tune in on 101.9 CFRC.
