Box Score HAMILTON (August 25, 2013) – Marshall Ferguson of Kingston, Ont., tossed two touchdowns and scored two more on the ground to lead the McMaster Marauders to a 51-24 opening day win over the Ottawa Gee Gees.
 
The two-time defending Yates Cup champions now push their OUA winning streak to 20 games against Ontario opponents with their last OUA loss coming on September 10, 2011 (versus Western).
 
Ferguson finished 28-for-40 with 352-yards passing while Michael DiCroce of Hamilton was the game's top receiver pulling down 102-yard receiving on eight catches.  The 2011 OUA MVP also added a touchdown in the win.
 
McMaster opened the game with a 21-0 lead only to see it dissolve with less than three minutes to play in the opening half.  In that time, Ottawa struck for 16 points including 14 in the final 1:49 putting the score at 21-16 at the half.
 
The Marauders showed resolve in the second half rebounding with 30 points in the final two frames to secure their first victory of 2013. 
 
McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek coach was pleased with McMaster's overall resiliency in shutting down Ottawa after a late first half comeback.
 
"To see this locker room deal with adversity today, I was pleased.  We weathered the storm and we played some very good football when it mattered most."
 
"It was combination of special teams, and a few punt blocks and defence creating turnovers, 51 points is very rarely an offence slamming through a defence over and over again," said Ptaszek.  "It's all three facets of the game coming together and it's a good sign for a lot of reasons."
 
Fourth year defensive back, Scott Martin of London, Ont., provided McMaster with 12 solo tackles to shut down Ottawa's comeback hopes.
 
Gee Gee quarterback Aaron Colbon of Ottawa finished the day 36-for-56 tossing 335-yards passing connecting on three touchdowns and throwing one interception. 
 
Ferguson opened the scoring in the first quarter on a one-yard quarterback sneak after DiCroce made a nice catch-and-run play to set up the score. Later in the second DiCroce would make the score 21-0 for McMaster on an 18-yard strike from his fourth year QB.
 
With just 2:40 remaining in the first half, Ottawa would go on to score 16 points including two touchdown passes from Colbon to Ian Stewart of Burlington, Ont. 
 
Stewart would finish the game with 10 receptions for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
 
McMaster's Jimmy Hill rushed for 104 yards on 12 carriers also punching in a rushing touchdown in the third quarter.
 
NOTES: Ferguson replaced long-time quarterback and last year's Hec Crighton Trophy recipient Kyle Quinlan who is now a coach with the Marauders... This was Jamie Barresi's first game as an OUA head coach for Ottawa; Barresi, a native of Hamilton had previous coaching experience at the NCAA's Penn State, Wake Forrest and several CFL Teams... Attendance at Ron Joyce Stadium was 3,026.