Hamilton, ON – Despite the bitter cold, a crowd of 12,464 packed out the north side of Ivor Wynne Stadium and watched the McMaster Marauders defeat the Golden Hawks 41–17 in the 96th Yates Cup.
"Turnovers are what hurt us today," said
Gary Jeffries after the final whistle blew. This game proved to be the exact opposite of the OUA Semi-Final as this time around it was McMaster picking up the points everywhere they could. The play that hurt the Hawks most was Brandon Little's kick off return for a 109-yard run/touchdown. Little's run took place immediately after
Bryon Hickey snagged Laurier's first major of the afternoon and helped bring a halt to the Hawks momentum. Unfortunately that momentum never shifted back. At the half time break the score was 24-10 in favor of the Marauders.
At the end of the day, Laurier's net offense of 372, was five yards more than the Marauders; however the team could not shake their turnovers curse and were unable to convert those yards to points on the board. The second half of the game saw a McMaster Field Goal and Touchdown's from Jon Behie and Jesse Lumsden. The Hawk's Jaime Partington would connect to Andrew Baechler for the final major of the game, but it was only a drop in the bucket as Laurier finished short by 24 points.
The Golden Hawks turned out to be the Cinderella team of the season. With a previous season record of 1-7 haunting them, a 6-2-0-1 team emerged, resulted in a very successful playoff run and an appearance at the Ontario Final. The first year Manager of Football Operations and Head Coach was emotional at the end of the game, "I'm proud of these guys… they've played their hearts out today… and this season." Jefferies has much to be proud of. Every one of his 87 players and 15 staff put together a spectacular season.
"To the eleven guys who are graduating, congratulations on successful seasons with the Hawks. I know they will do well in the future."
Gary Jeffries made sure recognition for the eleven graduates took place two weeks ago in front of a home crowd and was sure to mention how proud he was today of their performances as Golden Hawks.
David Agro,
Josh Alexander,
Tony Bretney,
Lee Cond,
Todd Galloway,
Geoff Keen,
Kevin MacNeill,
Jeff Melis,
Justin Shakell,
Owen Thompson and
Jason Thomson will all be moving on after successful years with the Golden Hawk football program. All the best to each of them.
The Golden Hawk football program has now ended their 2003 run, but on a very positive note; a 6-2-0-1 record, a Double Overtime Victory against Queen's in the Semi-Finals, 10 OUA All-Stars and an OUA Coach of the Year. To the many alumni, friends and fans, we thank you for your support and hope to see you next season for another exciting round of OUA Football.
