Injury mars Marauders win over Gryphons

The McMaster Marauders were in no mood to sing their traditional dressing room victory song.

That despite a key 43-35 OUA football triumph over the Guelph Gryphons before a crowd of 2,290 at Ron Joyce Stadium Thursday.

The Mac players remained silent out of concern for their kicker – Tyler Crapigna – who was injured on the last play of the game. It’s believed he suffered a broken right ankle when Guelph was called for roughing the kicker on a punt.

“That room is devastated,” McMaster coach Stefan Ptaszek said of his team’s mood. “That’s the first time in my five years we haven’t sung our song after a victory. It seems inappropriate. They care about 1-7 (Crapigna). The want him to be better.”

The officials ended play with three seconds left on the clock. The players did not shake hands. Only the opposing coaches. And the team’s exited to the dressing rooms separately to avoid incident.

“It was a chippy game,” Ptaszek said. “Guelph and McMaster players were not happy with each other. There were some kids that got out of control.”

Guelph rallied impressively from a 21-0 first-quarter deficit to make it interesting down the stretch.

“It was an accident,” Gryphons coach Stu Lang said of the game-ending play. “Everyone knew we were trying to block the punt. I’m not sure who it was … two or three guys came through.”

Ptaszek doesn’t blame the Gryphons for the injury: “That’s football,” he said.

For the first time since he took over as head coach five years ago, Ptaszek has guided the Marauders to an undefeated record in the home portion of their regular-season schedule.

Mac improved to 5-2 while Guelph fell to 3-3.

Marauders were sparked by the return from injury of offensive starters Mike DiCroce, Kevin D’Hollander and Joey Nemet, who scored four touchdowns.

Tailback Nemet, who carried 23 times for 180 yards, opened the scoring with touchdown runs of three and one yard. On the later, he rushed for 49 yards before being pushed out at the one-yard line.

Slotback DiCroce then gathered in a deep pass in full stride from quarterback Kyle Quinlan for a 73-yard pass-and-run major. For the night, the Bishop Ryan product caught nine passes for 169 yards.

The big play for Guelph in the opening half was a 130-yard touchdown return by Jedd Gardner on a wide field goal.

Nemet notched his third touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter. It resulted from a beautifully executed shovel pass from 19 yards. He added his fourth touchdown one play after ripping off a 66-yard run and getting tackled again one yard from pay dirt.

Guelph inched closer on a 17-yard scoring strike from quarterback Chris Rossetti to Gardner, a seven-yard TD catch by Dillon Dimitroff and a 23-yard touchdown run by former Waterloo Warrior Steve Legace.

Mac caught its breath with a 34-yard field goal by Crapigna. However, Guelph responded again with a 20-yard touchdown toss to Kevin Campbell.

“This was an important game,” Lang said. “We didn’t start well. That’s two games in a row we’ve done that.”

Quinlan completed 19 of 31 passes for 365 yards. Rossetti, in comparison, connected on 16 of 24 for 221 yards.

The OUA’s rushing leader, Nick FitzGibbon of Guelph, was held to just nine yards on three carries.

Matt Peressini turned in another solid all-around game for Mac, rushing for 37 yards on four carries and catching three passes for 62 yards. D’Hollander, recovering from a concussion suffered against the Western Mustangs, caught three passes for 62 yards.

Mac led 26-7 at the half and extended the advantage to 40-7. Said Ptaszek: “Football is a game of momentum. You’ve got to give Guelph credit.”

The final game for Mac is Saturday, Oct. 16 in Toronto.