McMaster Marauders battle for playoff spot Saturday – Hamilton | The Canadian News

The old sports cliche says “win and you’re in.”

For the McMaster Marauders, it’s “winning and keeping your fingers crossed.”

The 2-3 Marauders host the Guelph Gryphons 3-2 at Ron Joyce Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Heading into the final week of the OUA regular season, there are eight different playoff scenarios for the various teams.

For Mac, the easiest path to a playoff spot is this: beat Guelph and hope Waterloo loses to Laurier.

Anything else, and you might get a headache trying to figure it out.

The game’s story has a big question: Can Mac’s offensive line protect quarterback Andreas Dueck so he can get the ball to his playmakers?

Guelph leads the OAU with 18 sacks. Mac has given up 20 sacks.

Regardless of how it unfolds, it will be an afternoon of drama.

CHML coverage begins at 1 pm

Player Profile: Andreas Dueck

It’s an old saying: soccer is the best team sport, but it all starts with the quarterback.

For the McMaster Marauders, that quarterback is Andreas Dueck. The fourth-year center decided to leave his hometown of Winnipeg after graduating from Vincent Massey Secondary.

In short, I wanted to go out and explore the world.

“When I visited there, what really struck me was its surroundings and it felt good,” recalled Dueck. “The atmosphere was quite spectacular.”

In eight regular-season games in 2019, Dueck completed 200 of 301 pass attempts for a 66.4 percent completion rate. He had 2,431 yards and 15 touchdown passes, with eight interceptions.

Dueck plays his last home game on Saturday afternoon.