The York University Lions football team will travel west to Hamilton, Ont., on Saturday (Sept. 26) for a road contest against the No. 7 nationally-ranked McMaster Marauders.
 
Kick-off is set for 1pm at Ron Joyce Stadium and the game can also be seen live online on OUA.tv.
 
The Lions head into the game riding a wave of momentum after last week's 23-14 victory over the Waterloo Warriors, the program's first win since 2013. In that contest, the Lions built an 18-0 lead at the half and rode rookie running back Jesse Amankwaa (Etobicoke, Ont.) to 131 yards and two touchdowns for the triumph.
 
Thanks to Amankwaa and a number of other key additions to the offence, the Lions are averaging nearly 100 yards per game more than they did last year, putting up 353.3 per game at the half way point of the season. The defence is also improved over last season, allowing four points less per contest. The unit is also one of the most aggressive in the OUA, ranking third in takeaways with 10 (eight interceptions, two fumble recoveries), with all eight picks coming in the last two weeks.
 
The leader of the defence has been Hussein Hazime (Toronto), who ranks third in the OUA with 30.5 tackles and also has 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one pass break-up.
 
The Marauders are one of three nationally-ranked teams the Lions have faced so far this season, as in previous weeks they took on the No. 3 Western Mustangs in Week 2 and the No. 5 Guelph Gryphons in Week 3.
 
McMaster enters their Homecoming game on the heels of a loss last week to the Gryphons in a game that was a battle of two nationally-ranked programs and a rematch of last year's Yates Cup championship. The Marauders, who have won three of the last four OUA titles and the Vanier Cup in 2011, could not top the Gryphons last Saturday, falling by a score of 33-23. Prior to that, the Marauders played a pair of high-scoring affairs to begin the season, defeating the Toronto Varsity Blues 55-33 and the Ottawa Gee-Gees 57-42.
 
Last year's contest between the two squads ended with a 49-2 McMaster win at York. The last time the two teams faced off at Ron Joyce Stadium was in 2013, when the Marauders were ranked No. 9 in the CIS and earned a 41-27 win over the Lions.
 
McMaster is getting it done thanks to a high-powered offence that is fifth in the OUA with 473 yards per game and tied for third with 45 points per game. Their passing game is where they have done the most damage, and starting quarterback Asher Hastings is the conference leader with 360.3 yards per game and 13 passing touchdowns. Most of those touchdowns have been thrown to receiver Danny Vandervoort, who leads the OUA with six scores and is seventh with 90 receiving yards per game.