The York University Lions football team will be the visitors at McMaster University's annual Homecoming game this weekend when the squad heads down the QEW to Hamilton, Ont., to face the No. 9 Marauders on Saturday afternoon.
 
Kick-off is set for 1pm at Ron Joyce Stadium and the game can also be seen live online on OUA.tv.
 
The game will pit York's strong offence against a tremendous McMaster defensive unit. The Lions rank sixth in the OUA with 352.3 yards gained per game, while the Marauders are allowing only 315.3 yards per game, the second-best mark in the conference.
 
The Lions are coming off a thrilling win over their city rivals in the Toronto Varsity Blues, whom they defeated 41-16 on home turf last weekend in the 48^th annual Red & Blue Bowl. They also had a strong showing against the nationally-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees in their previous outing, leading in the fourth quarter before going down by a score of 26-17.
 
The Lions will need to continue that strong play if they want to upset the No. 9 Marauders, who enter Saturday's contest with a 3-1 record that has them fifth in the OUA standings. They lost to Western at home in their second game of the season and have otherwise won three low-scoring affairs, taking down Carleton 23-9, Ottawa 24-7 and Guelph 29-9.
 
York has the advantage under centre with third-year quarterback Brett Hunchak, who is coming off his best game of the season and ranks fifth in the OUA with 231.3 passing yards per game. He threw three touchdown passes last week and now has five on the season, and after a slow start to the campaign he has completed more than 64 per cent of his passes over the last two games.
 
His favourite target is fifth-year receiver Adam Adeboboye, who ranks in the top 10 in every major statistical category for his position. After missing the game against Ottawa with an injury, he returned against Toronto to catch 14 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns for his best numbers of the season.
 
From McMaster's defence, the Lions will need to keep an eye on Mark Mackie, a defensive end who ranks third in the OUA with five sacks in four games. Free safety Robbie Yochim is also dangerous and has accumulated 21 tackles to go along with one sack, two interceptions – including one returned for a touchdown – and four pass break-ups.
 
After Saturday's game the Lions will return home next week for their regular-season finale against the reigning OUA champion Laurier Golden Hawks on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7pm at Alumni Field.