The York University Lions football team suffered a 52-8 defeat at the hands of the Waterloo Warriors at Warrior Field on Monday.
 
The Lions controlled play for much of the first quarter but could not capitalize on their early chances and put up only six points, on a 31-yard field goal by rookie kicker Dante Mastrogiuseppe, who also scored a rouge on a kick-off through the end zone, and a Waterloo-conceded safety.
 
Still leading by six points late in the frame, the Lions looked to be getting the ball back on a punt but they were called for roughing the kicker and Waterloo maintained possession. A roughing the passer call four plays later extended the drive again, and the Warriors made the Lions pay three plays into the second quarter on a rushing touchdown by rookie phenom Tre Ford to take a 7-6 lead.
 
The series of events seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Lions, as Waterloo started to roll from that point on. They put up another 15 points in the quarter to take a 22-6 lead at the break and then dominated the second half to win handily.
 
"We are a good football team but we aren't good enough to recover from something like that," head coach Warren Craney said of the change of momentum in the first half. "Credit to Waterloo, they capitalized on our mistakes."
 
A bright spot for the Lions on offence was fifth-year receiver Adam Adeboboye, who finished the game with nine catches for 173 yards. York quarterback Brett Hunchak was 14-of-28 for 233 yards with two interceptions.
 
Also strong on the afternoon was second-year defensive end Rossini Sandjong-Djabome, who had a monster game to finish with eight tackles and two sacks. In total, he had five tackles for loss for a total of 27 yards and also had a fumble recovery early in the first quarter.
 
Ford was the game's leading rusher with 152 yards on 11 carries and a pair of touchdowns. He also went 4-for-5 for 50 yards from under centre and threw for another touchdown.
 
The surprising Warriors are now 2-0 on the season while the Lions dropped to 0-2. Next up is a home game against the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Alumni Field on Saturday beginning at 1pm.