Football | 9/11/2026 2:30:00 PM
The York University Lions football team will look to bounce back after dropping their first game of the season last weekend as they will take on the 2-0 McMaster Marauders on Alumni Day at York Lions Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions were riding high after a last second 35-34 victory against Carleton to open the season, their second straight opening game win in the last two years. The Lions would then ship on down to London to face a Western team coming off a Week 1 bye in their first game with their new Head Coach Michael Faulds at the helm. York held Western to three on the opening drive and moved the ball effectively until an interception gave the ball back to Western. The Lions showed some flashes offensively, scoring on the opening drive of the third quarter on a Maurice Sodja-to-Jayden Shallow connection, but fell to the Mustangs to even their record at 1-1.
McMaster has started the season off hot, as their first game of the year was against the No. 9 nationally ranked Windsor Lancers. The Marauders would fight hard to come back from an early 17-3 first quarter deficit, and pull off the upset over the Lancers with a 31-26 victory. The Marauders then found themselves in a battle against the Guelph Gryphons. McMaster took a 10-7 lead into halftime, but would lose their lead in the third and found themselves down 11-10 with 3:13 left in the quarter. McMaster would answer at the end of the quarter to make it a 16-11 lead. The Marauders would add a rouge and a field goal in the fourth on their way to a 20-11 win and a 2-0 start to the season.
These two teams have not played since the season opener last year, a game in which the Lions won 31-24. York will look to build off that and take down the Marauders for a second straight year and get back above .500 with a 2-1 record, while the Marauders will try to keep the early-season win streak going and improve to 3-0 while avenging last year's defeat.
The game is set to kick-off at York Lions Stadium on Saturday September 12th at 1:00 PM EST. Tickets are available at yorkulions.ca/tickets and the game will also be available for streaming on OUA TV.
