[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Jesse-Lumsden-02.jpg” caption=”Jesse Lumsden, seen here stealing away from two Gryphons, earned player of the game honours at Saturday’s football match. Photo credit: Tommy Piribauer”]Not all blowouts are works of art, but the McMaster Marauders will take what's given to them. In front of a packed house at Les Prince Field for annual homecoming celebrations, the seventh-ranked Marauders took advantage of several takeaways to earn a 54-2 victory over the Guelph Gryphons.

In a game filled with players losing their footing on the slippery field, and dropped passes by receivers on both sides of the ball, Guelph's interceptions and fumbles proved to be their downfall.

Trailing 16-0 late in the second quarter, the Gryphons were driving on the Marauders and had the ball inside McMaster's 10-yard line. Guelph quarterback Kevin Adam then threw a costly interception right into the hands of McMaster defensive back Kesrick Wainwright. Two plays later, McMaster's running phenom Jesse Lumsden made Guelph pay
for the miscue by rumbling 93 yards for a score with less than a minute to go in the half.

“It was a stretch play where I just read where the hole is, and the
offensive line did a great job of opening it up for me. I kind of ran out of gas at the end of it though,” said Lumsden who was battling a viral infection all day but still managed to earn player of the game honours.

“That award was as much a reflection of the offensive line as me,” Lumsden said, and he made that fact clear by having his linemen come in for the award presentation picture.

Twenty seconds after the Lumsden touchdown, Wainwright intercepted Adam again, and McMaster did not hesitate in exploiting the turnover. Adam Archibald connected with Andre Cockett on a 32-yard
touchdown pass that turned a 16-0 lead only a minute earlier into a daunting 30-0 margin heading into the break. The Gryphons never recovered and the contest ended in a 52-point win for McMaster.

The game was a rejuvenation of sorts for the McMaster secondary, as the unit took a lot of criticism after the loss last week.

“After the Laurier game we were upset, and unfortunately, Guelph had to be here to get the bad end of the two games,” Wainwright said.

New starting safety Matt Green, who returned an interception
for a touchdown in the third quarter, said that the defensive backs just had to regain some confidence.

“The secondary has been taking some heat lately, so we decided to come out with more intensity, and a bit of a swagger,” Green said. “We were trying to be around the ball as much as possible.”

McMaster coach Marcello Campanaro also noticed a difference in his back line. “They were a lot more aggressive, and they had fun out there. We don't want guys who are out of control but coming out with a little extra intensity is great.”

Lumsden also had a small rejuvenation after a relative hiccup last week, when he only gained 112 yards against Laurier. The Hec Creighton favourite ended up with 272 yards rushing on 17 carries for a 16.0 average on the strength of two touchdown runs of 93 and 69 yards. Lumsden now has 39 career touchdowns, only two behind the CIS record set by Waterloo's Mike Bradley in 2001.

Lumsden now has 1,188 yards rushing on the year for an 11.65 per carry average, and 13 touchdowns. He needs 425 yards in the remaining three games to break Montreal Alouettes running back Eric Lapointe's CIS record of 1,612 yards set in 1996 with Mt. Allison. He also needs seven touchdowns to tie his and former teammate Kojo Aidoo's record for touchdowns in a season.

Wainwright led McMaster with 5.5 tackles and ended with two interceptions, and a fumble recovery. Jesse Card also had five tackles for the Marauders.

McMaster, now tied for second place in the OUA with #8 Ottawa after the Gee Gees lost to Western 47-27 this weekend, head to Toronto next week to tackle the York Lions (2-3), who lost to Queen's this weekend 17-16. The game will be a showdown of the top two rushers in the nation, Lumsden and York's Andre Durie.