The Windsor Lancer football team were back in action on Saturday night for the first time since last fall to kick off the 2023 season on the road against the McMaster Marauders at the Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario.
 
The blue and gold were successful in their first outing of the season claiming victory in Marauder territory with an impressive 21-17 resilient win over the hosts at McMaster.
 
Danny Skelton led the way for the blue and gold recording two touchdowns including the first Lancer touchdown of the 2023 campaign. 
 
GAME FLOW
In the first quarter, both teams had the opportunity to shake off the cobwebs with both teams trading opportunities to score at different points in the quarter. 
 
Although despite solid efforts put forth from both squads, neither team could get the ball into the end zone to finish the first quarter scoreless heading into the second quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the Marauders broke open the goose egg on the scoreboard early when Michael Horvat scored a 20-yard field goal with a kick through the posts to go up 3-0 on the Lancers. 
 
Later in the frame with 6:29 left to go in the first half, the Marauders were able to double their lead on a kick to go up 6-0 from Horvat once again who managed to score this time around on a 33 yard field goal to put on a show in front of their home crowd and put added pressure on the blue and gold before heading into the locker rooms for half time.
 
However, the Lancers responded to the mounting pressure as they were able to embrace the opportunity to respond with Skelton's 10-yard run touchdown with 22.6 seconds left in the first half to tie things up at 6-6. 
 
A successful immediate follow up kick from James Parker allowed the Lancers to maintain the momentum swing boost and steal the lead away from the Marauders heading into the halftime intermission up 7-6. 
 
In the third quarter, Horvat continued to haunt the Lancer defense by scoring his third field goal of the game on a 22-yard kick to restore the McMaster lead and go up 9-7 on the Lancers. 
 
But the Lancers would not go out of the third quietly as they managed to find a way to respond late in the frame once again for a second straight quarter when Shane Johnson's 16-yard pass from Skelton turned into a thing of beauty and gave the Lancers the lead back.  Brady Lister would put away a good kick to increase the Lancer lead to 14-9 heading into the fourth quarter up by five.
 
In the fourth quarter, Colby Ginn completed a 14-yard pass from Skelton at 5:52 to extend the Lancer lead to 21-9 following another successful kick from Lidster to ice the play and give the Lancers a twelve-point cushion. 
 
The Marauders would not shy away from responding however as Jacob Patten managed to score for the black and burgundy completing a 19-yard pass from Keagan Hall with 2:40 left to go in the fourth to reduce the Windsor lead to 21-15.  Moments later Jacob Mason completed the 2-yard pass to further trim the Lancer lead down to 21-17 and a slim four-point lead.
 
The Lancers were able to battle hard to preserve their four-point lead down the stretch as the clock winded down to be able to come away with the hard-fought comeback victory in the Steeltown. 
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers are back in action on Sunday, September 3rd when they host the Guelph Gryphons under the lights at Alumni Stadium for their 2023 season home opener.  Game time is scheduled for 7:00pm and tickets can be purchased either at the gate on gameday or in advance at goLancers.ca/tickets.