In the final regular season home tilt at Warrior Field for 2026, the Warriors fell to the OUA's #3-seed McMaster Marauders by a 20-12 final score this afternoon on Senior Day in Waterloo.
Before kickoff, the Department of Athletics & Recreation honoured the 11 graduating seniors who would take to Warrior Field for one final dance.
Defensive linemen Josiah Ramadan-St Denis (London, ONT/Mother Theresa Secondary School), Michael Matias (Mount Brydges/Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School), Divine Ugoh (Brampton, ONT/St. Edmund Campion), Cameron Krug (London, ONT/Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School), and Dominique Walker (Oshawa, ON/), linebacker Delroy Njonguo (Shelburne/Robert F Hall), offensive linemen Andrew Cooper (Baden, ONT/Huron Heights) and Thomas Levings (Abbotsford/Abbotsford Senior Secondary School), wide receivers Yinka Ogunnote (Guelph, ONT/Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute) and Tyler Tierney (London, ONT/Sir Frederick Banting SS), and quarterback Nick Orr (Caledon/Mayfield Secondary School) all took the walk hand in hand with their family members.
A heartfelt start to a day where these senior athletes soaked in the sun and the embrace from the Warriors faithful.
After conceding a touchdown on their opponents' second play from scrimmage, Waterloo looked poised to claw back and give yet another provincial powerhouse a headache.
Two weeks removed from perhaps the result that will highlight his Warriors legacy, Orr took charge from the one-yard line and broke the plane. On his day, his final bow to the crowd that has backed him for the last five years, number four had the game all tied at seven after Evan Astolfo's (Burlington, ONT/Corpus Christi) 18th extra point conversion of the season.
After Orr's touchdown gave the crowd life, the Marauders took a stranglehold of the game off a strong pass rush, and punt return effort. The visitors broke the offensive line to sack Orr on six occasions throughout the afternoon, and accumulated 70 yards off punt returns alone.
Sparks still flew for the home side in recovering the football. Both Israel Mompatibi (Ottawa, ONT/Colonel By Secondary School) and Michael Omoseni (Burlington, ONT/Assumption Catholic Secondary) picked up interceptions in this game, Mompatibi's in the second quarter being the first of his OUA career.
Ultimately, McMaster were able to hold onto the football and manage the clock with intelligence, despite finishing with more penalty yards and interceptions thrown than the home side.
As both Orr and Tierney mentioned post-game, they are hungry for more action, and to grind for the Warriors' playoff hopes.
"The mentality we've taken all year is just one game at a time," Orr said. "York are on our minds now."
"Three years ago, we had a young squad. A lot of those guys are still here. We're gonna come into this scenario and swing a little harder," he added.
"We're excited for the opportunity," says Tierney. "We can't jump ahead of ourselves; our focus is York and to just keep going."
Astutely put, from two of Waterloo's veteran minds. One final showdown next week at York, for all the playoff marbles.
From all of Athletics & Recreation, we thank you all for your devoted and passionate support through another home season on the gridiron.
The Warriors will take to the field for the eighth and final time this season, next Saturday, October 24, at York Lions Stadium. You can catch all the coverage – with kickoff set for 1:00 PM – on OUA.TV, and with score updates after each quarter on the Warriors Instagram page (@wloowarriors).
