The Acadia Axemen secured themselves a berth in AUS post-season play with a convincing 34-0 shutout victory over the StFX X-Men in Antigonish, NS on Saturday afternoon.
The Axemen, who improve to 4-3 on the season, capitalized on ten X-Men turnovers in the game en route to the win as the X-Men fall to 1-6, out of playoff contention. The StFX offense continued to struggle as the X-Men lost their third consecutive lopsided game.
Acadia established a 10-0 lead after the first quarter of play after a Matt Archibald field goal and a Cameron Wade touchdown. After a blocked X-Men punt, Wade pounced on the ball in the end zone for the major score.
Acadia recovered three X-Men fumbles in the 1st half as special teams were the difference in the opening 30 minutes of play. Mike Rostance built the Axemen lead to 13-0 at half-time with a 33 yard field goal.
The Axemen put the game away in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns. The first came on a Graeme Richardson 57 yard interception return as he picked off a Jeremy Mraovic pass and ran it down the sidelines. Mraovic came in for the injured X-Men starting quarterback Cory Wensley. Both the X-Men and Axemen each used three pivots throughout the afternoon.
Acadia’s third TD of the game was scored by Zack Clarke who had a 32 yard rush and scored his first career touchdown to give the Axemen a 27-0 lead after three quarters of play.
The Axemen wrapped up the scoring in the game with an early fourth quarter 18 yard touchdown run by quarterback Kyle Graves. Graves helped his own cause with 8 carries for 47 yards, and was also 8 for 16 in the air with 80 passing yards on the afternoon.
Player of the Game Zack Skibin led the Acadia ground attack with 8 carries for 72 yards and also had 5 receptions for 55 yards. Zack Clarke had 9 carries for 64 total yards. The X-Men’s top rusher was Jahmari Bennett (11 carries for 50 yards).
With the three AUS playoff teams determined, the Axemen will battle it out next week against the Saint Mary’s Huskies to determine final playoff standings. StFX will face the Mount Allison Mounties in their final game of the regular season.