Halifax, NS – The StFX X-Men denied the Saint Mary's Huskies a win on their new field turf, defeating the home team 31-7 in an evening game Friday night. The victory marked the first one at Huskies Stadium for the X-Men in 16 years.
With three blocked punts and two interceptions, Saint Mary's had some costly mistakes that opened the door for the X-Men.
In the first half, neither offense could get things going in the early beginning as the teams traded punts. A Saint Mary's mistake on special teams opened the door for StFX when Chase Kodejs' punt was blocked by X-Men linebacker Aaron Brownlee and recovered and returned to the Saint Mary's eight yard line by Demetrius Ferguson. X-Men quarterback Tivon Cook then completed the touchdown pass to wide receiver Donald Tabor for a 7-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.
A safety early in the second quarter followed up by a 77-yard touchdown drive by the StFX offense gave the visitors an early 16-0 lead. X-Men receiver Randy Roseway hauled in a 40 yard pass by Cook which brought the X-Men to the SMU ten yard line. A Huskies penalty then led to a one yard touchdown rush by Ashton Dickson for the X-Men's second major of the night.
The Huskies responded by going 51 yards of their own including a 30 yard catch by Jaegar Prot and 17 yards by Matthew Magee. Saint Mary's was unable to close the deficit however as Kodejs followed up with a 39 yard missed field goal attempt.
Before the half closed out, Huskies running back Melvin Abankwah's 38 yard rush led to a Koedjs 32 yard field goal to get the Huskies on the board. The X-Men followed by Jeremy Ford kicking a 34 yard field goal of their own and a rouge at the end of the quarter to establish a 19-4 lead going into the half.
The X-Men continued their strong play in the second half. After sacking Huskies quarterback Ben Rossong at the SMU 16 yard line, the X-Men recorded another blocked punt as Jesse Stevens recovered the ball in the end zone for the touchdown, increasing the X lead to 26-4.
The Huskies scored their only points of the second half with five minutes to play in the third quarter as Kodejs kicked a 32-yard field goal.
The X-Men increased their lead with a safety to close out the third quarter and a fourth quarter a 32 yard field goal by Ford, who ended up with nine points on the evening.
X-Men quarterback Tivin Cook finished the game 8 for 12 with 91 passing yards. His top targets were Randy Roseway (3-51) and Donald Tabor (2-22) as StFX were without the services of AUS all-star receiver Jordan Catterall.
Ashton Dickson led the StFX ground attack with 23 carries for 161 yards. He also had two receptions for 13 yards. Melvin Abankwah led the Huskies with 101 yards on 16 carries. SMU pivot Ben Rossong was 11 for 19 with 149 yards.
The Huskies will be look to regroup next week as they travel to Wolfville, NS to take on the Acadia Axemen on Saturday, Sept. 13th. The X-Men will host the Mount Allison Mounties on Saturday, kickoff for both AUS games is at 2:00 pm.
With contributions from Saint Mary's Sports Information