Antigonish, NS – The Saint Mary's Huskies put a damper on StFX Homecoming weekend with a come-from-behind 22-21 victory over the X-Men Saturday afternoon at Oland Stadium.
Huskies quarterback Kaleb Scott (Mount Albert, ON) connected with Lerone Robinson (Vancouver, BC) for a 50 yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left in the game to give them the one-point edge. It marked the second consecutive week that the Huskies pulled out a single point victory with under a minute to play in the game, having defeated Mount Allison last week 27-26.
The Subway player of the game, Scott was 22 for 23 on the day with 288 passing yards.
The visiting Huskies drew first blood with a one yard touchdown run from Liam O'Brien (Parksville, BC) early in the first quarter. The major came on Saint Mary's first series of the game, with the drive set up after DeAndre Smith (Dunn, NC) picked off a John Millar (Ottawa, ON) pass for a Huskies interception. Brian Hope (Port Coquitlan, BC) missed on the point after attempt as the Huskies held an early 6-0 lead.
The X-Men replied with a short touchdown of their own as AUS leading rusher Jordan Socholotiuk (Fort McMurray, AB) punched in a one yard run at 4:22 of the opening quarter.
Saint Mary's conceded a safety late in the quarter to give StFX a 9-6 advantage after 15 minutes of play.
The second quarter brought no scoring for either side. With the Huskies pressing deep in the StFX zone at 1st and goal with just over a minute to play, X-Men defensive back Nathaniel Fermin (Pickering, ON) picked off a Kaleb Scott pass in the end zone to stop the attack.
The score remained 9-6 in favor of StFX at halftime.
The X-Men increased their lead to 15-6 as Kaion Julien-Grant (Toronto, ON) pulled in a 16-yard Miller pass in double coverage in the end zone. The point-after kick was missed by Jonathan Heidebrecht (Camrose, AB). He made up for it by booting a 35 yard field goal four minutes later to give the X-Men an 18-6 advantage. The same score held at the end of the third quarter.
The Huskies closed the gap four minutes into the fourth quarter when Hope kicked a 21 yard field goal to pull them to within nine points.
Quarterback Scott helped his own cause by running in a 10 yard touchdown with four minutes left in the final quarter as the Huskies closed the gap to 18-16.
Heidebrecht kicked a 20 yard field goal for the X-Men after long 50 yard run by Socholotiuk down the sideline as the X-Men took a 21-16.
Cue the Huskies comeback.
With 1:42 left on the clock, the Huskies QB Scott worked his squad down the field completing three first downs, ultimately hitting Robinson with the game-winning touchdown pass.
The two-point conversion attempt was stopped and on the ensuing drive the X-Men were unable to pull out a 'Hail Mary' play of their own.
Scott's favorite target on the afternoon was Archelaus Jack (Toronto, ON) who had 9 receptions for 85 yards. Running back Johnny King (Greensboro, NC) led all Huskies rushers with 105 yards on 18 carries, and also had 127 returning yards on special teams.
For the X-Men, player of the game Socholotiuk tore up 213 yards on 32 carries. Last week's U SPORTS special team player of the week Kaion Julien-Grant had 160 all-purpose yards in the game.
With the win the Huskies remain undefeated on the season with a 5-0 record atop the AUS conference. They head into a bye weekend and will next play on October 14th when they host Bishop's (1-3).
The third place X-Men (2-3) will re-group for their next game as they travel to Sackville, NB on Saturday, October 7th to face the fourth place Mount Allison Mounties (1-4).
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