Antigonish, NS – The Saint Mary's Huskies improved to 3-1 on the season with a 21-13 win over the StFX X-Men (1-3) Saturday afternoon at StFX Stadium in front of over 1100 fans.
Huskies running back Tyrique Dixon-Bowden (Halifax, NS) rushed for 144 yards on 26 carries and quarterback Josh Shim (Lawrenceville, GA) was 13-28 with 204 passing yards in the win.
It was the X-Men who opened the scoring in the game on a 14 yard field goal from Keiran Burnham (Cambridge, ON). The play was set up on a key interception from X-Men defensive lineman Alex Fedchun (Calgary, AB).
The Huskies replied quickly with a touchdown, as Shim rushed for a one yard scamper across the line on third and goal. He made a nice earlier 40 yard pass to Shedler Fervius (Scarborough, ON) to put the Huskies at first and goal. They added a single point on the ensuing field goal to take an 8-3 advantage which held until the end of the first quarter.
Saint Mary's added to their lead with a 29 yard field goal from Brian Hope (Port Coquitlan, BC) to start off the second quarter.
X-Men quarterback Bailey Wasdal (Calgary, AB) took control of the X-Men offense in the second quarter and had a few key scampers of his own to secure X-Men first downs. He found freshman receiver Zacchary Kuhn (Penetanguishene, ON) for a seven yard touchdown catch with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter to pull the score to within at point at 11-10.
Following halftime the Huskies increased their lead to 15-10 after a 46 yard field goal from Hope and another rouge. He booted another field goal at the end of the third quarter, this time from 43 yards out, and the Huskies led 18-10.
The X-Men cut into the lead with an 18 yard field goal from Keiran Burnham at 10:51 of the fourth quarter as they were down 18-13.
With under two minutes to play, the Huskies had a key turnover. As Wasdal was looking for an open receiver, his pass was deflected and then Justin Julien (Montreal, QC) picked up the interception.
The teams exchanged possessions and the X-Men were unable to mount an offensive attack.
Hope kicked a 16 yard field goal with only one second left in the game to close out the 21-13 Saint Mary's victory.
The Huskies had more yards in the air - 204 to StFX's 79, though the X-Men had 163 rushing yards to the Huskies 150.
StFX player of the game Wasdal was the X-Men's top rusher with 96 yards on 11 yards. Kuhn was 12 for 57 yards. In the air Wasdal was 13-26 with Isaac Fagnan (Bonnyville, AB) as his top target with five catches for 29 yards.
For the Huskies, Liam O'Brien (Parksville, BC) was their top receiver with four catches for 86 yards. Dixon-Bowden received Subway player of the game honours for his strong running game.
On the defensive side of the ball Jarek Richards (Chateauguay, QC) had five tackles for SMU and for the X-Men, Cole Virtanen (Nanaimo, BC) led the team with eight tackles.
The X-Men will be back in action on Saturday, September 28th when they travel to Sackville, NB to take on the Mount Allison Mounties. The Huskies head into a bye weekend and play next on October 4th at home against Mount A.
-30-
Courtesy StFX Sports Information