Antigonish, NS – The U SPORTS No. 8 ranked STFX X-Men are Loney Bowl bound after a 27-22 victory over the Acadia Axemen in Subway AUS semifinal playoff action on a wet but mild Saturday afternoon at STFX Stadium.
The X-Men needed late game heroics in order to pull off the victory as Acadia were leading for a significant portion of the game.
X-Men head coach Gary Waterman took a gamble on a third and six play with six minutes left in the game and was rewarded as quarterback Silas Fagnan (Bonnyville, AB) hit Zakariya Karim (Ottawa, ON) with a 46-yard pass and he scored his second touchdown of the afternoon.
Waterman noted, "It was one of those feel things, you normally don't want to go for it in that type of situation but the way the game was going and the time left on the clock, we had the ball and wanted to put it in the hands of the offense to make a play and they did."
The Axemen were pressing with just over a minute to play and opted for a gamble of their own on a QB hand-off to receiver Cherokee Robinson (Halifax, NS) who attempted a pass but X-Men defensive back Nick Clarke (Woodville, NS) picked it off.
The X-Men then played out the remainder of the quarter and earned the 27-22 victory after trailing 22-20 for the majority of the second half.
Subway Player of the Game Malcolm Bussey (Hammonds Plains, NS) had 32 rushes for 258 total yards for the X-Men, and quarterback Silas Fagnan (Bonnyville, AB) was 18-28 for 300 yards.
Waterman commented that "Just watching all those tough runs, there weren't easy, it was a dog fight. He earned every run and was really having to make cuts and explode out there. He really is a special player."
Acadia player of the game Cole Estabrooks (Moncton, NB) put up 206 rushing yards on 20 carries and quarterback Daniel Hashem (Hammonds Plains, NS) was 12-23 for 104 passing yards.
STFX scored on their opening drive of the game off a 36-yard field goal from Max Capriotti (Mount Hope, ON) to establish an early 3-0 lead four minutes into the game.
The upped their lead to 10-0 when Karim pulled in a 28-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone midway through the quarter.
The Axemen quickly answered on the next possession however, as Estabrooks broke a couple X tackles and swung out for an impressive 95-yard touchdown run down the sideline.
The visitors took a 14-10 lead with only 23 seconds left in the opening quarter as Hashem connected with Julien Poirier-McKiggan (Halifax, NS) for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
The Axemen picked up a single point on the ensuing kick-off to lead 15-10 after one.
First year Axemen receiver Cherokee Robinson (Halifax, NS) scored a major off a 42-yard run at 7:13 of the third quarter after the X-Men got into penalty trouble. The touchdown put Acadia in the lead 22-10.
STFX closed the gap to 22-17 with under two minutes to play in the opening half as the Malcolm Bussey train rolled through Axemen territory. After 10 consecutive rushes for 104 total yards, the final play of the drive resulted in a four-yard touchdown run.
Bussey ended up with 177 total rushing yards in the opening half. His counterpart on the Axemen Estabrooks had 144.
Capriotti booted a 42-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to pull the X-Men within two points, 22-20 at halftime.
The third quarter saw no scoring plays but the X-Men pressed late in the quarter as Isaac Fagnan (Bonnyville, AB) had a nice 59-yard pass and run play to bring the ball deep into Axemen territory. Ethan Phinney (Porters Lake, NS) then came up with a big pass deflection and interception for the Axemen to stave off the X attack as the 22-20 score held up for Acadia after three quarters of play.
The lone scoring in the fourth quarter came off Karim's game-winning touchdown. He had seven receptions in the game for 142 yards including the two TD's.
On the defensive side of the ball, Alex Fedchun (Calgary, AB) led the X-Men with five tackles on the day. Kameron Ball (Moncton, NB) had seven tackles for the Axemen defense who as a collective had five sacks in the game.
The fourth place Axemen wrap up the AUS season with an overall 1-6 record in regular season and playoff competition.
With the win the undefeated first place X-Men will now host the Subway AUS Loney Bowl championship game. Their opponent will be the Bishop's Gaiters who knocked off the second place Mount Allison Mounties 23-5 in the other AUS semifinal match played in Sackville, NB.
"Every game is difficult in the playoffs," says Coach Waterman. "We have some veterans and some young players too. Learning to win a playoff game, this was the first time for some of them so they had to figure out the highs and lows of the game and adjust."
He continued, "Bishop's is going to be extremely tough and we know how well coached they are so it's going to be a tough game for us. But we're happy to be able to play this game at home."
The Loney Bowl will be played at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 20th at STFX Stadium.
-30-
Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information
Congrats to X-Men running back Malcolm Bussey, Subway Player of the Game in STFX's 27-22 AUS semifinal playoff win over Acadia! Malcom was 32-258 rushing and scored a TD! #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/h1bXBmqzCY
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) November 13, 2021