The Saint Mary’s Huskies ran their way to a 49-3 romp of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in front of nearly 1400 fans Saturday afternoon at Huskies Stadium in Halifax.
Billed as a ‘do or die’ game as both teams could advance to the AUS semifinal with a victory, the Huskies scored 46 unanswered points following the first quarter. The win earns Saint Mary’s the right to host the Mount Allison Mounties next Saturday in the playoff game, while the X-Men’s disappointing season comes to a close.
Jean Legault was the surprise starter at quarterback for Saint Mary’s and completed 8 of 15 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Placekicker Brett Lauther was successful on four of five field goal attempts from 12, 34, 39, and 21 yards respectively.
The teams exchanged field goals early in the first quarter, then it was all Saint Mary’s after that. Kevin Wuthrich caught an 11 yard Legault pass at the end of the 1st quarter, then Michael Dawes had a short two yard TD run seven minutes into the second quarter to give the Huskies a 17-3 advantage.
Wuthrich scored his second major of game a minute later as he hauled in a 44 yard pass. Rob Jubenville tacked X-Men running back Ashston Dickson in the end zone for a safety, then Lauthier kicked three consecutive field goals to round out a 25 point second quarter for the Huskies.
Both teams were held off the score sheet in the third quarter, then Saint Mary’s closed out the game with a Melvin Abankwah six yard touchdown run and a Dave Sabourin one yard major.
Subway player of the game Abankwah led the way with 206 yards rushing on 18 carries, along with 89 yards on 7 punt returns. Mike Dawes created a one-two punch for Saint Mary’s on the ground with 19 carries for 123 yards as the Huskies out-rushed the X-Men 473-87.
Neil King had eight solo tackles and Jonathon Langa added six to lead the Huskies defensively. Hayden Peters has ten tackles for the X-Men and Brett Hubbeard registered nine in a losing cause.
Randy Roseway caught five passes for 63 yards and Ashton Dickson garnered 63 yards on 22 carries to lead the X-Men on offense.
By virtue of the Mounties 45-24 loss to Acadia today, the Huskies and Mounties both finish at 3-5 in the AUS standings. The Huskies claim second place based on the better point differential between the two teams and will host the AUS semifinal game on November 3rd.
The first place Acadia Axemen (7-1) await the semifinal winner for the AUS Loney Bowl championship game on November 10th, while the X-Men fall to 2-6 in fourth place out of playoff contention.