Into the snake pit

Big stakes tonight for X-Men, Huskies
By Monty Mosher, The Chronicle Herald

IT’S THE BIGGEST game of the regular season in AUS football at a place that has been nothing more than a snake pit for the St. Francis Xavier X-Men for the past decade.

Gary Waterman’s X-Men visit Steve Sumarah’s Saint Mary’s Huskies at Huskies Stadium tonight in a clash of 5-1 teams.

Barring a slip on the last weekend of the season, which sees the Acadia Axemen at Saint Mary’s and Mount Allison Mounties at St. F.X., tonight’s winner should claim a first-round playoff bye and host the Loney Bowl on Nov. 14. Since the current three-team playoff format started in 2002, the team with the week off and home-field advantage has won every conference title.

"We know the importance of this game and so do they," said Sumarah.

The X-Men have lost 16 straight in Halifax, none more painful than the last two title games.

St. F.X. missed a late field goal that would have forced overtime last year. Saint Mary’s rallied in the fourth quarter to win in 2007.

Waterman said the X-Men need a breakthrough in Halifax.

"It’s a whole new ball game going down there and playing them in their park," he said. "They’ve got a lot of confidence there."

Acadia, 1-5, goes to Mount Allison, 0-6, on Saturday with the Mounties clinging to thin hopes for third.

The X-Men were 5-0, including a 29-24 win to open the season over the Huskies at Oland Stadium, until stumbling to a 33-12 loss to Bishop’s at home last week. The Huskies used the opening-game loss to deflate a few egos and haven’t lost since, beating McGill 39-23 last week in Montreal for a fifth straight win.

"That game kind of opened our eyes a little bit," Huskies quarterback Jack Creighton said of the September loss.

"We’ll be ready to fight on Friday."

The Huskies were prone to turnovers in the first meeting between the two teams, and took some bad penalties, and still held the lead late in the fourth quarter, when X-Men kicker Anthony Alix ran 41 yards on a fake punt to set up the deciding major.

Waterman believes the playoff bye gives a team a genuine advantage more than a perceived one. "It doesn’t guarantee you are going to win the AUS, but history is history," he said.

Sumarah agrees: "I think this game is as big as a playoff game."

SMU kicker Justin Palardy needs 11 points to pass St. F.X. running back Paul Brule for top spot on the league’s all-time scoring list. Brule had 306 points from 1964-67.

The X-Men will make a game-time decision on defensive end Dave Skillen and wide receiver Akeem Foster. Both suffered leg injuries last week.

Huskies all-Canadian defensive tackle Dan Schutte will be out at least one more week after arthroscopic knee surgery.

Running back Tristan Jones injured his knee last week, but will dress.

Creighton will look to be sharper than in the first meeting. He had four interceptions in Week 1.

"I want to sit in the pocket a little more and be a little more patient," he said.

Axemen (1-5) at Mounties (0-6) — The math is simple for Jeff Cummins and his reeling Axemen — just win.

Acadia has lost five in a row, their last victory a 58-10 blowout of the Mounties on opening day in Wolfville.

An Acadia win slams the door on the Mounties and puts the Axemen on the road for the semifinal on Nov. 7.

Realistically, the Mounties have to win twice and have the Axemen lose their last two to steal the playoff spot.

Neither has a shred of momentum after the Axemen turned in a stinker in a 39-5 Homecoming loss to Concordia and the Mounties got slammed 73-7 at Laval.

Cummins unloaded on his team last week, admitting his frustrations boiled over after 13 turnovers in three games.

But he knows his team still has a chance to salvage the season.

"As bad as we’ve played, we’ve got a chance to be a playoff team," said Cummins. "This is a playoff game for us."

Mount A head coach Kelly Jeffrey said his team is happy to be in a playoff race regardless of tough odds. His team is coming off consecutive games against the Huskies followed by the Laval trip.

"We wanted to get through the last two or three weeks and still keep our heads up and realize we’ve got something to play for," he said.

Mount A receiver/returner Gary Ross will start the day in sight of several AUS records, including career receptions, receiving yards and kickoff return yards.