Axemen set sights on semifinal upset

Underdog Acadia confident it has shot to knock off 10th-ranked St. F.X.
By Monty Mosher, The Chronicle Herald

Ever since St. Francis Xavier X-Men kicker Kyle Chisholm’s field-goal bid sailed wide last year in the Loney Bowl, AUS football fans have anticipated the third in a stirring trio of championship games between the X-Men and the two-time defending champion Saint Mary’s Huskies.

But the Acadia Axemen, back in the post-season after a year away, will have their say before that can happen.

The Axemen travel to St. F.X. today for the AUS semifinal at 1 p.m. with thin hopes of knocking off the CIS 10th-ranked X-Men, given St. F.X.’s 60-7 win on home-field over the Valley school on Oct. 3. St. F.X. finished second in the league at 6-2 and the Axemen, 2-6, with their only wins over winless Mount Allison.

The sixth-ranked Huskies, idle this weekend, await the winner for the Nov. 14 Loney Bowl at Huskies Stadium. The team with the bye has never lost.

There are reasons to believe the Axemen, losers of seven straight in the series since 2006, have a shot today. They played St. F.X. much tighter in their second meeting, a 21-10 loss in Wolfville.

"I can’t wait for another shot at X," said Axemen quarterback Kyle Graves, part of a two-quarterback rotation along with Keith Lockwood employed by Acadia. "We definitely have something to prove."

Both teams have been bitten by the flu bug with players on each team asked to stay away from practice at various points during the week. Neither St. F.X. head coach Gary Waterman nor Acadia head coach Jeff Cummins could forecast what impact it might have on the game-day rosters.

St. F.X. won its season finale 31-18 over Mount Allison, but lost its previous two to Saint Mary’s and Bishop’s after a 5-0 start.

Waterman said overconfidence won’t be an issue, even with another crack at Saint Mary’s so tantalizingly close.

"The quickest thing we can always point to is our two losses prior to our last game," he said. "If you look at our last three games we’re 1-2.

"The second game (against Acadia) was a lot closer. They had a lot of mistakes that first game, so I expect this to be another close game."

Acadia self-destructed in the 60-7 game, allowing six turnovers. The X-Men won the third quarter 35-0.

In the second meeting, it was scoreless five minutes into the second quarter until the Axemen threw an interception that led to a long return for a touchdown.

"Turnovers are going to be the key," said Cummins. "That’s a good football team we’re going to play and giving them the football just doesn’t allow for a whole lot of room for error."

The game will likely be decided through the air. Both teams like to pass, but the X-Men did a better job at it in the regular season than the Axemen did.

Quarterback Steve Snyder and a five-deep posse of X-Men receivers led by Akeem Foster led the AUS in passing with 301 yards per game and 11 majors. Acadia had the second most pass attempts, but ranked last in passing yards per game at 204.

The Axemen also have had a horrible year protecting the quarterback, allowing a conference-worst 26 sacks, double the number allowed by the X-Men.

The X-Men continue to be nicked up on the defensive line with Dave Skillen and Nate Annan out. Yahia Dalloul is questionable after a shot to the head in the Oct. 23 at Saint Mary’s.

The final two in each conference will be determined this weekend with McMaster at Queen’s and Western and Wilfrid Laurier in the OUA, Bishop’s at Montreal and Concordia at Laval in Quebec and Regina at Saskatchewan and Alberta at Blake Nill’s (and Erik Glavic’s) Calgary Dinos in Canada West. Saint Mary’s is the only playoff team with a bye this week.

Regina is in the post-season after Manitoba had to forfeit two games this week due to use of an ineligible player.

Notes — The Huskies won’t know until at least Monday if they’ll have running back Devon Jones back for the Loney Bowl. That’s when the appeal of his three-game suspension for a hit on Dalloul will be heard. Jones has already served one game . . . Glavic is Calgary’s nominee for the Hec Crighton Trophy. If he wins he would be the first to do it at two schools after he won at Saint Mary’s in 2007.