X-Men come from behind in X-citing AUS semi-final win

No. 10 StFX 33, Acadia 30

After being down by scores of 17-3 at half-time and 30-16 in the fourth quarter, the CIS ranked No. 10 StFX X-Men scored consecutive 4th quarter touchdowns and Anthony Alix topped it off with a 10 yard field goal with 19 seconds left in the game for the 33-30 win in the AUS semi-final playoff game.

The X-Men showed a lot of character in the second half comeback after listless play in the opening half of the game. “We talk a lot about playing the entire 60 minutes in a game and not very often are you in a tight game where that comes into play and you have to come back from behind, but we really believed in it,” commented X-Men head coach Gary Waterman. 

“There were times it was looking pretty bleak, but this was a momentum game, we got on a bit of a roll and you could see our players’ spirits lift and once that happened we rolled with the momentum and were able to pull through with the win.”

The second place X-Men will advance to play the first place Saint Mary’s Huskies in next Saturday’s Loney Bowl for the AUS championship, slated for 1:00 pm at Husky Stadium in Halifax.  

The third place Acadia Axemen came out hungry for a win and pushed the X-Men throughout the game, right down to the final play. After a StFX safety early in the first quarter, the Axemen established an early 7-2 lead after a 19 yard Will Tanner touchdown reception from QB Keith Lockwood.

Axemen kicker Mike Godfrey added to the lead with a second quarter 33 yard field goal. Josh Pearsall caught a 27 yard pass late in the half to take a 17-3 Acadia lead heading into the half-time break.

Acadia played a strong first half, while the X-Men struggled on both sides of the ball.

On the Axemen’s first possession of the third quarter, X-Men defensive back Dylan Hollohan intercepted a Lockwood pass at the Acadia 48 yard line and ran it back for 40 yards. The play set up the X-Men’s first major score of the game, an 8 yard touchdown pass by StFX quarterback Steve Snyder to X-Men receiver Nic Guest.

A questionable third quarter call could have turned into a game changer for the X-Men. An intended pass for Axemen receiver Will Tanner in the end zone was whistled down, but the ball never actually touched the ground and was recovered by X-Men defensive back Kwasi Nkansah. However, no play was ruled due to the early whistle and the Axemen ended up with first down.

The favorable field position set up a 19 yard Godfrey field goal and a 20-9 Acadia lead. X-Men running back Sean Atkins would cut the lead to 20-16 with a 1 yard TD punch across the end zone.

Fourth quarter action began with an Acadia touchdown and field goal. Brett Haenni had a 27 yard touchdown run and Godfrey booted his third field goal of the game, this one from 13 yards out.

Down by a couple of majors with just under nine minutes left to play in the game, the StFX comeback was cued. Steve Snyder hit Akeem Foster with a 27 yard pass then helped his own cause on consecutive rushes before hitting Foster with a 5 yard touchdown pass.

Foster was Snyder’s favorite target in the game, with 8 total receptions for 129 yards.

On the X-Men’s next drive, Snyder again moved the ball successfully down field on 8 plays, including two first down passes to Foster. The drive ended with a 4 yard touchdown pass to Peter Giannikipoulos and with Alix’s point after attempt good, the game was deadlocked at 30-30 with under two minutes to play.  

After the X defense held strong against the Axemen, the X-Men were able to move the ball quickly down field and set up for a game-winning Anthony Alix 10 yard field goal.

X-Men quarterback Snyder was 20 for 34 in pass attempts for 203 yards, and he also led all rushers in the game with 106 yards on 11 carries. Lockwood was 13 for 29 for 198 total passing yards. The Axemen had 132 yards on the ground, with 70 of them coming from Haenni on 8 carries.

The X-Men’s top receiver Akeem Foster was named the Subway Player of the Game for his efforts.

With a 6-2 regular season record and now 1-0 playoff record, the X-Men will play the Saint Mary’s Huskies (7-1) for the third consecutive year for the honor of hoisting the Loney Bowl in the AUS championship on Saturday at 1:00 pm at Husky Stadium.