X-Men football fall 36-17 to Mounties

The X-Men football team drop to 1-2 on the AUS season after the Mount Allison Mounties delivered a 36-17 Homecoming victory at MacAulay Field in Sackville, NB on a wet and rainy Saturday afternoon.

The Mounties racked up 23 first-quarter points then used stingy defense and strong special teams to steer the victory home, their first of the season. Mount Allison and StFX currently sit in a second place tie in the AUS standings with identical 1-2 records.

Mount Allison opened the scoring five minutes in, forcing StFX to take a safety after being pinned deep in their own end. StFX responded quickly when Clay Masikewich connected with Jordan Catterall on a 44-yard touchdown play a minute and a half later. The Mounties responded with a 70-yard drive of their own, capped off with a four-yard touchdown run by Jordan Botel.

The Mount Allison defense then went to work on the X-Men’s next possession, forcing a fumble that was recovered by safety Kwame Adjei. Seven plays later rookie quarterback Brandon Leyh found Matt Rose in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown, making the score 16-7 for the Mounties. On the ensuing kickoff, Mounties' special teams chipped in, recovering an Ashton Dickson fumble on the StFX 36-yard line. Jordan Botel scored his second touchdown of the first quarter moments later when he scampered 27 yards for the end zone. This put the score at 23-7 Mounties at the end of the first quarter.

StFX pushed back in the second quarter, first with a Jeremy Ford field goal at 11:07 and then with a one-yard touchdown to Ashton Dickson at 5:58. With the score 23-17, the Mounties defense once again pinned StFX deep in their own end, causing them to take another team safety before the end of the half. As the teams hit the locker rooms for shelter from the rain, the Mounties led 25-17.

The Mount Allison defense took over in the second half, not allowing StFX to score a single point. The Mounties picked up a single point on a rouge three minutes in. Nick Lauder, who had 120 yards of total offense on the day, posted his first touchdown of the day with a 14-yard TD run at 6:41 of the third quarter. From there on out, it was the Mounties who were able to protect the ball, picking up a single at the end of the third quarter and a safety with six minutes to play in the fourth to close out the 36-17 win.

The Mounties were led offensively by rookie quarterback Brandon Leyh, earning his first CIS win as a starting quarterback. Leyh was 10-16 for 186 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Rookie running back Jordan Botel had his best game as a Mountie with 154 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Botel’s longest run was 32 yards and he averaged 4.8 per carry. First-year Mountie Nick Lauder had five catches for 120 yards.

For StFX, Masikewich was 20-33 for 295 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Ashton Dickson led the X-Men in rushing with 32 as StFX’s ground attack was only able to manage 52 net yards on the wet day. In the air, Catterall caught five balls for 120 yards, while Andrew Hickey was 4 for 37.

On the defensive side of the ball, Brendan Hamilton had 9.5 tackles for the X-Men, while Brett Hubbeard had eight.  Justin Richard once again led the Mounties defensively with nine tackles while Rich Deschamps had 7.5. Fifth-year Mountie Ryan Downe had 1.5 sacks, moving him even closer to the AUS record for career sacks.

With the Mounties (1-2) and X-Men (1-2) in a second place tie in the AUS standings, the Acadia Axemen (2-1) sit alone atop the division, after defeating Saint Mary’s (0-3) in Halifax 26-10 this afternoon.

Next up on the AUS schedule, the Mounties will hit the road for a Sept. 29th match-up against the Axemen, while the X-Men will host the Huskies in Homecoming action at StFX Oland Stadium. Kick-off is 2:00 pm on Saturday.