X-Men drop road decision to Mounties

The StFX X-Men (3-3) dropped a 41-13 road decision to the Mount Allison Mounties (2-4) in AUS football action Saturday afternoon in Sackville, N.B.

The home team led 24-0 at halftime.

In the first quarter, Jordan Botel (20-131) opened the scoring for Mount Allison on a one-yard touchdown run, capping a 10-play, 75-yard drive.

At 6:51 of the opening stanza, the Mounties increased their lead to 10-0 on a 14-yard field goal by Kyle McLean.

On his second TD run of the day, from six yards, Botel increased the Mounties' lead to 17-0.
The Mounties wrapped up the first-half scoring on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Leyh (20-35-292) to Josh Blanchard.

Early in the third quarter, wide receiver Devon Bailey (3-34) scored the first points for the visiting X-Men, catching an 18-yard TD pass from Tivon Cook (13-26-115).

With the Jeremy Ford conversion, the blue and white trailed the Mounties 24-7.

Less than two minutes later, at 9:33, Rodreke Joseph (5-64) corralled a 15-yard touchdown pass from Leyh, extending the Mounties' lead to 31-7.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, McLean booted his second field goal (20 yards) to give Mount Allison a 27-point cushion (34-7).

The Mounties stretched their advantage to 41-7 in the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run by Emmanuel Musangu and conversion from McLean.

With 7:12 remaining, X-Men back-up quarterback Dante Djan (4-8-54) connected with Randy Roseway on a 40-yard pass, completing an eight-play, 75-yard drive.

After that TD connection, the blue and white trailed 41-13, with Ford missing on the conversion attempt.

With 1:05 remaining in the game, McLean gave the Mounties a 42-13 lead on a rouge.
On the defensive side, Hugo Rajotte and Hayden Peters led the X-Men with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively, while linebacker Ron Omara added 9.5 and also chipped in a sack.

Demetrius Ferguson contributed a 46-yard interception return for the blue and white.

For the Mounties, Devante Sampson topped the team with six tackles, while Josh Redding contributed two sacks.

The top receiver for Mount Allison was Blanchard with 150 yards on eight receptions.

Ashton Dickson led the blue and white with 43 yards on 15 carries.

The Mounties outgained the X-Men 252 to 72 on the ground.

Through the air, Roseway topped the X-Men with 64 yards on four catches, while freshman Keon Hughes contributed five receptions for 43 yards.

In total net offense, Mount Allison outdistanced StFX 534 to 255.

With a 3-3 record, the X-Men currently sit alone in second place in the AUS conference. Saint Mary's (4-2) is in first after an 11-9 win over Acadia Friday. The Mounties and Axemen are tied in third place with identical 2-4 records as all teams have two games left to play in the regular season.

The X-Men return to action Saturday, Oct. 19, when they travel to Wolfville to face the defending AUS champion Acadia Axemen. Game time is 2 p.m.

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