X-Men lose 27-11 to Axemen

The StFX X-Men (3-4) dropped a 27-11 decision to the Acadia Axemen (3-4) in AUS football action Saturday afternoon in Wolfville.

The Axemen opened the scoring early in the first quarter on a Ryan Begin field goal.  Acadia had a 77 yard drive, highlighted by a 61 yard rush by Andrew Healy who went out of bounds short of the goal line. Unable to score the major, the Axemen settled for the 11 yard field goal and early 3-0 lead.

Acadia tacked on a safety for a 5-0 lead which the X-Men then cut to 5-3 in the low-scoring first half on a Jeremy Ford 23-yard field goal.

In the third quarter, the Axemen tacked on nine points, including a second safety and a four-yard TD run by Thomas Troop (30-168).

Acadia outrushed the X-Men 323 to 67. Subway Player of the game Thomas Troop compiled 168 net yards in rushing on 30 carries for the Axemen.

Ashton Dickson led the blue-and-white ground attack with 40 yards on 15 carries.

After three quarters, the Axemen led 14-3.

In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, a five-yard touchdown pass from Evan Brown (14-23-115) to Brian Jones made it 21-3 for the Axemen.

Dickson capped a five-play, 58-yard TD drive with a 10-yard run. With a two-point conversion from Keon Hughes (3-22), the X-Men trailed 21-11.

The Axemen wrapped up the scoring (27-11) with two more Begin field goals.

For the X-Men, starter Tivon Cook completed nine out of 20 passes for 66 yards, while Dante Djan (3-6-30) and Clay Masikewich (4-8-17) also took snaps at quarterback.

Djan, a freshman from Calgary, led the X-Men on their touchdown drive.

Randy Roseway was the top receiver for the X-Men with six catches for 37 yards.

Taylor Renaud led the Axemen with six catches for 91 yards.

On defense, linebacker Ron Omara collected 10.5 tackles, including nine solos, while Hugo Rajotte and Brett Hubbeard contributed 9.5 and 8.5, respectively. Omara and Peters each
recorded sacks.

Defensive back Cameron Wade led the Axemen with five tackes, one sack and one interception.

In other weekend AUS action, the Mount Allison Mounties (3-4) defeated the first-place Saint Mary's Huskies (4-3) 27-24 Friday night in Halifax.

With a three-way tie for second place in the AUS standings between StFX, Acadia and Mount Allison, and Saint Mary's ahead in first place by only two points, the final playoff spots will be determined next weekend.

The AUS regular season wraps up with the Huskies visiting the X-Men Saturday, Oct. 26 at Oland Stadium. Kick-off is 2 p.m.

If the X-Men win, they are in the playoffs. Even with a loss, the blue and white can make the post season, but the Mounties must lose to the Axemen. Mount Allison and Acadia play Saturday, Oct. 26 in Sackville, NB.