It was a gutsy call but one which proved pivotal for the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in Saturday’s Atlantic university football s
It was a gutsy call but one which proved pivotal for the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in Saturday’s Atlantic university football semifinal.
Trailing Acadia by two with under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, St. F.X. faced a third and 4 on the Acadia 46-yard line. Going for it, X-Men first-year quarterback Silas Fagnan found sophomore receiver Zakariya Karim on a backside post and scored the decisive touchdown in a 27-22 thriller in Antigonish.
“We know if the free safety plays over a little too much, we have the backside post. Let’s just say he played over too much,” recalled Fagnan, who finished the day with an even 300 yards passing on 18 of 28 attempts, including two touchdown passes to Karim.
“I don’t know what the coach’s call was but mine was we needed to score so we had to go for it. It was huge. Karim has been waiting for it for a long time. I’m just happy he got his chance, and he took a hold of it.”
St. F.X. will host next Saturday’s Loney Bowl conference championship against the Bishop’s Gaiters. The Gaiters, who will make their second consecutive appearance in the Loney Bowl, upset the Mount Allison 23-5 in the other semifinal in Sackville, N.B.
Rookie running back Malcolm Bussey was a monster on the field for X. He had 258 yards on 32 carries and scored an important touchdown with 1:53 left in the second quarter.
Those were the most yards gained by a St. F.X. rusher in a playoff game since James Green had 276 in the 2007 conference championship against Saint Mary’s.
“The guy is a workhorse for how young he is,” Fagnan said of the 19-year-old from Hammonds Plains. “Our team in general is quite young. But he has put the team on his back in moments when we needed him to. We have been able to rely on him without any hesitation. It means a bunch to us that we’re comfortable any time he has the ball.”
St. F.X., which went 6-0 during the regular season, looked to continue that undefeated run by building a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter behind a Karim 28-yard touchdown reception and a Max Capriotti field goal.
But on Acadia’s first drive following Karim’s first major, Acadia running back Cole Estabrooks found a seam and ran 95 yards to the St. F.X. end zone.
That opened the floodgates for the Axemen, who scored 22 unanswered points, including Cherokee Robinson’s 42-yard dash for a touchdown and a Julien Poirier-McKiggan reception for a score.
The X-Men trailed 22-10 late in the first half.
“Our heads were still up,” Fagnan said of his team’s mood at that point of the game. “It didn’t matter. We know we’re better than that on defence and on offence.”
Bussey’s four-yard scamper to the end zone – and Capriotti’s field goal with no time remaining on the clock before halftime – flipped the script for the X-Men.
Although neither team managed to score in the third quarter and the X-Men still trailed late in the fourth, Fagnan said no one was panicking.
“We had our chins up,” Fagnan said. “We know how good we are and what we’re capable of. We just have to go out there and do better each time we have the ball in our hands. We’ll do everything in our power not to do that next week.”
Estabrooks finished with 20 carries and 206 yards and league-leading tackler Kameron Bell had seven tackles for Acadia. Lian Young had two sacks.
Gaiters 23, Mounties 5: The Bishop’s defence held Mount A to 177 total yards and only allowed a James Parker field goal early in the second half and a safety late in the game.
Veteran linebacker Remi Desbiens had four sacks and 7.5 tackles to lead the Gaiters’ defence. Jake Kelly had a crushing 86-yard interception return with 49 seconds left in the first half to give Bishop’s a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Quarterback Mason McGriskin was 12-for-21 for 208 yards and a TD reception to Louis-Philippe Gregoire in the fourth.
BASKETBALL
Jayda Veinot scored 30 points to lead the Acadia Axewomen to a 68-61 victory over the UNB Reds in women’s action in Fredericton.
Elizabeth Beals-Iseyemi added 17 points for Acadia. Jolianne Guay and Katie Butts each fired in 14 points for UNB.
In men’s hoops, Chris Spurrell tallied 22 points as UNB upended Acadia 69-61. Eli Kraushar collected 14 points for the Axemen.
HOCKEY
Kendra Woodland turned aside all 33 shots she faced for the shutout as UNB earned a road victory over St. F.X. in a women’s hockey matinee in Antigonish.
Alayna Wagstaff and Ashley Stratton each scored for the first-place Reds (9-1-1).
In other action, the UPEI Panthers defeated the Moncton Aigles Bleues 3-1.
VOLLEYBALL
UNB handed Acadia its first loss this season, a 3-2 decision in Wolfville.
Scores were 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-9 for the Reds (4-3).
Taylor Collombin collected 20 kills for the Axewomen (4-1).
www.saltwire.com