X-Men suffer first loss of season

Bishop’s 33, No. 6 StFX 12

The Bishops Gaiters handed the No. 6 ranked StFX X-Men their first loss of the season with a 33-12 victory at StFX Oland Stadium in Antigonish, NS on Saturday afternoon, and in doing so won their first Bigg Bowl.

The Bigg Bowl was donated in 2002 by the family of H. R. Bigg and is awarded after competition between the StFX X-Men and Bishop’s Gaiters in CIS competition. The X-Men had won the two previous Bigg Bowl installments prior to Saturday’s game.

Player of the Game Jesse Andrews, the Gaiters quarterback, threw two touchdown passes and ran for two touchdowns, including a 72 yard run in the third quarter which put the game out of reach for the hometown X-Men.

Andrews, who was 8 for 13 for 148 total passing yards, began the Gaiters opening drive of the game with a 15 yard touchdown pass to receiver Shawn Gore. X-Men kicker Anthony Alix booted a 10 yard field goal in the first quarter then conceded a safety before the quarter was over for a 9-3 Bishop’s lead.

Andrews increased the Gaiters lead to 16-3 just over three minutes into the second quarter with a 20 yard touchdown run as the X-Men continued to struggle on the offensive attack. The Gaiters took a 23-5 lead into half-time after a Duraney White touchdown and StFX safety.

The Gaiters defense held off a late second quarter X-Men rush as running back James Green was stopped twice on the run inside the red zone and quarterback Steve Snyder’s pass on 3rd and goal was incomplete.

The X-Men finally scored their first major of the game a minute into the third quarter as Snyder hit Mark Metulynsky with a 9 yard pass after moving the ball down the field on 10 plays for 103 yards.

With the score at 23-12 in the Gaiters favor, Andrews took the wind out of the blue and white sails with his 72 yard touchdown run on the last play of the third quarter. After a missed tackle, Andrews tore down the sideline for Bishop’s fourth major of the game.

The Gaiters rounded out the scoring in the game with a Justin Conn 23 yard field goal in the fourth quarter for the 33-12 win.

Andrews led all rushers in the game with 128 yards on the ground for a team total of 231, compared to the X-Men’s 48 rushing yards. Snyder had 274 passing yards (20 for 41) for StFX. 

The Gaiters improve to 2-4 on the season and will next play the No. 1 ranked Montreal (4-2) at home in Lennoxville on Saturday. The X-Men (5-1) will travel to Halifax for a first place showdown against the Saint Mary’s Huskies (5-1), Friday night at 7:00 pm. Friday night’s game should decide who gains home field advantage for the AUS championship game.