Games will sort first, last in AUFC
Courtesy Monty Mosher, The Chronicle Herald
Somebody will be first and somebody will be last in AUS football by the time the Thanksgiving turkey is carved on Sunday.
The Acadia Axemen and Mount Allison Mounties along with the Saint Mary’s Huskies and St. Francis Xavier X-Men open home-and-home series this weekend with the Acadia-Mount A winner alone on top and the loser between Saint Mary’s and St. F.X. in the basement.
Saint Mary’s visits St. F.X. tonight, 7 p.m., to start the football weekend with Acadia at Mount A Saturday afternoon.
The Axemen and Mounties, both 2-2, will attempt to rebound from losses after St. F.X. and Saint Mary’s, 1-3, scored emotional wins last weekend to get back in the race. The Huskies rolled up 454 yards on the ground in a 45-10 win over Acadia in Halifax and the X-Men opened a 22-point lead at the half in a 37-26 over Mount A at Oland Stadium.
The Huskies and X-Men, in the last three AUS title games, both hope to gain some momentum coming out of their Week 4 victories.
The three-time defending conference champion Huskies had underachieved through three weeks, but showed their prowess against the Axemen. They had two 100-yard rushers in Craig Leger and Devon Jones and receiver Jahmeek Taylor had 280 all-purpose yards and two majors to earn CIS special teams’ player of the week.
"Our biggest challenge right now is not to think that one week has turned this season around," said SMU head coach Steve Sumarah. "We have a long road ahead of us. These games are basically to get out of last place."
It was a different situation at St. F.X., where head coach Gary Waterman wanted to get his Baby Blues a first taste of victory. Rookie receiver Jordan Catterrall led the team on offence with three touchdowns.
"The first win is always exciting, especially for a lot of the young guys," Waterman said. "But we’ve got to let that one go. This game is very important for both teams."
The Huskies will be without a pair of offensive linemen in Adam Johnson and Sean Seafoot. St. F.X. will make a game-time decision on defensive lineman Tom Narbaitz.
Sumarah said the X-Men have a solid blend of young talent and proven veterans.
"They are very athletic," Sumarah said. "Their defensive tackles and their two inside linebackers are as good as there are in the country, especially (Tom) Lynch and (Henoc) Muamba. They make plays everywhere."
The story at Mount A will be to see which team can respond from its first major setback against a conference foe.
The Mounties scrimmaged without 2009 MVP receiver/returner Gary Ross last week and he is now out indefinitely. He is recovering from a wound to his hand from the first half against Saint Mary’s on Sept. 25.
"I’m starting to feel it’s going to be a couple of weeks," Mounties head coach Kelly Jeffrey said of the Ross injury.
Mount A still managed to move the ball well in Ross’s absence, at least during a second-half comeback that saw them trim the X-Men lead to eight.
Sophomore quarterback Jake Hotchkiss threw for 356 yards, 127 in the direction of Adam Molnar.
"Offensively we’ve been able to recover with Molnar playing in Gary’s spot, but special teams is the spot we’re feeling it the most," said Jeffrey.
The Mounties have lost senior defensive back Jermaine Oram for the season with a knee injury.
Acadia head coach Jeff Cummins worked on special teams all week after Taylor’s big night. Cummins prepared to see Ross on the field.
"This game will be decided on special teams," Cummins predicted.
Acadia will be without starting offensive lineman Colin Murray and receiver A.J. Durling is questionable. The Axemen may have all-Canadian defensive back Mike Miller back, but he won’t start coming off an ankle injury.