Mounties stage dramatic comeback over X-Men

The visiting Mount Allison Mounties scored 14 points in the final 1:04 of regulation time to score a dramatic 27-25 come-from-behind victory over the StFX X-Men Saturday afternoon in AUS football play in Antigonish. More than 3,400 fans saw the exciting first-place match-up at Oland Stadium.

Brandon Leyh (24-41-279) broke away from two X-Men defenders before completing the winning touchdown pass to Josh Blanchard, who corralled 12 passes for 200 yards. The score came with 49 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. In the final X-Men possession, Kiel Ambursley intercepted a Tivon Cook pass to seal the Mount Allison victory.

The X-Men opened the scoring at 11:46 of the first quarter on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Cook (15-33-287) to Randy Roseway (4-110). The Mounties tied the game on a 32-yard connection between Leyh and Blanchard.

With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Roseway soared above two Mounties' defenders in the corner of the end zone to catch a 27-yard TD pass. Ryan Lambert kicked an 18-yard field goal to trim the X-Men lead to 14-10 after 15 minutes.

The only scoring of the second quarter came from an X-Men rouge on a missed field goal by Jeremy Ford. The X-Men led 15-10 at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Cook and Roseway connected for their third touchdown of the game, a 55-yarder, to give the X-Men a 22-10 advantage. At 5:37, Lambert kicked a 14-yard field goal to make it 22-13. Ford restored the X-Men's 12-point advantage with a 12-yard field goal before the end of the third quarter.

Blanchard, with his second TD catch, capped a 15-play, 94-yard drive to cut the X-Men lead to 25-20 with 1:40 remaining. The Mounties recovered the ensuing on-side kick, which set the stage for the late-game heroics.

The X-Men amassed 530 yards in total offense, while the Mounties gained 342. Ashton Dickson gained 215 yards on 35 carries for the X-Men, while Chris Reid led the Mounties with nine carries for 63 yards. Blanchard and Roseway were the top receivers for their respective clubs.

Defensively, Michael Bohan collected 7.5 tackles for the Mounties, while Matt Montgomery chipped in seven tackles and one quarterback sack.  Ambursley and Jacob LeBlanc, who had two tackles for loss, also recorded sacks.

Hayden Peters, Kae Okafor and Ron Omara led the X-Men with 4.5 tackles, while Paolo Edwards added four. Taj Mills, with two, Jainyme DaSilveira and Mete Konya recorded sacks for StFX. DaSilveira and Mills also recorded two tackles for loss apiece.

With the win, the Mounties improve to 2-0, while the X-Men fall to 1-1. The teams return to action Saturday, Sept. 20, with the X-Men travelling to Wolfville to face the Acadia Axemen (1-1), while the Mounties host the Saint Mary's Huskies (0-2) in Sackville. Both match-ups kick-off at 2 p.m.

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GAME NOTES:

...Mount Allison receiver Dakota Brush was injured in the fourth quarter and required emergency medical care to be removed from the field and was taken to hospital for further assessment.

...StFX Athletics inaugurated a ceremonial bell, the 'Brule Scoring Bell' in honor of legendary X-Men running back Paul Brule prior to the start of the game. Between 1964 and 1967, Brule broke more CIS national scoring records than any other player in the history of Canadian university football. To this day he still holds eight all-time career CIS records. A plaque recognizing his accomplishments was installed at StFX Oland Stadium, along with Paul Brule Scoring Bell which will be rung every time the X-Men or X-Women score a football touchdown, a rugby try, or a soccer goal.