WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The exhibition season began with a bang for the Acadia Axemen as they handed the Saint Mary's Huskies at 34-5 loss in Wolfville. Two special team fumbles by the Huskies led to two majors as the Axemen defense held off any major threats for forty minutes.
A recovered a missed field goal after Huskie Jesse Lacle coughed up the ball on his own four yard line only five minutes into the first quarter, led to All-Star running back Thomas Troop scoring the first of four Acadia touchdowns on the day.
Less than five minutes later, third year receiver Brian Jones pulled in a long pass from freshman transfer quarterback Jon Shaw for a 73 yard touchdown. Ryan Begin added a 33 yard field goal in the closing minutes of the opening quarter to give Acadia a commanding 17-0 lead.
Begin added a second field goal at 13:31 of the second quarter that was following a Huskie safety. At the half, the Axemen reported a 20-2 lead.
Saint Mary's picked up five points on the day, all of which came from the defense or special teams. Two conceded safeties in the second and third quarters along with a rouge late in final frame was all the Huskies could muster up.
First year Horton High School product Cameron Davidson added a third Acadia touchdown after Axeman Alex Dodier recovered a fumbled punt.
After the second of two Huskie safeties, Acadia scored their last major on a 19 yard reception by Andrew Adams from Jon Shaw.
The Axemen outgained the Huskies on the ground and in the air, accumulating 361 net yards while Saint Mary's pulled together 252 yards under the guidance of three pivots - Scott Borden, Drew Jacobson and Ben Rossong. Borden was the most successful with 101 yards passing.
Shaw passed for 177 yards and was nine for 13 in the air while second year quarterback Darcy Lavoie was five for 12 for 58 yards. Cameron Davidson offered 54 yards rushing on nine carries while third year veteran tailback Thomas Troop added 45 yards on seven carries. Jacob Gesse had a Huskie high 80 yards on the ground on 15 carries.
Acadia's stingy defense was led by William Wojcik who had six solo tackles and two assisted along with one interception.
Acadia head coach Jeff Cummins was very pleased to see his younger players go out on the field and reap what they sowed. "They have worked real hard over the last 10 days and they had a chance to get out and play and do what they can to be successfull. It was fun to watch them play with a very basic vanilla offence".
Cummins pointed out that the score was not indicative of the game. "Some turnovers led to points for us and I think the game was a bit out of touch with what we will expect from Saint Mary's in two weeks time when we meet them at home again".
The Axemen will open up the regular season on the road next Saturday at 2:00 pm in Sackville, N.B. as they take on the 2013 AUS Champion Mount Allison Mounties who handed StFX a 16-8 loss in the second of two exhibition games today. Saint Mary's will host the StFX X-men next Friday night in Halifax.