(HALIFAX, N.S.) - The Saint Mary's Huskies ran their way to a 49-3 victory over the StFX X-Men in the regular season finale for both teams to clinch second place in front of nearly 1,400 fans Saturday afternoon at Huskies Stadium in Halifax.
With the win, the Huskies improve to 3-5 to finish tied with Mount Allison in the standings, but will end the regular season in second place by virtue to the point differential in head-to-head play with the Mounties. For the X-Men, the loss drops them to fourth place with a 2-6 record and out of the post-season for the second time in the past three seasons.
Billed as a 'do or die' game, as either team could advance to the AUS semifinal with a victory, the Huskies scored 46 unanswered points following the first quarter.
Quarterback Jean Legault was the surprise starter for Saint Mary's and completed 8-of-15 passes for 142 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Placekicker Brett Lauther was successful on four-of-five field goal attempts, hitting from 12, 34, 39, and 21 yards respectively.
The teams exchanged field goals early in the first quarter, but that would be the only scoring for StFX.
Kevin Wuthrich caught an 11-yard Legault pass at the end of the opening quarter, then Michael Dawes had a short two-yard TD run seven minutes into the second quarter to give the Huskies a 17-3 advantage.
Wuthrich scored his second major of game a minute later as he hauled in a 44 yard pass. Rob Jubenville tackled StFX running back Ashton Dickson in the endzone for a safety and Lauthier kicked three consecutive field goals to round out a 25-point second quarter for the Huskies.
Both teams were held off the score sheet in the third quarter, but Saint Mary's closed out the game with a Melvin Abankwah six-yard touchdown run and a Dave Sabourin added a one-yard major.
Subway player of the game Abankwah led the way with 206 yards rushing on 18 carries, along with 89 yards on seven punt returns. Dawes created a one-two punch for Saint Mary's on the ground with 19 carries for 123 yards as the Huskies out-rushed the X-Men 473-87.
Neil King had eight solo tackles and Jonathon Langa added six to lead the Huskies defensively. Hayden Peters has ten tackles for the X-Men and Brett Hubbeard registered nine in a losing cause.
Randy Roseway caught five passes for 63 yards and Ashton Dickson garnered 63 yards on 22 carries to lead the X-Men on offense.
The first place Acadia Axemen (7-1) await the semifinal winner for the Subway AUS Loney Bowl championship game on November 10th, while the X-Men fall to 2-6 in fourth place out of playoff contention.
Source: Saint Mary's Sports Information