Courtesy Mount Allison Communications
The defending AUS champion Mount Allison Mounties opened the 2014 season with a 16-8 exhibition victory over the StFX X-Men on a blustery day at MacAulay field in Sackville, N.B. on Saturday afternoon. On a day that saw both teams dress 90 players each (allowable under exhibition rules), it was special teams that made the difference for the Mounties.
Freshman Mountie Idahosa Yorke announced his arrival to the AUS with a 90 yard punt return touchdown with four minutes remaining in the first half. Yorke scored the games' only major when he turned the corner and sauntered untouched up the sidelines for the longest play of the day. The Mounties other points came from three field goals.
For StFX, their eight points came from two first quarter field goals and a safety late in the third quarter.
StFX opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when they turned an interception on the first play of the game into a 21 yard Jeremy Ford field goal. The X-Men stretched their lead to six points with four minutes remaining in the first quarter when Ford split the uprights again, this time from 18 yards.
The Mounties responded with a field goal of their own six minutes later, when Kyle McLean connected from 26 yards out.
The score remained 6-3 for StFX until four minutes remaining in the first half when Yorke made his mark with the long field goal return. StFX forced the Mounties to take a safety with one minute remaining in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Mounties used a 30 yard field goal from Ryan Lambert and a 22-yard field goal from Jordon Camp to ice the game.
StFX finished the game with more total offense than the Mounties, but Mount A punter Kyle McLean did a good job of pinning the X-Men deep all day long, dropping the ball inside the StFX 20 yard line five times on the day.
The Mounties open AUS regular season play when they host the Acadia Axemen on Saturday, September 6th at 2:00 pm at MacAulay Field. StFX will open their season on the road against Saint Mary's on Friday, September 5th at 7:00 pm.