Stingers spoil X-Men home opener
The Concordia Stingers spoiled the home opener for the StFX X-Men with a 41-20 win in CIS football action Saturday afternoon in Antigonish. More than 1,650 fans turned out for the interlock match-up at Oland Stadium.
Stingers kicker Keegan Treloar booted six field goal and
accounted for 21 of the Stingers total points.
On their opening drive, the visitors from Montreal scored on a
24-yard passing play from Reid Quest (26-44-266) to Jesse McPhail
(4-43). The pass-and-catch culminated a 10-play, 86-yard scoring
drive, which included several key running plays from Mike Donnelly
(12-87).
The blue and white responded with a 25-yard field goal from Jeremy
Ford.
Before the end of the first quarter, the Stingers extended the
lead to 14-3 on a Quest four-yard TD pass to Matt
Scheurwater.
The X-Men responded early in the second quarter, slicing the
advantage to 14-10 on a three-yard touchdown scamper by Ashton
Dickson (24-96), his first of two major scores on the day. He
earned player-of-the-game honours for the home side.
The Stingers answered less than two minutes later, establishing a
17-10 lead on a 16-yard field goal from Keegan Treloar. Kicker Jeremy Ford
then booted a 24 yard field goal to pull the X-Men to within four
points but that would be as close as they would come as Treloar
replied with three consecutive three-point kicks. The final one
gave Concordia a 26-13 lead halfway through the third quarter.
The X-Men conceded a third quarter safety to the Stingers and
Treloar kicked a 20 yard field goal to increase the lead to
31-13.
On the final play of the third, Dickson ended a four play, 75-yard
drive with a four-yard touchdown for the X-Men. A point-after by
Ford sliced the Stingers' lead to 29-20.
The Stingers scored all the fourth quarter points, including a TD
pass from Quest, his third of the game, to Mike Harrington, along
with Treloar's sixth field goal - a 37-yarder. The kicker was the
Stingers' player of the game.
For the blue and white, first-year quarterback Clay
Masikewich was 14-26-216, with 33 yards on 11 carries.
Devon Bailey
caught five balls for 70 yards, while Jordan
Catterall corralled four catches for 82 yards, including one
for 54 from Masikewich.
Harrington led the Stingers with eight catches for 70 yards.
On the defensive side, back Dylan
Hollohan, in his first home action in more than one year, led
the X-Men with 10 tackles, while veteran linebacker Brett
Hubbeard notched 7.5 tackles and 0.5 sacks. Brendan
Hamilton, who replaced injured linebacker Ron
Omara, recorded two tackles and 0.5 sacks.
Omara left the game with an apparent leg injury after getting
tangled up in the pile on the first play of the game. For the
X-Men, defensive lineman Nate Annan
left the game in the third quarter and did not return.
Travis Bent and Max Caron led the Stingers with nine tackles
apiece, with Caron chipping in one sack.
The X-Men (1-1) will return to action Saturday when they visit
Sackville, NB, to face the Mount Allison Mounties. StFX opened the
regular season with a 51-5 win over the same club. The Stingers
improve to 2-1 and will face the Bishops Gaiters next Saturday.
