Acadia ends Saint Mary’s football reign

New Atlantic representative for Uteck Bowl

Acadia football. By Eric Cederberg, Acadia Athletics.

A packed audience came outside in the cold and wind to witness the Acadia Axemen end a four-year reign of the Saint Mary’s Huskies atop the AUS football conference.

The Huskies’ defeat brings to an end their AUS dominance and earns Acadia their first trip to the Uteck Bowl as the league’s best since they were handily defeated by Laval in 2006.

As if an omen to the Huskies chances, the bus of Saint Mary’s students heading to Wolfville broke down on the MacKay bridge, stopping traffic and leaving a noticeable absence in the Huskies cheering section for a good portion of the first quarter. Despite the moral deficit, the Huskies kept the Axemen within striking distance.

The two teams quickly traded touchdowns early in the first quarter to bring the score to an even 7 – 7. This was followed quickly by a SMU field goal to give the Huskies their brief and only lead of the game.

The Acadia response was swift and effective as Kyle Graves took the ball straight into the end zone, giving him and his team their second touchdown of the game to restore Acadia’s edge.

Before the end of the second half, the Axeman picked up a pair of single points and two field goals to widen their advantage to a more comfortable 22 – 10.

The third quarter once again saw a trade of touchdowns as Acadia started the trend, scoring at 7:57 followed by a Huskies response from Jahmeek Taylor at 4:47 remaining, giving the Axemen a 29 – 17 edge going into the fourth quarter.

The Axemen had little to worry about in the home stretch as the Huskies were only able to close the gap by three points before Acadia added a field goal and a touchdown from Zach Skibin to end the game with an impressive 39 – 20 win.

Graves, the AUS player of the year, rushed for three touchdowns in his team’s winning effort. He was awarded the Don Loney memorial trophy as game MVP.

The CIS ninth-ranked Acadia Axemen now go on to play Yates Cup winner and  No. 4 ranked McMaster Marauders in the Uteck Bowl hosted in Moncton Nov. 18. The team which comes out on top faces the winner of the Mitchell Bowl, either the nation’s top ranked Laval D’Or or the No. 2 Calgary Dinos, for the Vanier Cup. All following CIS games are broadcast on TSN.