U Sports Football: Monday Roundups
Photo: Mona Ghiz
Axemen clinch final playoff spot with 10-3 win over Huskies
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* Acadia |
10 |
3 |
(HALIFAX, N.S.) - In their final regular season game, the Saint Mary's Huskies football season ended Saturday afternoon with a 10-3 loss to the Acadia Axemen on a tackle one-yard short of the end zone as time expired.
Both teams finish the season 2-6 with Acadia winning the tiebreaker and grabbing the last playoff spot with more head-to-head wins (2-0).
The Huskies had the final possession with 1:22 left on their own 47-yard line trailing 10-3 when quarterback Brock Berglund (San Diego, California) drove the Huskies down the field to the Acadia 12-yard line.
Two incomplete passes forced a third and 10 from the 12 with three seconds left.
Berglund found receiver Tristen Giusto (Hamilton, Ont.) who turned around and was tackled at the one-yard line as time ran out.
Both teams started the game with turnovers as Acadia threw an interception and Saint Mary's fumbled in the red-zone.
Acadia opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run by Hunter Guenard (Calgary, Alta.) for a 7-0 lead with 6:04 left in the first quarter.
Saint Mary's answered back in the second quarter on a 15-yard field goal by Brian Hope (Port Coquitlan, B.C.), capping off a 13-play, 77-yard drive with 2:27 left in the half.
The Huskies trailed Acadia 7-3 at halftime.
The third quarter saw both teams trade punts as Acadia ended the quarter up 7-3.
The Axemen started the final frame with possession and used a 21-yard field goal by Brandon Jennings (St. Albert, Alta.) with 10:14 left to increase their lead to 10-3.
Both teams managed a first down in the last nine minutes before the Huskies drove 67 yards in 12 plays in their final possession.
Saint Mary's finished with more total offence (319-255) and rushing yards (134-46) while Acadia threw for more yards (214-192).
Cody Cluett (Cole Harbour, N.S.) threw for 204 yards (14-30) with two interceptions in the Axemen win while Dillan Fortune (Brooklyn, New York) rushed for 26 yards.
Berglund threw for 192 yards (21-35) and paced the Huskies with 57 yards on 11 carries.
Giusto led all Saint Mary's receivers with 66 yards while Eli Prochnau (Cochrane, Alta.) paced Acadia with 88 yards.
Bailey Feltmate (Moncton, N.B.) had 10 total tackles for Acadia while Jadarius Ceasar (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) and Emmanuel Agbozo (Surrey, B.C.) each had 5.5 tackles for Saint Mary's.
Finishing third in the AUS regular season standings, Acadia will visit second-place Mount Allison Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. in the Subway AUS Football Championship Semifinal. The winner will face off against the first-place and undefeated StFX X-Men in the Subway AUS Loney Bowl on Nov. 12 in Antigonish, N.S.
Source: Dominic Nolasco, Saint Mary's Athletics Communications
Huskies cap off season with win over Golden Bears at home
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* Alberta |
9 |
48 |
SASKATOON – The No. 9 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies capped off the 2016 regular season with a 48-9 victory over the University of Alberta Golden Bears Friday night at Griffiths Stadium in PotashCorp Park.
The Huskies finish the Canada West schedule with a 5-3, having won their last three games of the season. The three game win streak is the longest for the green and white since 2012.
Saskatchewan will face the Calgary Dinos in the Hardy Cup semifinal next Saturday, but will have to wait until Saturday to find out whether the game will be played in Calgary or Saskatoon. The Dinos visit the UBC Thunderbirds to close their campaign. A Calgary loss would mean that Canada West post-season football would return to Saskatoon.
The Huskies dominated from the get go on Friday night. Chad Braun sparked the Huskies with a 58-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter. Sean Stenger added his first of five field goals on the night to put the Huskies up 10.
The defence made its presence felt in the second quarter. Brooks Falloon scooped up a fumble on the first of back-to-back turnovers created by the defence. The Huskies stopped Alberta short on third down on its next possession. The offence went back to work with a touchdown plunge by Kolton Klassen and a pair of Stenger field goals to take a 23-0 lead to the locker room at halftime.
Saskatchewan went back to work with an opening drive field goal in the third followed by a 14-yard Tyler Chow scamper to lead by 33.
The Golden Bears would get on the board in the third when a low snap on a Huskies punt forced the hosts to concede a safety.
Alberta would find the endzone for the first time in the game with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter. Ben Kopcyznski scrambled a number of times to keep the Golden Bear drive alive, capping it off with a five-yard run.
The Huskies continued to pour it on in the fourth with two more Stenger field goals and another Klassen touchdown run.
Stenger was one make shy of a Huskie and Canada West record for field goals in a game, finishing the night with six. His six-for-six performance helped him finish the year 22-for-26. It was the second this season he has hit six in a game. The 22 made field goals sets a new program record, breaking Grant Shaw's record of 19 set in 2009.
Kyle Siemens finished the night 13-of-25 for 188 yards passing. Fifth-year Drew Burko came into the game in the second half completing 10-of-14 passes for 90 yards.
Tyler Chow ran for 79 yards in the game, with Klassen rushing for another 78.
Ben Kopczynski completed 17-of-36 passes for 170 yards. The Golden Bears pivot also led the team in rushing with 72 yards on 10 carries.
The Huskies will wait to find out their post-season schedule once the final Canada West games of the season are completed. Alberta was eliminated from the playoffs in Week 7.
Source: Daniel Herrick, University of Saskatchewan
Jean-Guy Rimpel runs over Bishop’s in football showdown
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39 |
6 |
Running back Jean-Guy Rimpel carried the football 36 times for 234 yards and three touchdowns to help his team defeat the Bishop’s Gaiters 39-6 and secure a playoff spot on the last day of the RSEQ regular season.
The win gives the Stingers a 4-4 win-loss record and third place in the six-team Quebec football conference. Concordia will travel to Quebec City to face the second-place Laval Rouge et Or in semifinal action next Saturday afternoon.
Rimpel’s performance was one for the record books. Thirty-six carries in a game is the most by any running back in conference history. The previous record was 35 and was shared by Bishop’s Jamall Lee (2008) and Concordia’s Gunner Tatum (2014).
It is also the best single game performance by a Concordia running back in the university history. His 234 yards beats the school record set by Andrew Hamilton who carried for 221 yards in game versus McGill in 2006.
Rimpel also finishes the regular season as the leading rusher in the RSEQ. He carried the ball 112 times for 514 yards and four touchdowns.
He averaged 64.2 yards a game.Concordia rolled up 452 yards of offence and 29 first downs. Most of the damage was done on the ground with the Stingers collecting 312 yards and 20 first downs.
Other scorers for Concordia were wide receiver Justin Julien who caught a 26-yard pass from quarterback Colin Sequeira to open the scoring in the first quarter. Fullback Tanner Green wrapped up the points total with a three-yard run for a major in the last minute of play.
The Concordia defence held Bishop’s to nine first downs and 128 yards of offence.
X-Men close out AUS regular season with 65-17 win over Mounties
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17 |
65 |
Antigonish, N.S. - The first place and defending conference champion StFX X-Men (7-1) wrapped up the regular season with a convincing 65-17 victory over the visiting Mount Allison Mounties (3-5) in AUS football action Saturday afternoon at StFX Stadium.
On senior day, the home team jumped to a 14-0 advantage, in the opening five minutes of the first quarter, and never looked back, on a day that three X-Men players put their names in the school's record book.
After connecting with Dejaun Martin (Scarborough, ON), on a 46-yard pass play, fifth-year quarterback Tivon Cook (Scarborough, ON) found Christian Ridley (Dubai, UAE) for a four-yard touchdown that capped a six-play, 84-yard drive. With a Jonathan Heidebrecht (Camrose, AB) conversion, the X-Men led 7-0.
Only two minutes later, at the 4:14 mark, Cook and Martin combined on a 40-yard pass-and-catch. With that reception, his 49th of the season, the sophomore set an X-Men single-season record, surpassing the record of Jermaine Baldwin (48).
Heidebrecht put the exclamation point on the one-play drive, with his conversion, to make it 14-0.
Before the midway point of the first quarter, the Mounties answered, on a six-yard TD scamper from Chris Reid (Brampton, ON). After a Ryan Lambert (Grimsby, ON) point-after, the visitors sliced the lead in half.
After recovering a fumble in the X-Men zone, the Mounties took over, but could not gain any yardage against a stingy StFX defense. Mount Allison settled for a 32-yard field goal from Lambert to trim the X-Men lead to 14-10.
Heidebrecht finished off a high-scoring first quarter with a 13-yard field goal that culminated an 11-play, 70-yard drive march, which gave StFX a 17-10 edge.
Source: St FX
Les Carabins premiers au terme de la saison régulière
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* Montreal |
13 |
0 |
LE ROUGE ET OR DEUXIÈME MALGRÉ UN GAIN À SHERBROOKE
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* Laval |
14 |
1 |
'Birds clipped by Dinos in OT but still clinch playoff berth
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* Calgary |
41 |
35 |
It was a tale of two halves on Saturday night, with UBC dominating in the first and Calgary's offence reigniting in the second.
UBC head coach Blake Nill acknowledged his team lacked the full-game consistency required to win against a challenging opponent like Calgary.
"We ran the ball well in the first half, but not in the second. I didn't see urgency in my crew in the second half," Said Nill. "We are a good football team, but we are not playing up to our capabilities. That's what is frustrating."
Calgary running back Bryce Harper was the difference maker, accumulating 145 rushing yards and three of his team's five touchdowns. UBC's Ben Cummings logged an impressive 179 rushing yards, while receiver Trivel Pinto recorded a pair of touchdowns.
For O'Connor, the night was one to remember, even if his team didn't secure the win. O'Connor finished the 2016 campaign with regular-season school records for passing yards (2,598), passing attempts (335) and pass completions (203). He also ties Billy Greene's 2011 record of 20 passing TDs.
Both teams fared well between the uprights, with Calgary kicker Niko Difonte and UBC's Greg Hutchins accumulating 10 and nine points respectively.
Nill was pleased with many aspects of his team's performance, and blamed certain coaching decisions for the OT loss.
"We didn't execute," said Nill. "There were times when I should have been more decisive. I'll take responsibility for that. I made mistakes that I thought might have created momentum." Calgary struck first with a TD from Harper, but it was UBC who dominated in the opening half with three touchdowns and a 13-point lead heading into halftime. UBC's stingy defence also forced Calgary to opt for field goal attempts twice, only one of which was successful. >
Things shifted in Calgary's favour during the second half, with the Dinos securing 14 unanswered points thanks to touchdowns from Austen Hartley and Harper. Cummings reignited UBC's hopes with a dramatic, 74-yard run to the end zone midway through the fourth quarter. A successful two-point conversion followed, giving UBC a 35-28 lead.
Calgary responded when Michael Klukas caught a 31-yard pass with just over two minutes remaining to tie things up 35 apiece, forcing extra time. After UBC failed to reach the end-zone in OT, Harper ran the ball in from the 19-yard line to give the Dino's the victory. An hour after Saturday's game ended, Regina secured a win over Manitoba. The outcome of that game stamped UBC's ticket to the playoffs. The Thunderbirds will head to Regina's Mosaic Stadium to face the Rams next Saturday, November 5 in the Canada West Hardy Cup Semifinals.
Source: Jeremy Laurie/UBC Thunderbirds
#7 Regina clinch first place with 55-21 road win at Manitoba
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* Regina |
55 |
21 |
Winnipeg – in the last conference regular season football game of the 2016 season, the #7 Regina Rams completed a remarkable turnaround and finished in first place in Canada West standings after an impressive 55-21 score against the Manitoba Bisons on Saturday, October 29 evening in front of 523 fans at Investors Group Field.
With the road victory, the Rams ended up with a 6-2 record (held tie-breaker on Calgary) and made the post-season after finishing last season with a 0-8 record. Manitoba suffered their second home loss of 2016 and fell to a 3-5 record and out of the playoffs in fifth place.
Manitoba did have a chance for a playoff spot as UBC Thunderbirds lost earlier in the night by a 41-35 (OT) result but the Bisons could not find that elusive win and the T-Birds captured the fourth and final post-season berth with a 3-5 record and held the tie-breaker over the Herd.
In a game with so much playoff implications, it was the visitors that seemed ready right from the start as they jumped on the Bisons with a quick score only three-and-a-half minutes in to the contest. Rams' third year QB Noah Picton found running back Atlee Simon for a seven yard TD pass. After a William McGee 30 yarder to end the first quarter scoring for Regina, the Rams added another TD (Atlee on a 1 yard run) and another 32 yard FG by McGee and led 20-0 at half.
Any chance for a comeback by the hosts was snuffed out early in the third. Regina continued to show-off their aerial attach as Picton found Simon again for a 18 yard TD pass only two-and-a-half minutes into the second half and then Picton capped a 58 yard drive with a one yard run by himself plus Simon added his fourth TD of the evening with a 22 yard grab and Regina held a 41-0 lead with still six minutes left in the third.
The Bisons finally broke the shutout bid at 2:04 left in the third when Bison rookie quarterback Des Catellier came on in relief and threw his first ever U Sports TD in his career with a one yard pass to Macho Bockru. Manitoba added two late TDs with a one yard run by linebacker Chris Friesen and five TD pass from Catellier to Trysten Dyce. Sam Varao had a touchdown sandwiched in between the Bisons touchdowns at the start of the fourth for a 55-21 final score.
"This was not the way we want to go out with a blowout loss tonight but I'm proud of our effort throughout the season, commented Bison Football head coach Brian Dobie stated after the lopsided loss. "'It's been crazy...I've coached 42 years and never been in situation with so many injuries in a season. It was tough."
In team stats, Regina dominated as much as on the scoreboard. The Rams had 34 first downs to Manitoba's 25 and racked up 673 total offence to 333 for the Herd. The visitors added 528 passing yards to only 192 by the home side and time of possession was 32:45 (Regina) to 27:04 (Manitoba).
Individually for the visitors, Picton added to his U Sports record total with another 400+ game with 27-39 performance for 447 passing yards and three touchdowns. Simon was a beast with 13 carries for 76 rush yards and 1 TD and added three more TDs in receiving on five catches for 57 yards. In addition, Riley Wilson had a game-high 144 receiving yards on four grabs and Ryan Schienbein added 129 yards on six receptions. Linebacker Danny Nesbitt had team-high seven tackles in the win.
Manitoba was paced by running back Alex Christie with 99 yards on 19 carries while Theo Deezar had an off-day throwing for only 116 yards on 10-27 passing and one interception. Catellier added 76 yards with 2 TDs on 7-10 passing. Receiver Kyle Patchell was top Bison with four catches on 56 yards. On defence for Manitoba, DJ Lalama had a game-high ten total tackles to finish the season as the conference leader in 2016 with a total of 72.
The Bisons do not make the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season while Regina is in the post-season for the first time since 2014 and first hosting since 2012. The Rams now host one of the two Hardy Cup semifinals against the defending U Sports champion UBC on Saturday, November 5 at 3:30 p.m. CST at Mosaic Stadium.
Source: Canada West