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HALIFAX - It wasn’t pretty, but the Saint Mary’s
Huskies held off a resilient St FX X-Men team to win today’s
AUS Semi Final at Huskies Stadium.
The Huskies received 70 and 55 yards on the ground from Devon Jones
(St.Albert, Alb.) and Craig Leger (Salmon River, N.S)
respectively to hold off a 2nd half charge by the X-Men and win
25-2 in front of 1503 fans on a frigid afternoon in Halifax.
The pivotal moment came midway through the 3rd quarter with the
Huskies leading 12-0. The X-Men took advantage of great field
position and drove deep into Huskies territory behind the
relentless running attack of Ashton Dickson (Ottawa, Ont.) and
Andrew Hickey (Fredericton, N.B.).
But on 3rd and four from the six yard line, Neil King (Sherwood
Park, Alb.) tackled Hickey two yards short of a first down and the
Huskies had their biggest defensive stand of the season.
Saint Mary’s conceded a safety shortly thereafter to give the
X-Men all the scoring they would muster on the day.
Dixon would finish with 145 yards rushing on 29 carries for the
X-Men while Ron Omara (Aylmer, QC.) registered 10 tackles to lead
St FX defensively.
The youthful X-Men made huge strides one year after going winless
in 2010 and are poised to be legitimate AUS championship contenders
in 2012.
Rob Jubenville (Oshawa, Ont.) was named Subway Player of the Game
as he led the Huskies defense with 8.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
The Huskies will play Acadia next week in the 2011 Loney
Bowl. The game can be see Eastlink here in the Maritimes and
on www.sportstream.ca
Source: SMU Communications
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LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs football team ended
the Windsor Lancers post-season with a 33-27 victory this afternoon
at TD Waterhouse Stadium in front of 4,768 in the OUA Football
Semi-Final. The Mustangs will now have the chance to defend their
Yates Cup title from last year next Saturday at 1:00 PM on their
home turf. [Click for full game stats]
Coming off a 37-0 loss to the Queen’s Gaels two weeks ago,
the Mustangs’ first shut out loss since 1973, it was a
do-or-die for the Mustangs. The Lancers (5-3), hot off a 50-33 OUA
Quarter-Final win over the Ottawa Gee Gees, were looking to
continue their playoff run right to the Yates Cup next weekend.
The Mustangs took early control of the game, with Tyler Varga
picking up close to 50 rushing yards in the first three minutes of
the quarter. However a fumble in Lancers territory derailed the
drive and on the ensuing drive Lancer’s quarterback Austin
Kennedy rushed for 74-yards before being thrown to the ground by
David Lee. Two plays later the Lancers had to punt, missing a
golden chance to put points on the board.
Two possessions later, cornerback Simon Bahru grabbed his first
interception of the season, giving the ball to the Mustangs, ending
up as a 35-yard Lirim Hajrullahu field goal at 8:36 of the
first.
Finally, at 11:39, Varga scored the first touchdown of the game on
a 10-yard rush. Windsor responded with a field goal with less
than a minute to go in the quarter as Western led 10-3 at the end
of 15 minutes.
The Lancers earned their second field goal of the game early in the
second to come within four points of the Mustangs. That would be
the closest the Lancers would get.
Varga’s 17th touchdown of the season (regular season and
playoffs) at 11:32 sent him to the top of the CIS scoring list with
17 touchdowns and 102 points on the season. Western followed up the
touchdown with another two points, as Windsor conceded a team
safety.
Although Windsor put up nearly 140 passing yards in the second
quarter they were unable to capitalize and put the ball in the end
zone until the final minutes of the half. The Lancers’ Dylan
Whitfield scored on a 12-yard pass from Kennedy, to make it 19-13
in favour of the Mustangs.
The final play of the half did not go as the Lancers had planned as
an attempted field goal was kicked short, caught by Sean Blake and
Blake returned it 65-yards for the touchdown. Giving the Mustangs a
much needed boost and cushion, leading the Lancers 26-13 at the
half.
The Mustangs scored on their first possession of the second
half as quarterback Ben Rossong threw a 73-yard pass into the hands
of Andrew Thibaudeau. The seven points boosted the lead to 33-13
and the game was starting to look as though the Mustangs were fully
in control.
Windsor’s T. J. Simpson (Brandon, Man.) and Udoka Nwaesei
(Windsor, Ont.) had huge interceptions in the quarter; however the
Lancers were only able to turn one of the turnovers into points.
After three quarters, Western continued to lead 33-20.
The Lancers scored the lone touchdown in the fourth and were able
to shut down the Mustangs offensively, but they came up just short
as the Mustangs held on to win 33-27.
The Mustangs will head to the Yates Cup Final next weekend for the
fifth straight year. Western will be hosting the McMaster
Marauders at TD Waterhouse Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1:00 PM.
McMaster defeated Queen's 40-13 in today's other Semi-Final.
Source: Western Sports Info
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HAMILTON, Ont. - The McMaster Marauders advanced to the Ontario
University Athletics (OUA) Yates Cup Championship game for the
first time since 2003 with a 40-13 defeat of the Queen's Gaels in
the second OUA semi-final on Saturday evening.
McMaster will face the No. 3 Western Mustangs in London for the
Yates Cup title. Kickoff is 1:00 pm at Western's TD Waterhouse
Stadium.
The Marauders didn't waste any time in the first quarter against
Queen's scoring on the opening drive of the game. A 38-yard Kyle
Quinlan (South Woodslee, Ont.) completion to Brad Fochesato
(Windsor, Ont.) setup the Marauders first attempt in the red zone.
Quinlan took full advantage running a bootleg after a fake handoff
and crossed the goal-line for the six yard touchdown run. It was
the first rushing touchdown the Gaels defence had surrendered all
season.
Quinlan finished 14 of 23 for 214 yards with two passing touchdowns
and two interceptions. He also rushed the ball nine times for 96
yards and a touchdown.
Gaels starting quarterback Ryan Mitchell (Toronto, Ont.) wasn't on
his game in the first quarter as Porter Player of the Game Joey
Cupido (Hamilton, Ont.) intercepted Mitchell on his first pass of
the day.
The first Cupido interception resulted in a Teddy Peters
(Mississauga, Ont.) 29 yard field goal to give McMaster an early
10-0 lead. Peters was appearing in his first career CIS game
replacing starting kicker Tyler Crapigna (Ottawa, Ont.) who was
unavailable due to an illness. Peters connected on both of his
field goal attempts in the game.
The Marauders intercepted Mitchell five more times in the half with
four total coming from Cupido. His four interceptions set a new
McMaster record, and tied the CIS and OUA records for most
interceptions in a game.
Cupido's second interception setup a drive start at the Queen's 35
that Quinlan quickly converted into his second passing touchdown of
the day. He found Chris Pezzetta for the nine yard touchdown strike
to cap the five play drive.
The McMaster special teams also contributed. Backup quarterback
Marshal Ferguson, handling the punting duties for the first time,
completed a 13 yard pass to Tyler Loveday (Kitchener, Ont.) on a
fake punt to keep the ensuing McMaser drive alive. Pezzetta found
the end zone again, this time with his legs, carrying the ball four
times for 35 yards after the fake. He capped off the drive with a a
two yard touchdown run.
With McMaster already ahead 23-3, Aram Eisho (Hamilton, Ont.)
picked off Mitchell and returned it 58 yards for the touchdown to
increase the Marauder lead to 30-3.
Dan Village (Abbotsford, B.C.) hit a 30 yard field goal for the
Gaels only points of the half.
In the third quarter after the Marauders fumbled the opening
kickoff the Gaels would recover. The Marauder defence would hold
and Queen's was forced to settle for another Village field goal on
the drive.
The Marauders kept the pressure coming as Quinlan hit Michael
DiCroce (Hamilton, Ont.) for his second passing touchdown of the
day making it 40-6. DiCroce finished with six catches for 103 yards
and the touchdown. Combined with his three rushes for 27 yards,
DiCroce led the Marauders in all-purpose yardage with 131.
Ryan Granberg (Sherwood Park, Alta.) looked to spark a comeback
giving the Gaels back-to-back first downs pushing the ball deep
into the Marauders end. Granberg would finish off the drive with a
six yard touchdown run making it 40-13 for McMaster. That was the
extent of scoring in the game as the 40-13 score held until the
final whistle.
The Marauder defence had contributors on all fronts. Aram Eisho
(Hamilton, Ont.) was the top tackler with seven and the one
interception. Steven Ventresca (Hamilton, Ont.) added the sixth
Marauder interception of the ball game that he returned 41 yards to
setup Petter's second field goal of the game from 33 yards.
Granberg was the Gaels most productive player on offence with 128
yards and the Gaels' lone touchdown rushing on 20 carries. Mitchell
finished with 143 yards on 15 completions. Chris Patrician
(Toronto) was his favourite target with four catches and 69
yards.
Frank Pankewich (Thunder Bay, Ont.) was the team's top
tackler with eight tackles and a sack.
The 104th Yates Cup Championship game will be broadcast live on the
Score starting at 1:00 pm.
Source: McMaster Sports Info
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VANCOUVER – The No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds advanced to the
Canada West conference final with a 27-22 win over the No. 10
Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday afternoon.
“We did enough,” said UBC head coach Shawn Olson
after the game. “At the end of the day, that's all you
can ask for. We battled, which has been a characteristic of
this squad over the last two years. It's a testament to the
character and pride and the desire of our players.”
UBC got touchdowns from Jordan Grieve, Billy Greene and David
Scott, along with two field goals from Billy Pavlopoulos.
Saskatchewan's touchdowns came from Shane Dueck and Garrett
Burgess. Cole Samson kicked two field goals.
With the score 20-15 in favour of UBC late in the game,
Saskatchewan quarterback Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren was stripped of
the ball on the Huskies' 17-yard line by UBC's Alex Babalos.
“He's a fast guy so I just ran with him,” said
Babalos, of Gilbert-Knorren. “A couple of guys held him
up and we always practice running and when a guy's up with the
ball, get a rip at the ball and it came right to my lap so I was
fortunate enough to get that.”
Two plays later, with 1:21 left in the game, UBC quarterback
Billy Greene found David Scott in the end zone for a 17-yard
touchdown to make the score 27-15.
“Dave's 6'4” and the defender was backpedalling
really slowly so I knew if I put the ball up to the outside, Dave's
got some long arms and good leaping ability, I knew he was going to
come down with it,” said Greene, describing Scott's
catch.
A late Huskies touchdown to Garrett Burgess rounded out the
scoring after the ensuing onside kick was recovered by UBC.
The win set off a loud celebration among the players and the crowd
of 3,006 at Thunderbird Stadium.
“I wasn't really on in the first quarter but I knew if
I just kept on throwing the ball, it would come around,” said
Greene.
A slow 3-3 first half was characterized by missed
opportunities.
The Thunderbirds intercepted Saskatchewan starting
quarterback Trent Peterson three times in the second quarter,
including once a diving catch by Adam Konar, but could not score
any points.
But the picks from Babalos and Chris Mark did come deep in
UBC territory and killed potential scoring drives by
Saskatchewan. A fourth interception, by Thomas Harris, took
place in the final quarter with UBC up 20-6.
Mark also led the team with 8.5 tackles, while Harris had
eight tackles.
Serge Kaminsky, Martin Park and Spencer Wilson each recorded
sacks.
“Our defence played very well,” said Olson.
“It was opportunistic and solid and tackled well and did a
very solid job versus the run and that's where everything starts
for us.“
UBC took its first lead of the game when Greene threw a
three-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Grieve with 9:56 left in the
third quarter.
Then on the final play of the third quarter, Greene dove
right tackle for a one-yard touchdown plunge to increase UBC's lead
to 17-6.
Greene ended the day with 27 completions on 44 passes for 342
yards and two touchdown throws along with one TD run.
Pavlopoulos' second and final field goal of the day made it
20-6 for UBC with about 12 minutes to go but the Huskies got life
when Thunderbird Spencer Betts fumbled a punt with 7:42 left in the
game.
Gilbert-Knorren, replacing Peterson, quickly got Saskatchewan
into the end zone, when he threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Shane
Dueck.
An ensuing safety given up by UBC cut the Thunderbirds lead
to just 20-15.
Sam Adu rushed for 65 yards on ten carries for UBC while
Shuster hauled in four passes for 117 yards.
Ben Coakwell recorded 101 rushing yards on 14 carries for
Saskatchewan while Jeffrey Moore had eight catches for 137
yards.
Peterson was 16 of 28 with three interceptions, while
Gilbert-Knorren was 11 of 15 with two touchdowns and one pick.
Saturday's win marks the first time UBC has beaten
Saskatchewan in a playoff game since 1976. The losing streak
had reached eight games before being broken.
UBC will now play in the 75th Hardy Cup game, emblematic of
Canada West football supremacy, on Friday, Nov. 11 in Calgary
against the Dinos.
Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on TSN and
CiTR 101.9 FM.
Source: UBC Sports Info
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