Acadia defense and specials come up big in fourth quarter

WOLFVILLE, NS – The return of former Acadia head coach Sonny Wolf to the Wolfville campus as head coach of the McGill Redmen was soured by a 38-9 loss to the host Axemen. Wolf, who earned his stripes as a seasoned head coach for nearly 20 years at Acadia, was honoured by fans and Acadia’s newly appointed Director of Athletics, Kevin Dickie, at today’s first meeting of the Redmen and Axemen on Acadia’s historic Raymond Field.

While the pregame pageantry was pleasant, the on-field outcome was less than acceptable for the Redmen.
Acadia jumped on the scoreboard first at 4:14 of the opening quarter, as punt returner Mike Rostance returned a 48 yard Tomas Silvo punt for 56 yards deep into McGill territory, setting up a 11 yard touchdown run for senior running back Brett Haenni. Haenni, who pulled together 74 yards on 11 carries, left the game at the mid-point of the second quarter with a suspected broken hand.
Acadia stretched the lead to 14 points on a five play, 108 yard drive that was capped by a 58 yard reception for the major by fourth year Axeman Taylor Renaud who added 126 yards and one touchdown in receiving to Acadia’s net offense of 328 yards.
With the halftime score resting at 14-0 for the host Axemen, McGill scripted a 74 yard drive beginning at the 11 minute mark of the third quarter to close the gap to seven points on a three yard quarterback sneak by replacement pivot Ryne Bondy who stepped in for starter Dallon Kuprowski late in the second quarter.
The third quarter McGill major would be their first and last on the day, adding only a two point safety in the fourth quarter.
Bondy’s major was matched by a Zach Clarke five yard touchdown run in the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter to give Acadia a 21-7 advantage, followed 31 seconds later by a Tom Labenski interception for a 37 yard dash to the end zone.
Rookie kicker Robert Begin added a 35 yard field goal at the 12 minute mark of the final frame, while a blocked punt, returned by Acadia’s Zach Clarke, completed the day’s scoring. As a running back, Clarke offered 11 carries for 28 yards and two touchdowns to the Axemen point total.
The Redmen posted a strong passing game with 288 net yards, but only 32 yards rushing and for the most part of the day had to deal with the onslaught of Axemen in a high pressure defense that posted three sacks for a loss of 31 yards and three interceptions. McGill pivot Ryne Bondy was 24 for 42 attempts, posting a game high 256 yards passing, but one of two interceptions by Bondy led to the eventual “back-breaking” touchdown by Labenski.
Acadia head coach Jeff Cummins was pleased with the only win this weekend by an AUS team in the annual Interlock weekend between the Quebec and AUS conferences.
“Our special teams and defense played exceptionally well to allow us to limit the points scored by McGill. The offense scored when we needed them too and our turnovers were eliminated”, pointed out Cummins. “We are happy with the win but we still need to improve based on only two games thus far”.
The Axemen improve to 2-0 and host the winless StFX X-Men this coming Saturday night for their second meet of the opening half of the season, while McGill heads home with a 0-3 record to take on the CIS #1 ranked Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City next weekend.
Source: Acadia Sports Info