AUS: Huskies host defending champions to kick off 2013 season in Loney Bowl rematch
The AUS football season will officially kick off this evening with a rematch of the 2012 Loney Bowl championship.
The Saint Mary’s Huskies host the two time defending conference champions, the Acadia Axemen at Huskies Stadium. Kickoff is 7:00pm.
Huskies Head Coach Perry Marchese said that the team welcomes their opponent and expects it to be another classic match between the two teams. The last time these two teams met was the 2012 Loney Bowl where the Axemen came away with a 17-9 victory over the Huskies
“We’re really looking forward to it,” commented Marchese. “We had four great games against them last year.”
As for what the Huskies are expecting from the Axemen, Marchese said there is some uncertainty as to what the offensive and defensive units will do but to look for some similarities from last year’s championship squad. This is in spite of trying to prepare for this game using previous game footage.
“It’s tough to say,” expressed the Huskies Head Coach. “We prepared off of last year’s film as much as possible but mind you the defenses and some of the things they did in Week 1 or 2 against us were way different by the end.”
“We went through our first game plan against Acadia and there were lots of pass options and pass concepts. By the end of the season, there wasn’t a whole lot of pass so it’s really tough to compare. I know we have a pretty good idea of their philosophy defensively. We’re trying to find a couple of twists that they might do and try to stay ahead of the game a little but you never know until you get up and running early on anywhere. They’ve had a spring camp and a training camp to do different things so the first game is the most aware as a coach and it does alert to something different and something new. We don’t expect them to line up like they did last year. There will be some similarities on offense. For their offense, they were the top dogs last year and we don’t expect too much different from their defense. They’ll use some twists, some different athletes, but we’ll find out.”
Axemen Head Coach Jeff Cummins commented that the team is expecting the Huskies’ run game to make an appearance, spearheaded by their depth at the quarterback position.
“I expect them to try to run the football,” assessed Cummins. “They’re strong in the backfield returning (Melvin) Abankwah and (Mike) Dawes .”
“They do return four or five guys on the offensive line that played a lot for them so I expect them to be extremely physical. They always are. The quarterbacks are going to head the field more than they did last year. They’re no longer going to be the one-headed monster. They can throw the ball now and they’re going to surround on offense. It’s going to be a different look for them. Good for them. I’m really excited for those guys.”
The Huskies depth at quarterback would make any team envious. Marchese said the quarterbacks have a great relationship with each other.
“The nice thing about these guys is that they really get along,” added Marchese. “Our meetings are fun, not that they weren’t fun last year but this group, they really get along”
“We’re having a blast learning, educating and really getting to know each other but they’re a great group. They even said it’s a fun type group.”
Ben Rossong will be the starting quarterback in tonight’s game.
“Ben has exceeded expectations thus far,” commented Marchese. “He’s been awesome on the field and he’s our 1A.”
While Jack Creighton is back with the team, he is still not physically conditioned and thus this played a small part in the Huskies decision to go with Rossong as starter.
“Jack realty was back and forth the last six months on whether he was or wasn’t coming back so he really did not officially decide until two or three days before training camp opened and probably a little bit because he’s getting older and he’s got to move on, wanted to take a few more courses and his health was a concern,” explained Marchese. “He’s gotten clearance from the doctors and medical staff but given that he’s probably a little physically behind, he’s probably not the shape he should be in this time of year, especially a sixth year guy so that’s weighing in a little bit on the decision of who the starter is.”
“I’d be crazy not to have a fifth/sixth year quarterback come back again who’s had all kinds of success to keep him around.”
However, the Huskies two other quarterbacks – Drew Jacobson and rookie Scott Borden are equally continuing to impress on the field.
“Drew came back last in way better shape than last year,” said Marchese. He started in four or five games for us last year and he’s in great shape and competed hard in training camp.”
“Scott came in and when he committed to us fairly early, he hung around the dressing room and people said “are you in your fourth year?”. He acts like he’s been here for four years already and he played like he’s in his fourth year late in the exhibition game. His decisions were bang on, great throws and took some hits. Sometimes for a quarterback they have to take some hits and you want to see how they react to it. Do they want to come off and not play anymore or do they want to go out and get hit again. He did everything.”
As for the Axemen, Evan Brown will get the nod as starter and Cummins said its time for Brown to seize the starting opportunity.
“He’s been waiting for this opportunity,” commented the Axemen Head Coach. “He was a great quarterback in CEGEP at Champlain.”
“Unfortunately, he came into a situation where we had Kyle (Graves) and we had Keith Lockwood. Evan’s first year was Keith’s last year so we’ve had some good quarterbacks in front. He just hasn’t had the opportunity, just little bits and pieces here. If he was better than the MVP, then he would have played but obviously that wasn’t the case and now he has his opportunity to shine but I think he’s going to do really well. He’s a great kid with a great personality, always smiling, laughing and joking. Now, it’s his time to step in.”
As for the defensive battle this evening, the Axemen are expecting to be challenged by the Huskies unit.
“Defensively, they’re extremely tough up front,” evaluated Cummins. “Their front four, they’re as good as anybody in the country.”
I would defer to them as the best defensive front four in our conference. Their returning defensive backs with the exception of Neil King. They have an extremely talented back end as well. The strength of their team will be their defense once again.”
Marchese said the Huskies defense will be game ready this season.
“Defensively, there is not too much turnover in terms of players,” assessed the Huskies Head Coach. “Our defense will play them tough.”
With new Defensive Coordinator Marcello Simmonds bring in a new system, the players are adjusting and will continue to do so as the season progresses this fall.
“System wise, it’s going to be tough because he’s doing two different things and it will take a little bit for the guys to understand it,” added Marchese. “He’s an unbelievable guy, he’s an amazing football coach but he’s a great guy and a better person.”
“The guys love him right away. I never thought it would be an issue but it will take a little bit for the guys to understand his style and his system but the guys are taking to him.”
On the Axemen, Nova Scotia rookie Adam Melanson will play in the game tonight and Cummins sees an extremely bright future for the defensive star.
“I hope he plays a lot,” said Cummins. “As of right now, we’ve pencilled him in to start.”
“He came in to camp in reasonable shape. I don’t think he was in the best shape he could have been in. He’s still young, he’s still learning at the CIS level. There are times he gets knocked around a little bit but he’s just playing with men so it’s a different story with him but I expect that he’ll grow throughout the course of the year. He’s a very, very smart football player. He has a father that’s a coach so he‘s been around the game a long time and he’s spent a lot of time with us at the university. He’s been biding his time and he’s finally there.. He’s very excited to play and I expect him to have an impact on what we’re doing here but we’re not expecting him to be the only guy out there so it will take a lot of pressure off him. I think he’s just going to be able to be a guy as opposed to the big superstar. Over the course of his career, he will step up and be that guy but for now, he just needs to be a football player.”
While the Huskies are more balanced on offensive this season, there is some uncertainty with special teams in spite of the fact it appears that kicker Chase Kodejs has filled the void left by last year’s team MVP Brett Lauther.
“ I love Chase and he is going to have a great career but Brett was our team MVP last year so we don’t expect Chase to be team MVP this year but there is a little bit of pressure on him this year,” expressed Marchese. “He knows it.”
“A little bit of a question mark with special teams this year but other than that, we’re ready to go.”
A concurrent criticism is that the AUS has lost its competitive edge. Cummins does not agree that the conference is lacking competitiveness.
“I would challenge anybody who to be put in our spot,” commented Cummins. “I don’t necessarily think we’ve lost our competitiveness.”
“When people challenge our competitiveness, we don’t unfortunately get a chance to play everyone in the country. I’d love to play against all these teams. If we’re not competitive, then the other 58 other teams aren’t competitive either so I would challenge that notion. Regardless of the situation, you will always have naysayers.”
Marchese was direct in his response to the notion.
“It’s just noise,” said the Huskies Head Coach. “I don’t pay too much attention to the noise.”
“We know how hard we’re going to work, we know how we’re going to treat people, and we know how we’re going to do things.”
Both the Huskies and Axemen will illustrate the competitiveness in the AUS tonight as they take to the field. Ultimately, the Huskies have one expectation that they will try to succeed in achieving this fall.
“You’re expectation is to win every game you play in,” explained Marchese. “It really is.”
“You prepare to win every game you play in. Over the course of 10 years, you’re not going to win every game you play in; it’s not a reality anywhere but that’s what you do and I wouldn’t say our expectation is to go 8-0 but our expectation is to prepare to win every game we play in this year. I have no idea what our final record will be but I know we’re going to try to win the conference. We’re doing a disservice to our players, our coaches, our fans and the Huskies family so that is our goal.”
1o YEAR BOWL RECORD OTHER CONFERENCES VS AUS: 8-3 (since 2011)
PREVIOUS BOWL RESULTS:
2012 – Uteck Bowl Laval Rouge et Or 42, Acadia Axemen 7
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Photo credits:
All Photos – Mona Ghiz, Ghiz Photography www.Ghizphotography.com
Abankwah photo – Joe Chrvala
Melanson photo – Acadia Axemen Sports Information
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