QUEBEC CITY, QC – The 32 game home winning streak continues as the Laval Rouge et Or dropped the Acadia Axemen 31-7 in front of over 15,000 fans. In their first night game in the team’s 17 year history, Laval captured their sixth win over the Axemen in six meetings, including a 2006 Uteck Bowl victory.
The Axemen, who fall to 1-1, trailed the Rouge et Or 12-6 after one half of play. Acadia’s scoring came from the foot of second year kicker Thomas Blight (Moncton, N.B.) who opened the scoring with a 37 yard field goal after Acadia’s John Wilson (Hamilton, Ont.) caused a turnover deep Laval territory on a quarterback sack.
The Rouge et Or tied the game at three with a 25 yard field goal by Boris Bede (Toulon, France) that was set up by a 31 yard punt return to the Acadia by Guillaume Rioux (Paris, France) and a four play 17 yard drive. Rioux had 9 punt returns for 121 yards.
Starting on the Axemen’s 40 yard line opening the second quarter, Laval put together a five play, 40 yard drive capped by Maxime Boutin’s (Quebec, Que.) 10 yard run to give the Rouge et Or a 10-3 lead. Boutin’s touchdown was the eventual game winner, as the Axemen added only four more points, three from a 38 yard field goal at the end of the first half. The Axemen gave up two points at the beginning of the second quarter, giving Laval a 12-6 lead at the half.
Only able to piece together 198 yards net offense in the game, the Axemen offense struggled in the second half, allowing the Rouge et Or to possess the ball for 36 minutes of the 60 minute game.
Laval, on the other hand, were able to post 326 net offensive yards that included 232 yards in the air and 114 yards on the ground. Doubling Acadia’s first downs with 23 compared to the Axemen’s 11, Laval scored their second major of the night on a 10 play, 97 yard drive that was ended with a 12 yard Seydou Junior Haidara (Quebec, Que.) reception from Tristan Grenon (Quebec, Que.) at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter.
Following an Acadia rouge, Laval scored their third and final touchdown off of a Kyle Graves’Β Β (Barrie, Ont.) pass intercepted by Maxim Ducap-KamaraΒ Β (LβIslet, Que.) and returned 24 yards to Acadia’s 48 yard line. An eight play 48 yard drive delivered a Mathew Norzil (Montreal, Que.) touchdown reception to pull the Rouge et Or to an insurmountable 26-7 lead.
Laval would add an additional 33 yard field goal by Boris Bede and a team safety to complete sixth meeting between both teams.
Fourth year pivot Tristan Grenon was 23 for 46, posting 220 yards in passing, while fifth year Axemen quarterback Kyle Graves 17 for 32 for 174 yards and one interception. Acadia’s Taylor Renaud (Winnipeg, M.B.) led all receivers with 8 receptions for 96 yards, while Mathew Nozril led Laval with six catches for 65 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively the Axemen were led by senior linebacker Ed McNally (Moncton, N.B.) who offered eight solo tackles and four assisted tackles. Defensive linemen Jerrett Laycock (Riverview, N.B.), Kirby Fletcher (Grimshaw, Alta.) and John Wilson each had a quarterback sack.
Acadia Head coach Jeff Cummins was disappointed by the outcome. βWe started out the way we wanted to by moving the ball but couldnβt sustain much offense. Our defense kept us in the game for a long time and eventually they had to give up some pointsβ. Cummins added, βWe will be better down the road and use this experience to growβ.
The Axemen will regroup and hope to break .500 with a win against Saint Mary’s this coming weekend in Halifax. The Huskies dropped to 0-2 with a last minute loss to the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. The AUS was 0-4 in the Quebec-AUS interlock with Mount Allison losing to McGill, while StFX lost to Concordia.
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