X-Men drop home opener to Stingers

On their opening drive, the visitors from Montreal scored on a 24-yard passing play from Reid Quest (26-44-266) to Jesse McPhail (4-43). The pass-and-catch culminated a 10-play, 86-yard scoring drive, which included several key running plays from Mike Donnelly (12-87).

The blue and white responded with a 25-yard field goal from Jeremy Ford.

Before the end of the first quarter, the Stingers extended the lead to 14-3 on a Quest four-yard TD pass to Matt Scheurwater.

The X-Men responded early in the second quarter, slicing the advantage to 14-10 on a three-yard touchdown scamper by Ashton Dickson (24-96), his first of two major scores on the day. He earned player-of-the-game honours for the home side.

The Stingers answered less than two minutes later, establishing a 17-10 lead on a 16-yard field goal from Keegan Treloar. Kicker Jeremy Ford then booted a 24 yard field goal to pull the X-Men to within four points but that would be as close as they would come as Treloar replied with three consecutive three-point kicks. The final one gave Concordia a 26-13 lead halfway through the third quarter.
The X-Men conceded a third quarter safety to the Stingers and Treloar kicked a 20 yard field goal to increase the lead to 31-13.

On the final play of the third, Dickson ended a four play, 75-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown for the X-Men. A point-after by Ford sliced the Stingers’ lead to 29-20.

The Stingers scored all the fourth quarter points, including a TD pass from Quest, his third of the game, to Mike Harrington, along with Treloar’s sixth field goal – a 37-yarder. The kicker was the Stingers’ player of the game.

For the blue and white, first-year quarterback Clay Masikewich was 14-26-216, with 33 yards on 11 carries.

Devon Bailey caught five balls for 70 yards, while Jordan Catterall corralled four catches for 82 yards, including one for 54 from Masikewich.

Harrington led the Stingers with eight catches for 70 yards.

On the defensive side, back Dylan Hollohan, in his first home action in more than one year, led the X-Men with 10 tackles, while veteran linebacker Brett Hubbeard notched 7.5 tackles and 0.5 sacks. Brendan Hamilton, who replaced injured linebacker Ron Omara, recorded two tackles and 0.5 sacks.

Omara left the game with an apparent leg injury after getting tangled up in the pile on the first play of the game. For the X-Men, defensive lineman Nate Annan left the game in the third quarter and did not return.

Travis Bent and Max Caron led the Stingers with nine tackles apiece, with Caron chipping in one sack.

The X-Men (1-1) will return to action Saturday when they visit Sackville, NB, to face the Mount Allison Mounties. StFX opened the regular season with a 51-5 win over the same club. The Stingers improve to 2-1 and will face the Bishops Gaiters next Saturday.

The blue and white will be back on the Oland Stadium turf Saturday, September 29, when they host the Saint Mary’s Huskies for Homecoming. Game time is 2 p.m.

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