A Uteck Bowl preview. Huskies prepare for a Saturday visit to St. FX
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The Huskie football team is heavily favoured to claim Saturday’s Uteck Bowl at St. FX Stadium in Antigonish, Nova Scotia on Saturday. The AUS champion ST. FX X-Men were beaten by last year’s Vanier Cup champions, the Western Mustangs, 61-6 in last year’s Mitchell Bowl. (Western went on to beat Saskatchewan, 27-21, in 2021 the Vanier Cup.)
To no one’s surprise, Huskies head coach Scott Flory’s take is a little different when it comes to Saturday’s match up against the X-Men. “They are a well coached team. They’re sound”, said Flory. St. FX finished the 2022 season with an 8 and 0 regular season record, then defeated Mount Allison 21-14 in the Loney Bowl. (AUS Championship game.) 2nd year running back Malcom Bussey had 116 yards and one touchdown in the league final. “Bussey is a real good player”, said Flory. “They run a lot of two back stuff and four receiver sets. It’s not quite a spread out as we see in the west.”
There is some noticeable western representation on the St. FX roster. Starting quarterback Silas Fagnan is from Bonneyville, Alberta. Fagnan led the Atlantic conference in passing averaging 241.9 yards per game this season. Starting defensive back Brandyn Martin is a Melfort product, who played football with the Regina Thunder. X-Men head coach Gary Waterman has four other starters, from last weekend’s Loney Bowl, that come from either Alberta or B.C.
Flory admits that there is an element of unknown when you play out of conference games in USports football. “You don’t know them, you don’t know their competition”, said Flory, who has never been to Antigonish. “I’m doing my best to visualize it for the guys.” Flory did joke that Google Earth has played a role in preparing for Saturday’s game. Flory’s limited experience with the AUS involves being a player for the Huskies when they defeated the X-Men in the 1996 Vanier Cup.
