Huskies headed to back-to-back Vanier Cups

Game Summary

Over 2,000 fans packed into St. FX Stadium, on a beautiful and sunny Saturday Afternoon, which saw temperatures rise to +3 degrees Celsius.

1st Quarter: St. FX won the opening coin toss and deferred to Saskatchewan, kicking the ball away to start the game.

The first scoring chance of the game came early, as it was the X-Men who had ended up missing a 35-yard field goal attempt at 11:58 of the first quarter.

That led to the actual first score of the game, after a 12-play, 65-yard drive from the Huskies’, resulting in a 32-yard field goal from David Solie, with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter, putting U of S up 3-0.

2nd Quarter: St. FX was the next team to strike, however, it wasn’t for as much as they originally thought.

The X-Men looked like they had taken the lead after a 24-yard pass to the endzone, which was then held up by a holding call.

After another St. FX penalty, this time for offensive pass interference, which sent them back another 15-yards, they eventually put themselves into field goal position and kicked a 32-yarder to tie the game up at threes, with 10:53 left in the second frame.

The X-Men would then go on to take their first (and only) lead of the game with 4:38 remaining in the first half, in large thanks to their defence, which forced a fumble from Jordin Rusnack and put their offence on the Sask 37-yard line.

This led to a 17-yard field goal from Ben Hadley, which put the X-Men up 6-3.

Saskatchewan looked like they had responded quickly, as they drove the length of the field, however, ended up fumbling again, this time from Ted Kubongo at the X-Men’s 1-yard line.

The Huskies, however, made sure this game was tied up, heading into halftime, after their defence made quick work and got their offence back on the field, which set up a buzzer-beating 36-yard field goal from David Solie, to tie the game at sixes.

3rd Quarter: U of S started with the ball to begin the second half and finally looked to get their offence rolling, scoring the first major of the game by either team.

It was an 11-play, 89-yard drive, which was capped off by Ryker Frank, going for six yards in three plays, each a two-yard run, leaving 8:50 on the clock in the third frame and putting his team up 13-6.

The X-Men would then take just over six minutes to tie this game, a five-play, 64-yard drive, capped off by a quarterback scramble of 19 yards, from Silas Fagnan.

4th Quarter: The last 15 minutes of action was the story of today’s game, as the U of S used a huge 4th quarter effort, outscoring St. FX 23-6 in the final frame, which broke a 13-all game after 45 minutes of play.

The turning point began, with the St. FX offence on the field, at their own 12-yard line and the Sask defence hanging in tough, which forced the X-Men to take a team safety, giving the ball to the Huskies and putting them up by two, 15-13.

That very next drive, the U of S offence displayed the biggest offensive play of the day, a 41-yard touchdown pass from Mason Nyhus to Daniel Wiebe, capping off a four-play, 75-yard drive and extending the Dogs’ lead to 22-13, with 6:26 remaining in the game.

With Saskatchewan now up by nine, it seemed like do-or-die time for the St. FX X-Men, who ultimately shot themselves in the foot, when a Silas Fagnan pass was intercepted by John Stoll and returned 26 yards to the house, for the pick-six, nearly putting this game on ice, as the Huskies put themselves up by 16, 29-13, with just over five minutes remaining.

To the X-Men’s credit, however, they didn’t quit, as they immediately put up a five-play, 85-yard drive, ending with a 38-yard pass to Ben Harrington, for the major.

Unfortunately, St. FX truly lost this game, when they were unable to convert a two-point conversion, basically sealing their fate, as they were now down by two scores, 29-19, with only 3:01 left on the game clock.

The U of S was then sure to put the hammer down and close the book, as they amassed an eight-play, 71-yard drive, leading to a 26-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Perry, the final score of the game, as Saskatchewan took a 36-19 lead, with less than a minute left.

For good measure, Huskies’ Finn Marcotte-Cribb, got in on the action, intercepting a Silas Fagnan pass attempt, to officially end the game and let the Dogs run out the 35 seconds remaining on the clock.

Post Game

John Stoll was named the Uteck Bowl’s Defensive Player of the Game, in large part due to his defensive touchdown.

John Stoll after the game with his family and award (Wray Morrison/HuskieFAN)

Stoll told HuskieFAN he and his teammates are right where they want to be, however, the job still isn’t finished.

“We definitely thought all year that we need to be here and we got here and so everybody’s happy to be here, but we’re not satisfied yet. We got one more, so we got to get after it.”

He also spoke about the game-defining play.

“They just kind of ran it and they’d run it a couple of times and we made an adjustment and it worked out. I was just able to kind of get it and slip in and it worked out that there was nobody in the way. Huge jumps to our coaching staff to kind of make that adjustment to get me in the right spot.”

HuskieFAN also spoke to William (Charlie) Parks, a first-year university player, who had two solo tackles and a sack for a loss of nine yards.

He said he’s been waiting for a moment like this and has been trying to make the most of his opportunities.

“Pressure makes diamonds, I guess. I’ve been just waiting, biding my time until I just get my shot and like, just go out there and give the best effort I can.”

And despite never having played in playoff games of this magnitude, he like Stoll knew the expectations of this group and that they weren’t going to settle for anything else.

“Of course it’s sick and all, getting to go to the Vanier, as a first year and stuff, but like, I mean, we kind of expected it, and we prepared to play 15 weeks. Now that we’re playing in week 15, obviously, it’s exciting, but we’re more focused on just going to break down the film of Western or Laval, whoever wins that game tonight and see what we can do next week.”

Player Performances

Mason Nyhus lead the game in passing yards with 327, going 30-38 on completions, and throwing two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Ryker Frank lead the game in rushing yards with 134, which included a touchdown.

And finally, the Dynamic Daniels, (Wiebe and Perry), combined for 12 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns (each had six catches and a major, Wiebe had 117 yards, while Perry had 60).

Up Next

As for next week, the Huskies will head to Western Alumni Stadium, at Western University in London, Ont. for the 57th edition of the Canada Life Vanier Cup.

Kickoff will begin at 12 p.m. noon, Saskatchewan time and can be heard on HuskieFAN.ca, the HuskieFAN app and the HuskieFAN radio networks.

Update: The U of S will face Laval after they beat Western 27-20 in the Mitchell Bowl.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8

by Ben Tompkins

Huskies headed to back-to-back Vanier Cups

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