Gaiters fall to Axemen in Loney Bowl
Veteran Acadia running back Dale Wright scored three touchdowns en route to being named game MVP as the Axemen beat the Bishop's Gaiters 31-1 on a brisk Saturday in Wolfville, N.S in the 2019 Subway AUS Loney Bowl presented by Keep it Social.
The victory propels Acadia to the Uteck Bowl while the Gaiters season comes to a close.
Acadia took advantage of a pair of Gaiters punting miscues to score the only points of the first quarter. Bishop's punter Guillaume Trottier (Lévis, Que./cégep de Lévis-lauzon) fumbled a snap on the opening drive of the game on his 28-yard line but Trottier and the Gaiters defense held strong and forced a field goal from there. After a short punt later in the quarter, Bishop's conceded a safety. The defense also stopped Acadia on third down twice the opening 15 minutes.
The first turning point of the game came midway through the second stanza. Acadia had extended their lead to 12-0 and Bishop's elected to go for it on third-and-short on their own 19-yard line. They were stopped. Once again the
Gaiters defense forced a field goal.
Wright scored his second touchdown of the game with 2:14 left in the first half to propel Acadia to a 22-0 halftime lead.
Out of the break Alexandre Prevost intercepted Axeman quarterback Hunter Guenard on the first play from scrimmage at Acadia's 40-yard line. Bishop's seemingly had life. Gaiters quarterback Charles Aubry (Laval, Que./college Lionel-groulx) connected with Nathan Walker (Brampton, Ont./st. Roch C.S.S.) for 22 yards but was injured on the next play as he scrambled. A delay of game penalty and missed field goal later, Bishop's scored their single point.
Acadia answered by driving eight plays and 75 yards, capped by Wright's third major of the game. That gave Acadia a 29-1 lead and they never looked back. They went onto a 31-1 victory.
The Axemen dominated on the stats sheet as well as the scoreboard. They had 486 yards of total offense to 158 by Bishop's. They ran 71 offensive plays and earned 26 first downs compared to 54 and nine for Bishop's.
Wright finished with 20 carries for 118 yards and the three majors while Guenard was 18-33 for 269 yards for Acadia.
For Bishop's Aubry went 12-18 for 111 yards while Walker led the team in receiving with five catches for 74 yards. On defense 2019 AUS all-star Louve Moussenguet (St-jerome, Que./cégep de Stjérôme) recorded 10 tackles and Trottier had 9.5 and a pass breakup.
The Axemen will now host the winner of the Dunsmore Cup between Montreal and Laval next Saturday in the
Uteck Bowl while Bishop's will move onto the recruiting season.
Saturday marked the first time since 1994 the Gaiters were competing for a championship. At 4-4, the 2019 season was their most successful since 2013 (62).
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