HALIFAX, N.S. The Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the Acadia Axemen 17-10 in Atlantic University Sport action on Saturday afternoon at Huskies Stadium.
Dave Sabourin rushed for 79 yards on 13 carries and Mike Dawes added 74 yards on 14 touches to pace the Huskies. Melvin Abankwah's 74 yard punt return touchdown at 4:44 of the 2nd quarter gave Saint Mary's a 7-3 lead they would not relinquish.
Fifth year Senior Rob Juvenville led Saint Mary's on defence with 6.5 tackles and Damone Blackman picked off Acadia quarterback Evan Brown twice to lead a staunch Huskies defense that allowed only 202 yards on the afternoon.
The Huskies led 10-3 at halftime.
Taylor Renaud was the offensive leader for Acadia with 8 receptions for 76 yards and Andrew Healy made 4 catches for 46 yards. Placekicker Ryan Begin was successful on two field goal attempts including a 36 yarder in the first quarter.
Derek Naugler and Drew Morris combined for 16 tackles for the defending AUS champions on defense.
Head Coach Jeff Cummins pointed out that both defenses played well. "Their defense played very well and took us out of what we wanted to do. They got a 15 yd TD after we fumbled it away to them on the 15yd line other than that our defense played well… the other score was a punt return that didn't help our cause so we were working from a deficit and that's not a good thing against their very good defensive front. "
Adding, "We will have to come up with a better and different offensive game plan in order to give ourselves a chance next Friday"
The Axemen dropped their first game in three weeks to fall to 2-3 on the season while the Huskies won their second in a row to move to 3-2 and in a first place tie with Saint Francis Xavier.
The teams will renew acquaintances in Wolfville this Friday night. Kickoff from Raymond Field is scheduled for 7:00. Axemen and Huskies fans can see the game live at AUStv.ca.
Submitted by Saint Mary's Sports Information