Defending AUS Champion Mounties Open with 20-12 Win Over Acadia

The 2013 AUS Champion Mount Allison Mounties opened the 2014 regular season with a hard fought 20-12 victory of the Acadia Axemen at MacAulay Field on Saturday.  The win extended the regular season and playoff AUS win streak to 6 games for the Mounties. 

The winds were up at MacAulay and tough defense on both sides kept the game close until early in the fourth quarter when a 55 yard touchdown reception by 2^nd year Mountie Rodreke Joseph gave the home team the cushion they needed. 

The Mounties literally led for the entire 60 minutes as first year kicker Ryan Lambert (Grimsby, ON) launched the opening kickoff through the end zone the give the Mounties a 1-0 lead before any time had elapsed.  The Mounties added another single 4 minutes into the game when punter Kyle McLean again kicked the ball through the Acadia Axemen end zone as the Mounties took advantage of the wind in the 1st quarter.  

2013 AUS Special Teams Player of the Year Michael Bohan wasted little time making an impact on the new season as he returned a Ryan Begin punt 37 yards to the Acadia 14 yard line with 8 minutes remaining in the first quarter.  Two plays later 4^th year Mounties running back Emmanuel Musangu ran for a 6 yard touchdown to give the Mounties a 9-0 lead.  Lambert again kicked the ball through the Acadia end zone with the wind to earn another single and run the score to 10-0.

Acadia responded before the end of the first quarter, using a Ryan Begin 19 yard field goal to make the score 10-3.  With the wind in the 2^nd quarter, Acadia moved the ball well but could only manage another Begin field goal, this time from 20 yards with six minutes remaining in the 1^st half.  This would round on the scoring and put the halftime score at 10-6 for the Mounties.

With the wind in the 3^rd quarter the Mounties added to their lead, first forcing Acadia to take a safety with 9 minutes gone in the quarter.  With 46 second remaining a missed field goal by Lambert earned another single and gave the Mounties a 13-6 lead heading into the 4^th quarter.

The biggest play of the game came two minutes into the fourth quarter when Mounties QB Brandon Leyh hit Joseph on a 12 yard hitch on a 2^nd & 10 situation.  Joseph broke one tackle and then sprinted untouched for a 55 yard score.  Lambert converted the extra point and gave the defending champs a 20-6 lead.  Acadia made it interesting late when QB Jon Shaw found Brian Jones in the end zone with 15 second remaining.  Acadia missed on the two point conversion and once the onside kick attempt sailed out of bounds, the Mounties need only to take a knee to run out the clock.

Both defenses played tough all day and a key interception late by 3^rd year Mountie Jordan Redding helped preserve the win.  Matt Montgomery led the way for the Mounties with 9 tackles while linebacker Te Nguyen had 7.  Drew Morris had 7 tackles to lead the way for Acadia.  On offense, Leyh was 22 of 29 for 200 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions for the Mounties while rookie QB Jon Shaw was 28-44 for 268 yards and 1 touchdown, 1 interception for Acadia. 

The Mounties now go on the road to take on StFX next Saturday, September 13^th for a battle of undefeated teams in the young AUS season.  Acadia returns home to host Saint Mary's who lost the opener 31-7 to StFX on Friday night.