Football Axemen 0-2 after lopsided loss to Laval

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Acadia football Axemen are 0-2 following a 47-1 thumping on their home field by the top-ranked Laval Rouge et Or Saturday in Wolfville.

On an afternoon that was forgettable in many ways, the Axemen trailed 23-1 at halftime, were outscored 24-0 after the intermission and ended up soundly beaten in all aspects of the game.

“We turned the ball over early, gave them good field position and it went downhill from there,” Axemen head coach Jeff Cummins said after the game. “It certainly wasn’t the way we wanted things to go today. It’s best to put it behind us and move on.”

Acadia started relatively well with a good return of the opening kickoff by Najja Coley (who was lost to injury shortly after) and a 16-yard run from scrimmage by rookie tailback Nick Lauder.

Unfortunately for the Axemen their drive stalled and it was Laval that opened the scoring on a 13-yard touchdown pass from fourth-year quarterback Benoit Groulx to Laurent Lavigne-Masse midway through the first quarter. The Rouge et Or added a pair of single points on a missed field goal and a punt to take a 9-0 lead after one quarter.

A one-yard scoring run by Guillaume Allard-Cameus made it 16-0 before Acadia got on the board when James Michener settled for a single point when his field goal attempt went wide left. Laval came roaring back, with Maxime Beland scoring on a three-yard run to make the score 23-1 at halftime.

More of the same in second half

The second half was more of the same as the Rouge et Or scored 24 unanswered points on three touchdowns (including Lavigne-Masse’s second of the game) and a field goal.

Laval’s final 520-197 edge in total offense was a good indication of what kind of day it was for the Axemen.

Groulx completed 24 of 27 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and though he ended up being sacked three times, none were game-turning plays or really anything from which Acadia could gain any momentum. Cesar Sanchez-Hernandez completed seven of eight passes for 99 yards and a touchdown in a back-up role.

Julian Feoli-Gudino was Laval’s leading receiver with 103 yards on 10 catches and one touchdown. Allard-Cameus led all rushers with 77 yards on nine carries and his TD.

For the Axemen, Keith Lockwood completed 12 of 28 passes for 105 yards before being replaced by Michener in the second half. Acadia’s quarterbacks were each intercepted once and the Axemen had one fumble recovered by Laval.

Nick Lauder had a net 32 rushing yards on 14 carries for the Axemen. Matt Carter caught four passes for 38 yards and Devon Jones, who also saw action on kickoff returns, had 30 yards on three receptions.

Defensively, Mike Rostance had eight solo tackles for Acadia, and Mike Miller, Jesse Ingalls and Chris Brown had four tackles apiece.

“We knew they’d be tough,” Cummins said afterward of the Rouge et Or, ranked first in the country. He said, “they threw the ball better than we thought they would.”

Overall, Laval “didn’t give us much, but we didn’t help ourselves a lot and make the best of the opportunities we had. We need to play a whole lot better across the board.”

Acadia will need to put Saturday’s performance behind them and refocus for their next game this coming Saturday, a 2 p.m. scheduled start on the road at St. F.X.

The weekend after that (Sept. 27), the Axemen will play their first-ever home game ‘under the lights’ at Raymond Field when they host Saint Mary’s in a 7:30 p.m. start.