LENNOXVILLE, Que. - The StFX X-Men were propelled by a 24-point second quarter in Saturday afternoon's Bigg Bowl game to finish the day with a 48-21 victory over Bishop's in Lennoxville.
The X-Men and Gaiters faced off in 2021 AUS football action in the final regular season game at Coulter Field in the 7th edition of the Bigg Bowl. The Gaiters opened the day's scoring on a 1-yard
Louis-Philippe Gregoire (Jonquière, QC/Cégep de Jonquière) run six and a half minutes into the first quarter to cap off a thirteen play drive for 88 yards.
Eight minutes later, rookie quarterback,
Mason McGriskin (North Bay, ON/West Ferris S.S.), found
Griffin Shillingford (Winnipeg, MB/Kelvin High School) in the end zone on an 8-yard pass to double the Gaiters' lead to close out the first quarter.
The second stanza was controlled by StFX. Max Capriotti kicked a field goal one minute into the second quarter to get the X-Men on the board and then scored three straight touchdowns, the first on a 1-yard carry by quarterback Silas Fagnan. Fagnan then completed two touchdown passes to Benoit Cormier (8-yard pass and 29-yard pass) to take a 24-14 lead into the break.
Following halftime, StFX found the end zone twice more and added a field goal in the fourth quarter.
Tyler Gray (Chelsea, QC/Philemon Wright High School) responded late for the Gaiters with a 6-yard touchdown run but the X-Men proved victorious, taking the game by a score of 48-21 and securing the Bigg Bowl.
On the offense,
Louis-Philippe Gregoire (Jonquière, QC/Cégep de Jonquière) accounted for 100 yards rushing, his fourth straight game hitting the 100-yard benchmark. He leads the league in rushing with 540 total yards and averages 108 yards per game.
Mason McGriskin (North Bay, ON/West Ferris S.S.) went 9 for 21 on the day and threw for 104 yards, including one touchdown.
The Bishop's defense combined for 52 total tackles throughout the 60 minutes of play. The Gaiters were led by
Gabriel Royer (Lawrenceville, QC/Cégep de Sherbrooke) who tallied eight tackles including seven solo tackles, recorded one sack and had two tackles for loss for a combined 9 yards. Royer was named the Subway Player of the Game for his performance.
The loss drops the Gaiters to 2-3 while the X-Men extend their 2021 record to 4-0.
Prior to the game, Bishop's graduating seniors -
Maxime Bouffard (Sherbrooke, QC/Cégep de Sherbrooke),
Felix Cossette (Laval, QC/Collège Andre-Grasset),
Remi Desbiens (Sherbrooke, QC/Cégep de Sherbrooke),
Samuel Ducharme (St-Hippolyte, QC/Collège Lionel-Groulx),
Brody Ford (Napanee, ON/Napanee District S.S.),
Aarron Franklin (Los Angeles, CA/Utah State Univeristy),
Digaan Gomis (Trappes, France/Cégep de Thetford),
Cal Gray (Chelsea, QC/Philemon Wright High School),
Tyler Gray (Chelsea, QC/Philemon Wright High School),
Louis-Philippe Gregoire (Jonquière, QC/Cégep de Jonquière),
Keagan Hughes (West Kelowna, BC/M.B.S.S.),
Liam Kennedy (Nepean, ON/St. Joseph H.S.),
Alex Lemieux (Terrebonne, QC/Cégep de Lanaudière),
Brodie Majdell (Cobourg, ON/St. Mary C.S.S.),
Norman Ossohou (Paris, France/Lycée Van Gogh),
Melvin Palin (Quimper, France/Cégep de Victoriaville),
Samy Royer (Quebec City, Que./Cégep de la Pocatière) and
Chris Sabat (Whitby, ON/Trinity College School) - were honoured.
Next Up
The Gaiters head into their second bye-week of the season before facing the Mount Allison Mounties in Sackville, New Brunswick to close out the 2021 AUS regular season on November 6th.
Stay tuned to www.gaiters.ca and #GaiterNation or @BishopsGaiters on social media to follow the Gaiters.
