Mounties open AUS season with 64-23 win over Acadia

The Mount Allison Mounties started the 2017 AUS football season with authority on Saturday, defeating the Acadia Axemen 64-23 in front of a jubilant home crowd at Alumni Field.  The game was a rematch of last year's Subway AUS Semi-Final where the Mounties beat Acadia to advance to their fourth straight Loney Bowl.

After Acadia opened the scoring with a 26-yard field goal from Jarett Sammure just five minutes into the game, the Mounties came storming back with three straight scoring drives of their own.  The Mounties took a 7-3 lead when sophomore quarterback Jakob Loucks found junior receiver Malik Richards in the end zone from 15 yards out.  Four minutes later the Mounties used some play action to free up senior Jarred Rawlings and Loucks hit him for a 4 yard score.  The Mounties scored again on their next possession, this time driving 53 yards with the scoring play coming when Loucks hit junior Josh Hicks from 26 yards out. 

Acadia answered back with a major of their own on the next possession, driving 90 yards on 4 plays. Cody Cluett found Eugene McMinns on the scoring play to bring the score to 21-10 for the Mounties. But the Mounties answered back on their very next possession, making it the 4^th consecutive possession where they found the end zone.  Loucks drove his team 90 yards before AUS All-Star Chris Reid scored from 7 yards out.

Subway Player of the Game Phil Thompson picked off Cluett with 8 mins remaining in the 1^st half and ran it back 29 yards for the major as the Mounties stretched their lead to 35-10.  Reid punched in his 2^nd touchdown of the afternoon, this time from 1 yard out and the Mounties picked up a rouge point from Ryan Lambert to get to 43 points in the first half.  Acadia scored on a 16 yard Cordell Hastings reception in the last minute, leaving the score 43-16 at the half.

Hastings scored his 2^nd touchdown of the afternoon early in the 3^rd quarter to round out the scoring for Acadia.

The Mounties added another touchdown from Chris Reid, his 3^rd of the day and a 30 yard touchdown from freshman Malcolm Miller. Miller's first AUS touchdown came from the arm of Troy Downton who came in the game for Loucks late in the 4^th.  Mounties kicker Ryan Lambert also hit a 46 yard field goal for the home side.

The Mounties were led offensively by 2016 U SPORTS national Rookie of the Year Jakob Loucks who went 29 of 36 for 402 yards and 3 touchdowns on the day.  The Mounties collected 34 first downs on 595 yards of total offense.  Reid had 41 yards and 3 touchdowns on 12 carries to start the year.  Eight different Mounties receivers had receptions of 10 yards or more on the day, with Richards leading the way with 126 yards on 7 catches and 1 touchdown.

For Acadia, Cluett was 21 of 39 for 247 yards. He threw for 3 touchdowns and also had 2 interceptions.  Dale Wright ran for 102 yards on 10 carries while Scott Watson led all Axemen receivers with 5 catches for 72 yards.

Mount Allison (1-0) will now travel to StFX (0-1) on Friday, September 1^st for a rematch of the Loney Bowl from the past 3 years.  Acadia (0-1) will play Bishop's in what will be the Gaiters first regular season action since joining the AUS last winter.