The Concordia Stingers were looking to improve on their 0-2 start to the season but fell 35-18 to the St. Francis Xavier X-Men at home on Saturday afternoon.
The game didn’t start as the Stingers would have hoped though they seemed dominant in the first five minutes of the game, driving down the field in a flash. However, Concordia fell 0-7 in the first quarter after quarterback Reid Quest was picked off by X-Men defensive back Demetrius Ferguson, who ran 103 yards for the interception and the touchdown.
But the Stingers stuck to their game plan and their defense helped them out by making the X-Men go three and out on their next three plays. A couple of drives later, Quest found Jamal Hyman for a 27-yard touchdown pass and the game was tied at seven apiece.
In the second quarter, the Stingers defense pinned the X-Men offense on their own goal line, where the X-Men decided to take a safety when Xavier quarterback Clay Masikewich snapped the ball and took a knee, making it 9-7 Stingers and giving them their first lead of the game.
On the following drive, the Stingers got the ball to the 30-yard line but fell short on downs. That’s when kicker Keegan Treloar kicked a 38-yard field goal to increase the Stingers lead to 12-7.
On the X-Men’s next drive, they got into Stingers territory but failed to convert as the defense kept strong, holding them to a field goal attempt. X-Men kicker Jeremy Ford couldn’t convert on the field goal, so they were awarded one point, making the score 12-8 for Concordia.
Treloar then gave the Stingers a 15-8 lead with a 31-yard field goal on the Stingers next drive.
The X-Men took their first lead of the game when wide receiver Devon Bailey completed a 20-yard touchdown pass from Masikewich early in the third quarter, making it 16-15 St. Francis Xavier.
The lead didn’t last long as Treloar scored another field goal, this time all the way from 42 yards out. The Stingers took a 18-16 lead.
A couple of drives later, Ford kicked another field goal to once again gain a one-point lead. The game was now 19-18 for the X-Men.
In the fourth quarter, the X-Men were driving early when Masikewich found wide receiver Jordan Catterall, who ran for the 50-yard touchdown. The X-Men took a 26-18 lead in this up-and-down battle.
The touchdown seemed to take the wind out of the Stingers offense as they couldn’t produce anymore offense and once again the X-Men took over the game.
With two minutes left in the game, Catterall was thrown to again and he ran a whopping 85 yards for the touchdown, giving the X-Men a 33-18 lead. The game ended with a safety converted by Sanmi Adereti for another two points, which made it 35-18 for the X-Men.
After the game, Stingers head coach Gerry McGrath said he saw improvement in his team. He was pleased with the special teams but he said they needed to work on defense and interceptions.
