Huskies win big over Bishops and secure a playoff berth

(HALIFAX, NS)—Coming off a bye week, the Saint Mary's Huskies had something to prove to themselves and others.  On homecoming weekend the Huskies opened with a 55-11 win on Saturday afternoon over the Bishop's University Gaiters from Huskies Stadium.

Saint Mary's opened the scoring with a six play, 31-yard drive in 1:43 when quarterback Liam O'Brien (Parksville, BC) came in on short-yard situations and plunged in from one-yard out.

Kicker Brian Hope (Port Coquitlan, BC) added the point-after try for SMU and the Huskies led 7-0.

Bishop's defence put the Gaiters on the board with 5:32 left in the quarter when Elijah Williams (Pickering, ON) returned a Huskies fumble five yards for the major.

Vincent Dube (Montmagny, QC) kicked the PAT for Bishop's and tied the game 7-7.

Dube put Bishop's ahead when he nailed a 27-yard field goal with 47 seconds left in the quarter.

On the next play, SMU's Johnny King (Grennsboro, NC) returned the Dube kickoff 99-yards for the score and the Huskies led 14-10 after ten minutes.

The second quarter saw little scoring action other than Leonard Mantuilla's (Edmonton, AB) two-yard run, which capped off an eight play, 74-yard drive for Saint Mary's and Dube had a rouge point for Bishop's.

Saint Mary's took a 21-11 halftime lead into the locker room.

Hope added two more field-goals in the third quarter, connecting from 41 and 28 yards and built a 27-11 SMU cushion.

A team safety for the Huskies added two more points before King would get his hands on a punt return and return it 56-yards for the major.

At the end of the third quarter SMU led 36-11.

Two more team safeties for Saint Mary's sandwiched two defensive touchdowns by the Huskies'.

Antoine Lyte-Myers (Scarborough, ON) and Jabari Evans (Virginia Beach, VA) each returned interceptions for touchdowns as Lyte-Myers went 84 yards and Evans 51 for their scores.

Hope added a rouge point and SMU won 55-11.

Saint Mary's improves to 5-1 on the year and secures a playoff berth with the win.

Both teams return to action October 21^st when SMU travels to 5-2 Acadia (2pm Atlantic time) and Bishops host MTA.

Dominic Nolasco, SMU Communications

Photo Nick Pearce