CIS No. 1 Laval drops Axemen 26-14

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The CIS No. 1 ranked Laval Rouge et Or remain undefeated after three weeks of play in the RSEQ football conference after posting a 26-14 win over the unranked Acadia Axemen in one of four games this past weekend in AUS-RSEQ interlock play.

Boris Bede hammered home three field goals from the 29, 27 and 24 yard lines to give the Rouge et Or a six point lead in the closing minutes of the first half.

Pascal Lochard opened the scoring eleven minutes into the first quarter on a five yard toss by starting Tristin Grenon that capped a 55 yard, 7 play drive. Grenon was 10 for 17 for 109 yards on the day and was later replaced by Alex Skinner.

Bede added the first two of three field goals to give Laval a 13-0 lead ninth minute mark of the second quarter.

Not giving up in the closing seconds of the second quarter, the Axemen sent runningback Thomas Troop scampering in for the 18 yard major with just over five minutes remaining in the half. The touchdown ended an 87 yard drive that included a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty on a 19 yard pass reception by Acadia's Andrew Healy.

The third quarter only saw a rouge scored by Laval that bumped the lead to 14-7, but the final frame included the final field goal by Laval's Bede and a Felix Lachasseur 2 yard reception from replacement quarterback Alex Skinner at the eight minute mark of the fourth quarter.

Laval's final points were a team safety after an Acadia snap over the head of senior quarterback Evan Brown soared into the end zone causing Acadia fans to rise in panic.

With 2:54 remaining in the game, 2012 AUS rookie of the year, Thomas Troop added his second touchdown of the day on a 1 yard dive into the end zone to end the scoring at 26-14.

The Rouge et Or posted 388 net yards of offense compared to Acadia's 240, but 136 yards in penalties evened the playing field compared to 77 yards in penalties experienced by the Axemen. Troop out-rushed Pascal Lochard's 90 yards on the ground with a game high 94 yards on 14 carries, while Acadia starting quarterback Evan Brown - AUS two-time AUS Most Valuable Player Kyle Graves' under-study for the last two seasons - had a game high 154 yards in passing and was 23 for 38 in the air with one interception.

Acadia's head coach Jeff Cummins was happy with the effort but had words on the future development of the team. "I think we grew as a team and got better today but wasn't exactly what I was looking for; however we got better on offense and we played strong on defense. We played well on special teams".

Cummins added, "I just want to keep growing game in and game out until the end of the season so we are playing our best football by week eight. We are not where we want to be. I am not happy with the loss and don't get gratification from a moral victory. We are better today and I can be happy with that, but the bottom line is that we are 0-2."

The Axemen will hit the road next weekend and will be in Antigonish to take on the 2-0 StFX X-Men. Acadia dropped StFX 19-15 in preseason play on August 30. The Rouge et Or will prepare to take on the No. 4 ranked Montreal Carabins next Sunday at home in Quebec.