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HEADLINES
Football: Gaiters travel to St. Francis Xavier for "Bigg"
game October 15, 2009
Download the full game notes here (pdf) THIS WEEK: The Bishop’s Gaiters (1-4) face the No. 6-ranked St. Francis Xavier X-Men (5-0) in the third renewal of the Bigg Bowl series. FOLLOW, FOLLOW: Fans can follow all Gaiters action at http://www.ubishops.ca/gaiters or at http://www.twitter.com/BishopsGaiters. NOTHING BUT ‘NET: Saturday’s game will be broadcast on SSN Canada (http://www.ssncanada.ca). Links will be available from the Gaiters website on Saturday. THE RECORDS: The Gaiters are 1-4, with their sole win coming at McGill in Week 3. The X-Men are undefeated, having picked up two wins over Acadia, to go with single victories over Saint Mary’s, Mount Allison and Concordia. LAST TIME OUT: Austin Anderson’s 28-yard field goal with 41 seconds left gave the McGill Redmen a 21-19 victory over the Gaiters at Coulter Field. A rain-soaked Homecoming crowd of 2,570 saw a game that featured four lead changes, with both teams having chances to win in the last three minutes. For Bishop’s, Jesse Andrews went 12-for-23 for 236 yards with a touchdown pass and a touchdown run. Matt Burke led the Gaiters’ ground attack, with 18 carries for 84 yards, while Andrews ran eight times for 47 yards. Steven Turner was the Gaiters’ leading receiver, with three catches for 71 yards. BIGG BOWL: This is the third playing of the Bigg Bowl series, and the Gaiters will be looking to take the Canon H.R. Bigg Bowl trophy for the first time. The trophy was donated through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Brian McA’nulty, and honours the Reverend H.R. Bigg, who was the Rector of St. Peter’s Church in Sherbrooke from 1915-1940. His son-in-law, Colonel M. W. McA'Nulty, was the Commanding Officer of the Bishop's Cadet Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) in 1936. Colonel McA'Nulty is Brian McA’Nulty’s grandfather. Brian McA'Nulty attended St. Francis Xavier University, while their daughter Shannon, a great grand-daughter of Cannon Bigg, is a graduate of Bishop’s. THE SERIES: The Gaiters are 0-2 lifetime against the X-Men. The first meeting was on October 19, 2002, when the Gaiters defeated Bishop’s 22-7 at Coutler Field. The only meeting in Antigonish was a 50-17 St. FX win on Oct. 23, 2004. This will be Gaiters’ Head Coach Leroy Blugh’s first game against St. FX, the last QUFL or AUS team he has yet to face. LAST MEETING: On Oct. 23, 2004, Marvin McCooty ran 29 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns to lead the X-Men to a 50-17 victory over the Gaiters at Oland Stadium. Nick Chessa threw three touchdown passes, as he completed 14 of 19 passes for 262 yards in the blowout win. For the Gaiters, Justin Kimmel scored a pair of late rushing touchdowns, as he finished with 12 carries for 57 yards. The Gaiters were held to only 226 total yards, while St. FX ran up 545. INTERLOCK’S THE KEY: The Gaiters have gone 3-7 since the QUFL-AUS Interlock began in 2002. The first interlock match for the Gaiters was the meeting with St. FX in 2002. The Gaiters’ first win came two years later—a 25-13 win over Mount Allison. In eight seasons, the Gaiters have gone 0-2 vs. Saint Mary’s, 2-1 vs. Mount Allison, 1-2 vs. Acadia and 0-2 vs. St. FX. BLUENOSING: This will be the Gaiters’ fifth trip to Nova Scotia. The first recorded visit came in a pre-season game against Acadia on September 6, 1987, with a return trip down east following a year later as the Gaiters played in the 1988 Atlantic Bowl. Bishop’s is 2-3 in Nova Scotia all-time.
DOWN THE STRETCH:
Coming out of the QUFL bye week, No. 1 Montreal and No. 2
Laval appear to be comfortably in the playoffs with four wins apiece,
leaving the remaining four teams to fight it out for the final two
spots. Here’s a look at each team’s remaining schedule: GO DEEP!: The Gaiters currently hold down the #1, #4 and #5 spots in the QUFL in yards per catch. Steven Turner leads the league with an average of 18.8 yards per catch, while Shawn Gore is fourth at 16.7 yards/catch with Olivier Mongeau just behind at 16.6 yards/catch. REMEMBER JERMAINE!: Rookie safety Jermaine Gabriel is second among QUFL rookies with 21 tackles this season, trailing only Nathan Taylor of Concordia. Gabriel has led the Gaiters in tackles in each of the last two games, including a ten-tackle (8 solo, 4 assist) performance at Laval. ‘TIS BETTER TO TAKEAWAY THAN TO GIVE: The Gaiters are currently at –4 in the giveaway/takeaway category. Two weeks ago against McGill, the Gaiters committed two turnovers, while causing only one. Since 2008, the Gaiters are 4-1 when winning the turnover battle, and 0-7 when losing it. PRO GAITERS: This year, the Gaiters sent three players to the professional ranks. Running back Jamall Lee signed with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and was drafted third overall by the CFL’s B.C. Lions. In four preseason games with the Panthers, Lee had 16 carries for 45 yards and a touchdown, including an 11-for-34 performance in the Panthers’ last game. Lee signed with the Lions earlier this week, and is expected to play against Winnipeg on Sunday. Linebacker James Yurichuk was drafted fourth overall by the Lions, and has made an impact on special teams. He is 12th in the CFL with 17 Special Teams Tackles. He also made a key play by dribbling (kicking) a loose ball, setting up the go-ahead touchdown in B.C.’s 35-20 win over Saskatchewan on August 7. Linebacker Kyle Jones signed with the Toronto Argonauts and played his first game on Sept. 19, and has made three Special Teams Tackles in four games. TODAY IN GAITERS HISTORY: On October 17, 1992, the Gaiters defeated the McGill Redmen 24-16 at Molson Stadium in Montreal. The defence was the star on this day, as the Gaiters scored two defensive touchdowns. Joel Kruzich scored on a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter to break open a 3-3 tie, while Christian Daigle’s 34-yard fumble return with 11 seconds left in the game put the game away. The only offensive score for the Gaiters came on a rush by quarterback Jim Murphy. Murphy ran three times for 17 yards and completed 21 of 31 passes for 152 yards. A Greg Hiscox field goal rounded out the Gaiters scoring. McGill outgained Bishop’s 267 yards to 199, and recorded 16 first downs to the Gaiters’ eight. UP NEXT: The Gaiters return home next Saturday to face the No. 1-ranked Montreal Carabins (4-1). Kickoff at Coulter Field is set for 1 p.m. |
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