Ben Harrington leads StFX to win with a 94-yard punt return touchdown.

The StFX X-Men are 2022 AUS Champions following a 21-14 win over the Mount Allison Mounties in the 2022 Loney Bowl. 

After winning the 2021 Loney Bowl over Acadia, the X-Men entered the afternoon looking to continue their undefeated AUS season and be the first repeat champion since they repeated in 2015 and 2016. 

The X-Men started slowly with a Ben Hadley field goal on their first possession before a Mount Allison safety made it 3-2 halfway through the first.  After the Mounties punted on their next drive, Ben Harrington took the punt back 94 yards for the StFX touchdown to make it 10-2 for the X-Men after the first. 

The slow offence continued in the second and the third as only a safety made it 12-2 StFX at halftime, and another safety made it 14-2 near the end of the third quarter. 

At that point, the Mounties’ offence finally started to kick into gear. A Graeme Maither field goal cut the lead to 14-5 heading into the fourth, but AUS MVP Malcolm Bussey finished a 75-yard drive with a 30-yard run to make it 21-5. 

A safety cut it to 21-7 before Justin Vogels found Cody Barton for a Mounties’ touchdown to make it 21-14. In a surprising result, Vogels outduelled Silas Fagnan on the afternoon as the veteran Mounties quarterback went 20-35 for 206 yards and a touchdown with an interception. While on the other side, Fagnan threw for 161 yards on 11-21 with an interception.

21-14 was as close as the Mounties got, and when the clock hit zero, the StFX X-Men were champions again. 

Mount Allison is still looking to reach the high of 2013 & 2014 when they won back-to-back AUS titles, but after upsetting Bishop’s to get to the Loney Bowl, this season can still be considered a success. 

The X-Men, now back-to-back AUS champions, move on to the Uteck Bowl against the winner of Canada West. They have to hope for a better result than the 2021 Mitchell Bowl, where they lost 61-6 to the eventual Vanier Cup Champion Western Mustangs.