Jon Roach – Staff Writer

Autumn days like Saturday, Sept. 26, are best spent in good company watching nature’s reds and yellows fall. Homecoming 2025 brought BU students and alumni together to watch our men’s football team face the Mounties of Mount Allison University on a beautiful, sunny afternoon, looking to extend the current winning streak to three games. 

Photo courtesy of Brownyn Chenard

Gaiter fans reunited early for some pregame tailgate food, drink and music before the midseason matchup. The Gaiters defence forced a safety just a minute and a half into the game, opening the scoring 2-0. Xavier Gervais hit three field goals to complete the first quarter and open the second, marking an 11-0 start for the Gaiters. Fans saw offensive scores twice in the second quarter with a 24-yard carry from O’Shae Ho-sang that was topped off with a 2-pt conversion from Xavier Gervais and a 7-yard pass to Joey Julien to lead the Mounties 26-0 entering halftime. Quarterback Justin Quirion connected with Julien again on a 23-yard pass to extend the lead, before Mount Allison put their first points on the board with a field goal. 

A now 33-3 ball game, the Gaiters strung together a fourth quarter to remember. After a third down stop in Mount Alison territory, Kicker-Quarterback Xavier Gervais led the offense downfield to find Noah Blais for a 9-yard touchdown pass, then kicked the extra point. The very next drive, the defence continued their streak of elite ballhawking as Linebacker Benjamin Drounin intercepted a pass and took it to the endzone for a 53-yard pick-six, putting the Gaiters at no.1 in the nation for defensive touchdowns. The Bishop’s scoring barrage would come to an end after a 46-yard run by Michael Nicoletta, closing out Mount Alison with a final score of 54-3. 

Post game, Xavier Gervais gave his thoughts on the state of the team heading into the second half of the season, praising team execution during practices and being on the same page about the necessary details to find success. “We are all on the same page, fully bought in.” 

The Gaiters played a complete game offensively and defensively, involving everyone in accumulating 527 offensive yards and limiting the Mounties to 71 total yards during the contest. Justin Quirion led the majority of quarterback efforts with 251 passing yards, though Xavier Gervais and Matthieu Bellavance saw late game snaps for a combined effort of 89-yards. The run game dominated for nearly 9-yards per carry and 197 rushing yards, led by rushers O’Shae Ho-Sang (63-yards, 1 TD) and Michael Nicoletta (54-yards, 1 TD). The defence scored a touchdown of their own (Benjamin Drouin) and held the Mounties in a cage all game, with 12 Gaiters contributing at least 1.5 tackles and 10 adding tackles for loss. Xavier Gervais hoisted Athlete of the Week honours for an all-around spectacle of perfect kicks (3/3 field goals, 4/4 extra points), a passing touchdown, a 2-point conversion and a tackle. 

The teams final home game of the regular season will take place on Oct. 25 against Acadia at 1 p.m. Make sure to come out to Coulter Field and support your Gaiters!