May 2011 - Inside American Football 1

MATCH REPORTS
Staffordshire Stallions -v- Coventry University Jets
20th February 2011
Stallions 21 - 7 Jets
Three months had passed since the
Staffordshire Stallions last played a
competitive game and, after beginning
the season with 4 successive defeats,
they played host to the Coventry Jets
(1-2-1) in what turned out to be an
exciting and enthralling game from
start to finish.
On an overcast day in North
Staffordshire, the Stallions elected to
receive the ball but there were signs of
rustiness in their offence early on as
second-year running back Tyler King
fumbled the ball to end two offensive
drives for the home side.
On the other side of the ball there
were no such problems though as
the Stallions defence were able to
routinely pressure the Coventry
quarterback, linebacker Moses
Ogundeji came close to making them
pay but missed the opportunity of an
interception on their opening drive –
the defence also caused the Coventry
running back to fumble the ball on two
occasions early on but both times they
were able to recover the ball.
It was a cagey opening from both
sides, both determined to get their
noses ahead in the early going but as
the Stallions offence stuttered, so did
their opposition. Despite being gifted
great field position on two occasions,
they had nothing to show for it apart
from a blocked field goal by Ogundeji.
Mistakes were made by the Jets
offence and the Stallions nearly
capitalised when linebacker Alasdair
Jarvis nearly came up with an
interception to halt their drive but he
was unfortunate to see it slip through
his grasp.
Finally the Stallions offence got their
act together and were able to put the
first points of the afternoon on the
board. Starting deep in their own
territory, big gains on the ground and
through the air led to a short score for
quarterback Ryan Stewart – scoring his
second touchdown of the season.
With the defence continuing to
allow the Jets very little offensive
influence, as well as first sack for
defensive tackle William Farrow, it
20 Inside American Football - May 2011
looked as though the Stallions would
head into the half with a lead but that
was thwarted when a mix-up in the
secondary led to a completion from
quarterback to receiver went for a huge
gain and a touchdown to level things
up at the half.
The second half kicked off and it was
more of the same from the Stallions
defence as they contained the Coventry
offence with relative ease, letting
through very few big plays and getting
constant pressure on the quarterback.
The Stallions offence once again
drove the ball down field after starting
deep in their own territory, under the
leadership of back-up quarterback Ben
Guy, they found hole after hole in the
Coventry defence and capped it off
with another score as Guy kept the ball
and found his way into the endzone
for the go-ahead score. Kicker Steven
Higgins missed the extra point to see
the score 13-7 to the home side. Would
that missed point come back to haunt
them later on as the game ticked over
into the fourth and final quarter?
Tired legs began to affect both sides
but the Stallions remained resolute
and stopped the Coventry offence on
multiple occasions and linebacker
Moses Ogundeji could have had a
couple of interceptions to his name as a
mixture of pressure from the defensive
line and poor decision making from the
quarterback led to some awry passes
that should have been taken advantage
of.
After the Stallions offence stalled
around midfield, punter Richard
Bayes boomed a long ball deep into
the boggy area of The Stables and
put the Jets in a tough area to begin
a vital drive for them. Soon after the
Coventry offence again turned the ball
over and defensive tackle Julian Myles
was first to pounce on the loose ball
and give the ball back to the offence.
This time they capitalised on the
great field position and, after scoring
two touchdowns on the ground,
quarterback Ryan Stewart went to
the air and picked out rookie wide
receiver Jonathan Winters for his first
touchdown for the Stallions. After
missing the previous extra point, head
coach Anthony Charles opted to go
for two to give them a two-score lead
over the opposition – once again Ryan
found Winters in the endzone to make
the score 21-7 to the Stallions.
Coventry had time remaining on the
clock as well as all three time-outs
remaining and switching to their
hurry-up offence paid dividends as
they moved the ball down the field. As
was the case for the most part of the
afternoon though, the Stallions defence
made a stand and linebacker Alasdair
Jarvis halted their progress with an
interception to end any hope the Jets
had of coming back into this one.
All the Stallions had to do was sit on
the ball and wait for time to expire as
they wrapped up their first win of the
season in a thoroughly entertaining
game to move to 1-4 for the season,
leapfrogging their next opponents
in the Midlands Athletic Conference
standings in the process.
...Tom Donlan
Inside
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