May 2011 - Inside American Football 1

MATCH REPORTS
Staffordshire Stallions -v- Tarranau Aberystwyth
6th March 2011
Stallions 12 - 0 Tarranau
The Staffordshire Stallions rounded
off their 2011 away campaign with
a long and arduous journey to take
on Tarranau Aberystwyth, who
themselves were finishing the season
with a chance of finishing with a .500
record over the Stallions.
Delays were inevitable on the
way to Wales and that affected the
preparations for the Stallions after a 3
½ hour coach trip from Staffordshire,
giving them less than an hour to
get ready for what was on paper
their toughest fixture this side of the
Christmas break.
However that didn’t seem to affect
their start and, after receiving the ball
to start the game, they were able to
put together a scoring drive on their
opening possession for the first time
this year. A couple of big runs from
Tyler King helped them take the ball
down-field and allow for Quarterback
Ryan Stewart to add another score to
his name for the season – the extra
point barely lifted off the ground
though, keeping the score 6-0.
The Stallions defence came onto
the field and carried on their
impressive work in shutting down
the Aberystwyth offence – passes fell
incomplete and their run game failed
to get going on the opening possession
as they surrendered the ball back to the
Stallions offence after going three-andout.
Offensively, the team picked up
exactly where they left off and
their running game cut through the
Aberystwyth defence with relative ease
and the passing game was also starting
to pay dividends as quarterback Ryan
Stewart was given enough time to get
his throws off and completions to Joey
Dankwa had them driving down-field
once more. That drive was capped off
with a first touchdown for rookie Tight
End Lewis Bayley, Stewart was able to
find him wide open with a well-placed
pass and into the end zone for the
score. Richard Bayes caught the twopoint
conversion to put the Stallions up
14-0.
The offence found themselves
with very little time to recover
32 Inside American Football - May 2011
from the long drive as, yet again,
the Aberystwyth offence was left
wondering what they had to do to
get anywhere against the resolute
Stallions defence – forcing yet another
punt. Under pressure from the rush,
the punter get very little distance on
his effort, and that gave the Stallions
the ball in excellent field position to
being their third offensive drive of the
afternoon.
Aberystwyth’s defence had very little
resistance for the Stallions offence and
this drive was no different – again,
big gains came through the air and
on the ground, before Ryan Stewart
accounted for his third score of the
afternoon as his pass picked out
Tight End Lewis Bayley for a second
touchdown of the game.
It was a tremendous start for the
maligned Stallions offence and they
were given yet another chance to score
before the half when safety Taffat Jama
picked off an errant pass from the
Aberystwyth quarterback for the first
turnover of the afternoon. All the more
impressive when the defence was able
to hold them to a total of 0 first downs
in the first half!
Staffordshire capitalised on the
opportunity and added another score
deep into the second quarter when
Ryan Stewart’s long pass downfield
was impressively brought in
by receiver Joey Dankwa – making
amends for a similar opportunity
earlier on in the game when he could
have, and probably should have,
caught the ball for a touchdown.
Nevertheless, the catch this time
was brilliant and it was a great way
to cap off an impressive first half
performance from all parts of the
Stallions team as they went off at halftime
leading their Welsh counterparts
27-0.
The second half began with a
surprising three-and-out for the
Stallions offence, the first time they
failed to put points on the board with a
drive in this game. Were Aberystwyth
able to get some points on their
opening drive of the half, maybe it
wasn’t all over just yet.
After a first half of no first downs,
Aberystwyth surprisingly managed to
start moving the ball on the Stallions
defence – both through the air and
also on the ground, though a large
chunk came on defensive penalties
including a late hit out of bounds by
Alasdair Jarvis, tarnishing another
strong performance from the Stallions
line-backer. However their chance to
put points on the board went when a
costly fumble was recovered by rookie
defensive tackle William Farrow just
yards short of the end zone, it was
the closest all afternoon they came to
breaking through the resistance of the
Stallions defence.
Despite their struggles on offence,
their defence finally looked capable
of stopping the scoring of the Stallion
offence and made a play just a short
moment after Farrow’s heroics left
Staffs with a long way to go for
another score. Running back Tyler
King was brought down behind the
line of scrimmage and was said by the
referees to have been brought down in
the end zone for a safety and despite
the protests Tarranau had finally got
onto the scoreboard.
The 2 point should have spurred their
offensive counterparts on to push on
and try to claw their way back into
the game but, if they thought they
were going to drive on the Stallions
defence again, then they would have
another thing coming. Staffordshire got
their discipline back and big hits from
Jarvis and some excellent work on the
defensive line had the Tarranau offence
trudging back onto the side-lines.
It looked as though the Stallions
offence had got back to the level of
performance they were showing off in
the first half on their next drive which
ended when Lewis Bayley found his
way into the end zone for the third
time in the game, getting on the end of
a Stewart pass which was just over the
hands of Travis Bilham. With not long
left in the game the Stallions climbed
to a 35-2 lead.
Credit had to be given to the
Aberystwyth team who kept going
until the end of the game but it wasn’t