High flying Caesars have the Bombers diving for cover

Nottingham Caesars 59  Lincolnshire Bombers 6

 

Nottingham Caesars travelled to the home of the Royal Air Force, RAF Cranwell, to take on the Lincolnshire Bombers. Victory would secure the Caesars a play off place, and see them retain top spot in their conference.
 

Adam Burnett clears the way for Dervan Alleyne to score.

With The Caesars winning the toss and electing to receive the ball their offense took to the field in determined mood, with the play offs looming they needed to test themselves to see just how good their plays are. As early as the third or fourth play the Caesars troubled the stats men when quarterback Jason Smith launched a pass that saw wide receiver Dervan Alleyne score a 52 yard touchdown. With kicker Carl Hardman adding the extra point, and the game only a couple of minutes old the Caesars, were 7-0 up. The Bombers were determined to respond, and from one of their first plays running back Chris Henry out foxed the Caesar’s defense, evaded several tackles, sprinted 72 yards, and scored a great touchdown. The Bombers then went for 2 extra points to take the lead; fortunately the Caesar’s foiled this attempt. 4 minutes gone 7-6 to the Caesars.

With the Caesars offense in top gear they kept the Bombers on the back foot in their own half, towards the end of the quarter, and with the Caesars on the Bombers 9 yard line, Smith fired the ball towards the Bombers endzone, tight end James Smith raced towards the ball and took a spectacular diving catch to score the touchdown. With Carl Hardman adding the extra point the Caesars finished the quarter 14-6 in the lead.
 

Scott Messom on his way to score with the support of lineman Darren Frew.

With everyone thinking the Caesars offense were in top gear they surprised everyone by finding a couple more as they stepped on the gas and launched into a scoring spree adding 24 points in the quarter.
First; Carl Hardman adds 3 points with a 22 yard field goal
Second; Full back Chris Davis scores a 22 yard touch down, his first this season, Hardman adds the extra point
Third; Jason Smith handed the ball to Dervan Alleyne who ran 20 yards dancing through several tackles to score. Hardman then added the extra point.
Fourth; from 3 yards out running back Scott Messom breaks the Bombers line. Hardman adds the extra point. A quick look at the stats mans sheet saw the Caesars 38-6 in the lead. When the Bombers did gain possession they came up against a very hard hitting determined and highly disciplined Caesars defense who kept them penned back in their own half. At the end of the half the Caesars were 38-6 in the lead
 

Simon Dale evades a tackle to score a touchdown.

Refreshed from the break the Caesars again went on the hunt for more points. They were not long in coming as quarterback Smith worked his offense to within 8 yards of the line, handing the ball to running back Simon Dale, who exploited the hole made for him by the offensive line to score a touchdown. With Carl Hardman adding the extra point the score moved up to 45-6 in favour of the Caesars. Not long after this the Smith/Dale combination did it again, this time from 11 yards, with a little help from a big hole made by the offensive line. Hardman added the extra point, 52-6 to the Caesars. With the Nottingham’s defense continuing to hold the Bombers in their own half, this defensive performance has to go down as one of the most effective in recent Caesars history as no quarter was given.
 

Caesars defense arrive in numbers to snuff out a Bombers attack.

With a change at quarterback at the start of the final quarter, Mike Hibbert in for Jason Smith, the Caesars were to add one more score in the game, when Hibbert found wide receiver Richard ‘Lone Wolf’ Musk with a pin point 36 yard pass. Hardman stepped up for the final time in the game to split the posts and add the extra point, bringing his tally of points for the day to 11. With the dominant Caesars defense still in complete control the game finished 59-6 to the Caesars thereby securing a play off place for the Caesars.

Congratulations to the Bombers who again played the game with a fantastic team spirit they never gave up, tackled hard in defense, and never stopped trying to gain yards on offense. They are a credit to themselves and the game in the UK.

 
The Caesars next game is a home fixture is against the Shropshire Revolution on Sunday the 27th of July kick off 12:00 noon at the Harvey Hadden Stadium. This is a crucial game for the Caesars as victory here sees them retain the Conference Title and secure home field advantage in the quarter final play offs.
 

Images courtesy of Nottingham Caesars.