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Cambridgeshire Cats
By Matt Casey
Jul 19, 2007 - 7:47:23 PM
Cambridgeshire Cats 15 – 7 East Kent Mavericks
The Cats fought their way past the East Kent Mavericks,
continuing their late charge for the playoffs and adding some pressure to the
unbeaten Norwich Devils before the return game next weekend. James Kocherhans’
third defensive score of the season, was added to by an explosive rush of forty
one yards by Dom Fox for the Cats only scores for the day. Despite a strong and
spirited comeback attempt by the young Canterbury side, the Cats hung on to
their lead for victory.
The first quarter saw the opening kick off pin the
Mavericks deep in their own territory with the Cats special teams unit showing
great speed and aggressiveness in stopping opponents, as has been the hallmark
all season. The Cats solid defense was clearly rusty from its month sabbatical
and strong rushing from Robson advanced East Kent to midfield before the Cats
made there first defensive stand of the day. A pooch-punt from Dudley Ross had
Cats quarterback Martin Brown deep inside his own twenty when he led his
offense onto the field for the first time. A promising Cats drive reached
midfield with three consecutive rushing plays; however, incomplete passes on
second and third downs saw Matt Casey punt the Mavericks back into their own
territory. The next Mavericks drive was stopped abruptly as the Cats defense
re-found itself when Week 14 BAFL MVP nominee Kocherhans ripped it away from
the Mavericks during a tackle gave the ball back to the Cats. But the Cats
could not capitalize and the quarter ended without either side scoring.
Kinder Mann hangs onto a pass despite Mavericks pressure, keeping the drive alive
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Indiscipline was the worst enemy of the Cats offense, as
has been a recurrent problem this year. Two consecutive procedural penalties
threatened to thwart the drive but strong rushes from Fox and Matt Kelly, as
well as an nineteen yard pass to leading receiver Kinder Mann, that saw the
Cats reach the red-zone early in the second quarter. A twenty seven yard field
goal attempt was pushed wide by Casey and the Mavericks were handed possession
at their own twenty. A big tackle for a seven yard loss by Cats defensive end,
Paul Clayborn, forced the hand of the Mavericks and the Cats gained possession
when an errant pass was picked off by cornerback Nate Ashby. Another promising
Cats drive down field was again ended, this time by a blocked field goal,
recovered by East Kent. The next Mavericks drive was ended after two plays,
this time by double duty player Kinder Mann, who made his second interception
of the year. It seemed that turnovers were to be a key part to the second
quarter when Cats quarterback Brown threw his first interception as a Cat just
two plays into the following drive. However, that would not be the last in this
short span of plays. Returning the favour with interest, Cats linebacker
Kocherhans jumped the passing lane to gather in his second interception of the
year, returning it forty six yards to open the scoring for the day. The Casey point
after kick was good and the Cats defense completed its twenty third scoreless
quarter of the season as they closed the half with Nate Ashby’s second
interception of the day, edging him ever closer to the Cats all-time record.
Kocherhans heads to the endzone from 46 yards.
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Rain trickled and thunderstorms threatened to disrupt play
as the third quarter began with the Cats receiving the Kick-off. A decent
return my Mann gave the Cats offense breathing room and the territorial edge.
This proved invaluable after the sides traded punts twice, leaving the Cats
with a short field, which was gladly accepted by Fox as he broke tackles,
rounded the corner and rushed in for his eighth touchdown of the year. The
value of having a quarterback as a holder was illustrated as an errant snap was
calmly gathered in by Brown, who took the time to pick-out Nick Moffat who
fought his way over the goal-line for his second two point conversion reception
in consecutive games. The 15-0 score-line did not phase the Mavericks, as on
their very next possession they drove the ball the length of the field with a
spectacular sixty five yard rush from Robson advancing them to the three yard
line. A strong Cats hold on first down was followed by solid pass-coverage on
the next play; however, the opportunistic Mavericks quarterback took full
advantage of Cats cornerback Ashby becoming entangled with his opponent, by
rushing in for the score. Offsetting holding penalties were called and the
score counted, and with Ross’s extra-point kick the Mavericks were back within
a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game.
Fox rounds the corner to put The Cats up by two scores.
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The fourth quarter was back and forth, and a slightly
nervy affair. The Cats offense had been below par all day with procedural
penalties, dropped passes and handling errors, whilst the defense had allowed
almost as much rushing yardage against it as it had allowed all season. The
total offense statistics on the day were perhaps indicative, with Cambridgeshire
edging it by one more yard from one less play, and with these fine margins that
such games can be decided. The Cats offense finally found its stride, by
opening up the quarter with a ten play, fifty five yard drive. However, the
drive ended abruptly on second and goal from the five, when the snap was
fumbled. The Cats defense came up big forcing a three and out with the
Mavericks defense following suit on the next drive.
Ashby gets 1 pick closer to becoming the all time leader for the Cats.
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Following traded punts, East Kent mounted a last-ditch
drive that advanced them to the red-zone; however, a fourth down dropped pass
gave the Cats the ball on their own six yard line. With two minutes left, the
Mavericks refused to quit and seemed destined to get the ball back after making
two strong stops, but Fox completed his 154 yard rushing day by advancing the
ball for a first down, effectively ending the game.
The win now gives The Cats control over their own play off
destiny as they move to 5-2, whilst The Mavericks will be looking for favours
to make the post-season at 3-4. The Cats travel to unbeaten Norwich looking to
avenge the defeat earlier in the season, when a fortunate late score gave
Norwich the pole position in BAFL2 South East that they’ve maintained ever
since. A win by more than a single point would give control of the tie-breaker
to Cambridgeshire, however this would only come into effect should the Devils
drop one of their remaining games as well. The fact that even a win at Norwich
may not be enough to take the divisional title does not detract from the Cats
motivation for the game, Coach Bice said: “We knew that today was a key game in
our season not only in terms of the play offs, but also in terms of our
performance coming off such a long break. While we did not fire on all
cylinders like we were doing before the break, we did enough to get the job
done and got ourselves one step closer to post season play!”
Coach Bice continued by stating, “Our defense was the star
of today by holding a very good Mavericks team in check, while our offense was
struggling. The defensive unit has been strong all year and is heavily
responsible for where we are today!”
The Cats defense had an off day but still held out the Mavericks when it counted.
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Defensive Coordinator Sean Grey added, “
It was a good hard game played from both sides and
much needed test for the defense and to rattle some rust off their lids,
especially in preparation for next weeks game against Norwich! It was hard to
pick out a Defensive MVP for the day as all played with hunger and grit to keep
the Mavericks strong running offense out for only one score and to limit our
points against total. With that said, well done to defensive end Matt Brown,
Game Defensive MVP, outside linebacker Justin Royer with 15 tackles, outside
linebacker James with 11 tackles and defensive end Paul Clayborn with seven
tackles and continual harassment of the Mavericks quarterback!”
Coach Bice closed by
saying, “Our offense will rebound and our defense will continue its successful
ways heading into next week. We are well aware of the task that lies before us
and we will be ready!”
Images courtesy of Cambridgeshire Cats
