Cambridgeshire Cats 6 – 7 Norwich Devils
A last-minute converted touchdown saw the Cats throw away a potential victory against the heavily fancied visiting Devils. Devils wide receiver Ian Burchett gathered up a tipped pass in the endzone with just eighty seconds left on the game clock, handing the glory to kicker Steve Playford as he neatly slotted home the game-winning conversion to leapfrog the Cats to the top of BAFL2 South East.
The Cats started the first quarter with a thwarted drive, however the punt pinned the Devils on their 10 yard line. Showing the same ill discipline from the Pumas game, the Cats defense was its own biggest enemy as late hit penalties aided the Devils progress. Quarterback scrambles and running back counters advanced the ball to midfield before Cambridgeshire were able to stop the drive.
Cats trio of running backs advanced the ball well during the first half, with Fox, Kelly and Kibbles benefiting from the sterling work of an offensive line without veteran stalwart Chris Cooke. A long second quarter drive was capped when running back Fox bounced a run to the outside for a 3 yard score, however what became a crucial extra-point was missed by Casey. As time ran down before the half, Casey attempted to atone for the error with an interception at midfield, the Cats didn’t have time to capitalise as time expired on the drive.
The third quarter started with a Devils turnover as Aaron Harp recovered a fumble for the Cats, who on the day could have had several more turnovers were it not for dropped interceptions and penalties. The receivers were finding equal difficulties hauling in the ball as key passes were dropped thanks to strong pressure from the Norwich secondary. Both teams passing games struggled on a day when the ball was only advanced 120 yards through the air, the ball changing hands on 5 separate unsuccessful fourth down attempts in total. Possession went back and forth, neither team making significant in-roads to the others territory, despite a 17 play Norwich drive eating up yards and the clock.
The fourth quarter saw the end of the longest drive of the game, which had again been pro-longed by defensive penalties on the Cats, but finally thwarted the Devils short of the endzone. Cats were unable to gain significant territory and in the dying minutes of the game The Devils pushed their way into the Cats territory. With barely a minute to go on the game clock, Devils quarterback Schmidgall heaved a pass to the sideline of the endzone. A full stretch dive to defend the pass by stand-in safety Mann managed to inadvertently tip the pass into the hands of Devils receiver Burchett, who gratefully accepted the gift for the tying score. Playford slotted the extra point for the win as the Cats ran out of time to reply.
An even contest throughout, the teams shared the 106 offensive plays equally, with the Cats barely out-gaining their opponents 193-189 in total offensive yards. The unfortunate Mann was in fact a standout for the Cats, successfully defending 2 other passes (1 in the endzone) in his impromptu stint in the Cats secondary following an injury in warm-ups to Nick Moffat. When not moonlighting on defense, Mann also led Cats receivers with 51 yards from 3 catches, helping Cats debutant quarterback Mokuahi to 79 yards off of 6 completions.
The result propels Norwich to the top of BAFL2 South East and puts added onus on the Cats for their trip to County rivals East Midlands Saxons this weekend.
Coach Bice stated after the game, “While I applaud Norwich’s determination, we beat ourselves in this game and Norwich took advantage of it as any good team will! While this loss was a setback, we are still focused on our goal for the season and focused on our next opponent, East Midland Saxons. I have every faith in my players and coaches to help this team put our season back on track!”