In only
their second ever game the Pumas Youth kicked off at
midday on a very hot Sunday against the London
Blitz. The Blitz have some large ‘units’ on their squad and have been playing
for 2 seasons together so this would be a big test for the home side.
The Blitz
scored on their sixth play of possession and after
Maidstone
lost the ball on the kick return they quickly scored again. The Pumas first
drive saw mixed success as they gave away 3 penalties for 15 yards but gained
17 on 3 run plays. However, it was not enough to make a first down so the ball
was punted.
Maidstone continued to struggle at moving the
ball despite good runs by Omenah Okugu (17 yards) and
Stewart
Kidd (15 yards) as these gains were offset by minor
penalties. Consequently two more scores for
London followed in the first half of the game
closing at 26-0.
The second
half started better with another good 19 yard run by Okugu who was playing on
offense for the first time.
Also, Ryan
McDonald in his first game showed his potential as a running back when he made
a break for 15 yards.
Unfortunately
Maidstone were still dogged by penalties but due to this
ground offensive the third quarter remained scoreless. In the forth however the
Blitz were able to score 3 more touchdowns but none of those were against the
Pumas defense. One was a fumble recovery return, one an interception return and
the last was a punt return.
MaidstoneMaidstone failed to close the deal and the game was
essentially over.
came
very close to scoring at the end of the game after starting quarterback Damien
Jarrett received the kick off for 15 yards then on the next play ran the ball
himself for another 27 yards to the 3 yard line before being brought down. In
what seemed like déjà vu from the last game the Pumas offense then went offside
twice in a row. A flurry of penalties for both teams followed, the ball being
moved back and forward by the referees. The final outcome though was that
Head Coach
James McCartney reflected that he was pleased with
his team's guts and determination despite the loss, “I’m happy with how players
stepped up and played positions that they were unfamiliar with. We made
mistakes and offsides penalties once again were a big problem for us but this
is down to guys getting over excited and just shows their inexperience. I’m
still convinced that we have a great core of a football team.”
General
Manager
Mark Lawrence added, “I was
stressed before the game as we had lost 5 players due to them sitting exams
this coming week. Fortunately we had signed some new guys and had some
returning players so they would have to step up.”
The Pumas
Youth next game is on 14th June at Farnham Fast Lane Knights.
