|
Maidstone Pumas 7-47 Leicester Falcons
Sunday arrived warm and sunny in what was the first
ever meeting between the two clubs. The kick off was delayed to the over
running youth game, so both teams took advantage to work on those ever
important sun tans. The game turned out to be quite strange with flashes of bad
temper, which led to an ejection and several warnings.
Possibly due to the good weather, the Pumas
coaching staff arrived to find only 20 players available. After 3 games of
constant improvement, this was a disappointing result in which Pumas coaches
and management considered a possible win to kick start the season.
Maidstone reverted back to the “Tank” Garland –
James Cherry tandem in the light of Paul Crawford’s absence, and started well
driving the ball and making things happen. However, on the first Leicester
drive, Pumas Andy Davies broke an ankle making desperation tackle to try and
stop the first Leicester score. Davies, who had started at safety, is the back
up quarterback, a double blow to the club.
The long delay obviously affected the Pumas as they
saw their colleague carted off to hospital, where he is expected to have an
operation Monday or Tuesday. We all wish Andy well.
On the next Pumas possession, quarterback John
Bowden threw the first of his 2 interceptions which was run back for a score.
The Falcons continued to pile on the scores and essentially had won the game by
half time
However, as usual, the Pumas continued to try and
get back into the game and tried several new formations and plays, eventually,
scoring when running back James Cherry broke through the Falcons defense on a
44 yard run. Cherry would go on to run for over 100 yards for the first time
this season. Scott Shepherd slotted the conversion. In the end, Maidstone ended
the game with just 17 fit players, the lack of numbers and the heat defeated
the Pumas as much as the opposition.
Head Coach Norman Navarro said after the game, “I’m
feeling as though I am starting to sound like a broken record but once again,
we continue to see improvements in our game. This week we worked on our running
game and we saw a consistency, which lead to our score in the fourth quarter.
On defense, we gang tackled and our pass defense held up well. Obviously we
still have trouble with certain situations and starting the game with 20 suited
players didn’t help. But we continue to enrol new help and a statement will be
released shortly regarding our new signings”.
The Pumas now have two weeks before travelling to
Bromley to take on the table topping London Olympians. General Manager, Stuart
Crowley added, “We have one new player joining next week and two guys who came
to the game to watch and felt an urge to get back on the field. We will
continue to recruit and we will do better as the season unfolds”.