Rams and 'Canes inseparable

Posted in: Yorkshire Rams, BAFL 1    By Mike Cluskey May 27, 2008 - 7:37:18 PM

Dundee Hurricanes 7 Yorkshire Rams  7

 

And so it came to pass, that after sixty gruelling minutes of the toughest football, biggest hits, sliding defenses and battered stars, these two proud teams could not be separated. Even as the Rams and ‘Canes players lined up to shake hands at the end of the day, a cigarette paper could not have been slipped between the two sets of contenders.   Maybe that was something to do with the feelings that they had at the end of a gruelling day spent shutting down each other’s considerably well-endowed offenses.   Or maybe it was just the new found respect that had been fostered between two teams not used to facing each other, a respect borne out of that rarest of American football outcomes, a tie.

To summarise, it is best to say that Yorkshire and Dundee stood toe to toe on the South Leeds turf and slugged it out.   Dundee, with crafty jinking moves but no real penetration through the Rams defense, Yorkshire with good jabs from the full back combo of Griff and Thomson and then the haymakers coming from quarterback Andy Green’s fast improving arm.

The first half was doomed to scoreless status from the off, with both team’s starting with three and outs and continuing with variations on the theme.   So, besides two Rams field goal attempts from Rogers, wide right, and Lynch, wide left, the defenses definitely came out on top.   If a points tally had been taken based on ground gained, then the Rams may have edged it with more territorial advantage to get within the range of the two field goal attempts. The ubiquitous Dooma attack from Dundee had been curtailed by strong defensive line play and excellent level two work, especially from Coultate and Goulden who always seemed to be there or thereabouts.   Pryce, Dyer and Atchison were also to feature heavily in almost entirely shutting down one of the most prolific offenses outside the premiership

The second half brought more of the same, but with a helping of nail biting tension liberally sprinkled on the top too.   The Rams were the first to pull ahead when they put Hytham Atchison in at tailback and with offensive line play out of the top drawer from veteran Phil “Bilco” Keeling, in waltzed the lean two way player.   It is worth mentioning, he had already been in the endzone once, but the first of what would amount to hundreds of yards of penalties against the Rams would negate the go ahead score.   But, here we were, in the third quarter and six to the good.   With near gale force winds blowing across the field, you wouldn’t have bet on Martin Steele getting the point after, but old faithful did just that and made it seven nil to the Yorkshiremen. Kudos to Dundee, they came straight back, but they should have been stopped and were it not for more of the Rams penalties, which kick started many a stagnant Dundee drive, they would not have even got into the Yorkshire half.   But they did and with the ball dropping out of range of field goal attempts due to fearsome tackling in the backfield, the fourth down attempt from the ‘Canes saw them go to a trick play and on a pitch, Dooma stopped in his tracks and launched a Hail Mary into the path of the grateful receiver.   As the Rams secondary attempted to get back to the ball carrier, the outstretched arm broke the plane of the goal line and Dundee were back in it.   A Dooma kick and the scores were all level.

From then on it was just a case of two offenses attempting to score against two defenses that were just far too stingy to let them.   The Rams tried two more field goals, one just a tad under fifty yards from Rogers, but just short into the wind. Dundee drove well in the last two minutes of the fourth, but finally, referee Tony Newsham raised the pigskin and called an end to a game that could have played on until the dawn chorus before one team conceded to the other.

As is often the case, in the aftermath of the most bloody and bruising of encounters, the warriors meet to discuss their conflict.   The Rams VIP bar was a mixture of flaked out linemen, beaten backs and exhausted spectators, for watching this game had turned out to be as much of an ordeal as competing in it. One fan was overheard saying they didn’t want to go through that again, then in the same breath asking if the Mustangs away game was at the Keepmoat and could he hitch on the player’s coach.

Rams Head Coach handed out the MVPs to Dooma and two way hero Hytham Atchison for the Rams.   A nice touch was Hyth giving credit to his offensive line, saying he couldn’t have made the yards he did without them.   I have a sneaking suspicion they already knew that, but it is nice to hear it from the player.   Coach Weekes commented that the two teams were evenly matched, but a succession of silly mistakes that led to hundreds of yards in penalties could probably be pinpointed as the one thing that stood in the way of the Rams gaining an edge in the game.

As the last of the Dundee players left the stadium one shouted “see you in the playoffs”.  But if that is to happen, the Rams will have to work a lot harder to reach that goal.   But that goal is definitely there to be grasped.

Photos courtesy of www.gallowayphotography.co.uk

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