London
The London Blitz American Football Club finished the regular season undefeated by defeating the Farnham Fast Lane Knights 53-7.
The Farnham Knights kicked the game off into mid-August sunshine; the kick was high and long and sailed over the head of kick returner Melvyn Akins for a touchback.
The Blitz offence came out running on their first possession, with running back Oliver Bishop gaining 39 yards and quarterback Fred Boyle followed suit, scrambling for 24 yards before being knocked out of bounds.
Boyle then handed the ball off to running back Gareth Dauley who strode into the end zone from four yards out to give the Blitz a quick-fire lead, and taking himself into the Blitz record books where he now holds the all-time rushing touchdown record.
Defensive back turned kicker for the day Ed Morgan converted the point after to put the Blitz 7-0 to the good.
After the ensuing kick-off, the stellar Blitz defence saw their first action of the day and made quick work of the Knights’ offence, forcing them to punt.
Lined up at punt returner, Morgan returned the punt 27 yards to set up the offense.
Dauley set the tone of the drive, gaining 12 yards on a screen pass, and fellow running backs Bishop and Deji Alli gained a further five and two yards respectively before fullback Jon Chilton took the ball into the end zone for the second score of the game.
Morgan kicked the extra point to give the Blitz a 14 point lead.
The Blitz defence remained as stout as ever, forcing yet another punt from the Knights’ offence.
The Blitz offence made their ensuing possession count as excellent downfield blocking from the offensive line and wide receivers allowed Dauley to take the ball 53 yards and into the end zone for the score.
Morgan added the extra point to make the score 21-0.
On the ensuing Knights’ possession, Blitz linebacker Fabrizio Gargiulo recovered a fumble to give the offence possession.
The offensive drive stuttered however but excellent play from quarterback Boyle set up a pass on the run to wide receiver and 2009 team captain, Rod “Spartan” Bradley to keep the drive alive.
However the drive stalled in the end zone, where Boyle’s pass towards the corner of the end zone was intercepted.
Charles “C-Unit” Bradley made an interception on the following Knights’ offensive possession and returned it 20 yards to give the offence a short field. From there Boyle found wide receiver Michael Casper with a 14 yard pass which he caught and brought down in the end zone for the score.
Morgan added the extra point to make the score 28-0 to the Blitz.
The Knights’ offence tried to make progress on their following possession only to be picked off by Joe Coultate.
This set up a 28 yard touchdown run for Alli, which was also his first touchdown playing for the Blitz.
Morgan added the point after to make the score 35-0.
Most relentless defending from the Blitz defence saw the Knights’ offence forced to punt yet again and Rod Bradley made a 38 yard catch and run for his first touchdown of the afternoon and give the Blitz a 42-0 lead at the half.
The third quarter saw a change at quarterback for the Blitz with Matt Brooks taking the reigns of the offence but no change in the offensive rhythm of the Blitz offence as he found Rod Bradley in the corner of the end zone with a lobbed pass for his third touchdown pass of the season and Bradley’s second touchdown reception of the afternoon.
An individual safety from linebacker Gargiulo and a team safety in the fourth quarter completed the scoring for the Blitz.
The Blitz defence did concede a touchdown and point after late in the fourth quarter but excellent pass defence from defensive back Dion Andrade sealed the victory for the Blitz with a final score of 53-7.
After the game running back Deji Alli said: “It was my first touchdown, I was really excited. It finally came and it was a great way for me to end the regular season.”
Wide receiver and team captain Rod Bradley said: “Everyone feels brilliant about what we’ve done so far but at the same time we have an agenda and that’s the BritBowl. We want to be there.
We want to win it.”
Head Coach Mark Moss said: “It’s what we set out to do at the start of the season.
We’ve gone undefeated and are division champions so it’s nice.
But as Coach Mike said in the team huddle after the game, it’s not 8-0, it’s 0-0 and we start again.
If we lose the next game and don’t make the Bowl game, all of this is for nothing really.”
The London Blitz will now prepare for their next home game against the Farnham Knights, the BAFL Premier division semi-final play-off on September 6th.