Report by Farnham Knights
Photos courtesy of Mark Sandom
The Farnham Knights continued their run at the top of the Southern Football Conference Division 1
table as they out powered the visitors from Hertfordshire to move to a 6 wins and
1 loss record.
The Knights had the ball first but looked unconvincing as their first
drive ended in an interception however the visitors struggled themselves and
had to punt the ball back to the Knights.
The home team turned to their power running game with their big
offensive line and full backs Dan Seabourne and Paul Wakeford pounding open
holes in the Cheetahs defense for Gareth Davies and Nick Roope to exploit. It
was leading points scorer Roope who completed the drive with a weaving 29yd run
for the touchdown, John Symons added the extra point kick and the Knights led
7-0
The Cheetahs found progress against the Knights Defense hard again on
their second possession but edged in to Knights territory completing the drive
with an impressive 47yd Field Goal to reduce the lead to 7-3
The Knights came back again with the power run and move quickly and impressively downfield
and it was that man Roope again who found the end zone for the touchdown - this
time from 34yds out. John Symons added the extra point kick and the Knights led
14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
The Cheetahs went to the air and found themselves camped on the Knights
2yd line with four opportunities to score. Corner backs Joe Criddle and Matt
Marriott each defended a pass in the end zone and Linebacker Aron Evers made a
touchdown saving tackle at the 1yd line. The Cheetahs opted to take something
from the drive and easily converted an 18yd Field Goal to make the score 14-6.
On a humid day the depth of the Knights squad showed as they were able
to rest both Roope and Davies, bringing in Rookie Salim Ben-Romdhane he broke
free for a 27yd gain and then completed the scoring drive on the next play with
an excellent 32yd scoring run. John Symons added the extra point and the
Knights lead 21-6.
The teams exchanged possession with each being forced to punt and then
the Cheetahs embarked on an impressive drive which saw them set to score from
the Knights 5yd line - until Chris "Daggers" James stepped up with
and intercepted the touchdown bound pass at the Knights 1yd line.
Gareth Davies returned to the backfield and picked up 7yds to give the
Knights some breathing space - the next play however sealed his current lead of
the rushing yardage statistics as he broke 2 tackles picked up a great block
from Wide Receiver Michael Bradley-Banszki and raced 82yds to score. John
Symons added the extra point and the Knights lead 28-6 at half-time.
With linebacker Jonathan Vince taking the lead the Knights Defense came
out and shut out the visitors in the 3rd Quarter. The Knights saw their first
drive of the quarter come to an end with a missed 40yd Field Goal attempt which
was just wide of the posts.
Their second drive saw the
Knights pinned back in their own half and with the Cheetahs going all out to
stop the running game - the Knights went to the air as yet another former
Knights Junior Bart Bashary hauled in an Oli De Ruyter pass for a 62yd score.
John Symons confidently added the extra point and the Knights led 35-6 going
into the fourth quarter.
Both teams went further into their depth chart bringing in the players
who had not started the game. This resulted in a points fest with no fewer that
5 scores in the quarter - 3 for the visitors and 2 for the Knights.
The visitors struck first with a passing touchdown that was converted
to bring the score to 35-13. The Knights hit straight back mixing the running
of Kieron Helps with two key pass receptions by Stealy-J Wills. The drive was
finished off by still another Knights Junior team graduate Henry Schoen who
scored on a 1yd run on his début for the Senior team. Nick Roope ran in the 2
point conversion and the Knights lead 43-13.
The Cheetahs showed great spirit in coming back again to put another
score on the board - it took them just 4 plays to find the Knights end zone but
their 2pt conversion attempt failed 43-19
It only took the Knights 1 play to hit back as Quarterback Oli De
Ruyter found leading receiver Stealy-J Wills with a 44yd pass - this time the
Knights 2point conversion failed and the score stood at 49-19
The Cheetahs were forced to bring their starting quarterback back into
the game when their back up went down after pressure from Alexi Makinen and
Will Masinja. He went to the air and got a consolation passing touchdown which
was coupled with a 2 point conversion to close the score at 49-27.
The Knights play East Kent Mavericks at home next Sunday - they beat
the Mavericks 23-12 earlier in the season - but proving the competitiveness of
this league this week the Mavericks defeated the Birmingham Bulls who are the
only team to have beaten the Knights. Kick off
at Farnham Rugby club is at 3-00pm as the Knights Juniors host the
London Warriors prior to the senior
league game.
Knights Head Coach Steve Rains said "This was another very
competitive game despite the scoreline - we remain top of the Division but know
if we want to have the play off Semi-Final at home in August we have to keep
taking it one game at a time and keep on winning.
There were a lot of great performances today including the début of
young Henry Schoen at Running Back - but the MVP award for this game has to go
to our Offensive Line - both the starters and the guys who came in later in the
game - they dominated the line of scrimmage and made the big difference for us"
The Knights will be at Weydon School on Saturday to demonstrate
American Football as part of the schools open day.
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OFFENSE:
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DEFENSE:
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Passing:
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J Vince 1S 8A
A Evers 4S 4A
L Bridcutt 3S 4A
M Marriott 4S 2A
R George 6A
D Francis 2S 2A
C James 1S 3A + 1Int
A Makinen 1S 2A
D Kerr 2S 1A
W Masinja 1S 2A
S Laws 3A
B Monk 3A
J Truelove 1S 2A
G Tomlinson 2A
B Bashary 1S 1A
J Criddle 1S 1A
M Cornwell 2A
P Stubbs 1S 1A
J Symons 1A
S Wills 1S
R Balderson 1A
G Lee 1A
A King 1A
C Goodall 1S
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O De Ruyter 5 of 11 for
170yds 2TD 1 Int
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Receiving:
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S
Wills 4 for 108yds 1TD
B
Bashary 1 for 62yds 1TD
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STATS:
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G Davies 9 for 148yds 1TD
N Roope 9 for 104yds 2TD
S Ben-Romdhane 4 for 63yds 1TD
P Wakeford 5 for 38yds
K Helps 5 for 30yds
H Schoen 3 for 11yds 1TD
A Reid 1 for
9yds
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KICK
OFF RETURNS
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N Roope 1 for 15yds
S Ben-Romdhane 1 for 13yds
T Lettman 1 for 0yds
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OFFENSE TOTALS:
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KNIGHTS:
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Rushing 36 for 403yds 5TD
Passing 5 of 11 for 170yds 2TD
TOTAL 47 for 573yds 7TD
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