Game report and team photo by Ree Dawes
Well, we did it. After six tough losses, the Hastings Conquerors American Football Club
added another milestone to their history books on Sunday after winning their
first ever game in the national league versus the Portsmouth Dreadnoughts.
The Conquerors had faced the Dreadnoughts previously on the
31st May where the Dreadnoughts came away with their first league win defeating
Hastings 48-15.
After losing the previous week versus Sussex, the Conquerors had a fuller squad to face Portsmouth and
the game was a true match between the two teams’ defences. Despite being an
offensive coach, this game was one of the best I have watched, with both
defences really stepping up and shutting the other teams’ drives down. As a
photographer though I was dreading those yellow uniforms again.
The game started with Portsmouth on offence and managed to
get within the Conquerors’ 5 yard line but couldn’t make their way into the end
zone as they were stopped by the Hastings defence.
With the Conquerors now in possession of the ball, rookie
quarterback Ben Rogers struggled to
advance down field, and the Conquerors had to punt the ball away.
With the score at 0-0 at the half it was anyone’s game and
both defences were still merciless and not giving either offences any room to
move downfield. With the Conquerors stopped once more on third down, it was up
to Josh Perry to punt the ball. With
an accurate kick, Perry managed to pin the Dreadnoughts’ offence on their own 2
yard line.
As the Dreadnoughts started their next drive, Samuel Oldfield managed to break
through the line and sack their quarterback in the end zone for two points, the
only points of the day.
The Dreadnoughts managed to get downfield on occasions, and
opted for a field goal three times, each time blocked by the defence, vitally
preventing points. Within the fourth quarter, the Dreadnoughts had the ball and
made their way downfield and were close to the end zone, looking for the score
but were intercepted by Jared Gray
in the end zone who took a knee to give the Conquerors the ball at the 20 yard
line.
With the Conquerors on track to win their first game, Head
Coach James Rogers ran the clock
down until mere seconds were left. With 11 seconds on the clock and the
Dreadnoughts with the ball within the Conquerors’ 30 yards, they ran the ball
and just a few yards short of the first down marker, Jon Cole managed to make a game-saving tackle and the final whistle
blew.
The side line erupted in celebrations and it was all smiles
as the team gathered around the scoreboard to show off their first win.
The Macron Store Hastings MVPs for the
day were Ben Rogers for offence, Nathan Russell for defence, Josh Perry for special teams and Samuel Oldfield as overall MVP.
The Conquerors next face Sussex Thunder for the third time this season under the floodlights
on Saturday 18th July with a 6:30pm kick off.
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