Hastings make history again - but find Exiles too strong

Report by Ree Dawes

History = made… again.

Last Sunday was another exciting one for the Hastings Conquerors as we hosted our first home game against the 2-0 Kent Exiles. The sun was shining, the field looked great and there was a brilliant atmosphere around the whole club.

So, here’s my little diary of that day. I got to the field at 11am to see if I could help out at all, but our Gameday Manager and Chairman had it all sorted. The players were fencing the pitch, and making sure everything was where it needed to be. So, for the time being, I helped out with the U19 and U17 teams, ‘reffing’ a quick flag game. Side note- I love coaching the youth teams, their enthusiasm for the sport is contagious and I love helping the ‘grass roots’.

So, after some warm-ups and run-throughs, it was kick-off time. We had a lot more players for this game, 20 or so more than the squad we took to Sussex which was excellent to see. A lot of players had friends and family at the game, some watching for the first time, which added some extra excitement, and maybe some extra nerves.

 

I’ll give you the game report in a bit but here’s what I did on the day as coach/photographer. I taped up some players’ hands, wrists etc., I got the special teams up on boards so players could see which ones they were on, pumped up the game balls as they were brand new and a bit squidgy (see, Brady, it’s not that hard), chatted to some spectators, and then got in position to photo.

I spend most of the game down our sideline, usually by the line of scrimmage or downfield a little bit to get an angle on the action and I tend to follow the ball, sometimes grabbing an individual shot or two of players who have asked. For this game, as the sun was so bright, I got to use a really fast shutter speed which meant better action shots. Kent’s white shirts definitely helped too and I got some great shots of their QB + RBs.

After the game I go home and have a cuppa and some food and get editing the photos straight away, usually managing to do half before my eyelids start drooping (the sunburn didn’t help this week). I take anywhere between 500-1500 photos on gameday, and a fair few hundred make the cut. I usually crop some down, edit the lighting a bit, sometimes giving some a little extra that I think need it (i.e HDR, low saturation). Once edited, I upload, usually to Flickr, but I’ve started adding them to Facebook recently as I don’t have the time to send copies to players anymore, this way they can tag or save as they wish.

So, here’s the game report:

With the gales blowing, the game kicked off, with Hastings to start on offence. Veteran quarterback Jake Beale was back for this game, but after a rogue snap went over his head, followed by a couple of fumbles, the Conquerors were forced to punt. The Exiles were quick off the line and punter Josh Perry was forced to run the ball out of bounds at the 25 yard line.

This gave Kent great field position to start their offensive drive and they managed to capitalise on it, running the ball into the end zone on second down, their PAT succeeded and they were up 7-0.

 

The Conquerors failed to hold off the Exiles’ offensive drives, with their strong running game and quick passes that got them down field and into the end zone on numerous occasions, with the Conquerors missing vital tackles.

The Conquerors offence had more momentum behind them in this game, spurred on by the home crowd. Running backs Aaron Woods and rookie Marc Selby gained some vital yards for the home team, but the Exiles defence shut them down, forcing the Conquerors to punt. A long pass from Beale to Jack Stainthorp had things looking up for the Conquerors but a fumble on the next play gave possession back to the Exiles.

In the second half, things were looking up for the Conquerors, despite being 47-0 down and forcing a running clock. A few good special team’s plays gave the offence good field position and a punt from Selby locked the Exiles within their own half. The Conquerors defence then shut the Exiles down, giving Hastings the ball within 15 yards of the end zone.
Quarterback Steven Calver capitalised on this and sent a quick pass to Tyrell Berry in the end zone and the Conquerors had their first touchdown as part of the National League. The PAT from Selby was good.

However, the Exiles had another couple of scores on the board and the time was running out rapidly.

The game finished 60-7 to the Exiles but the Conquerors could hold their heads high with their first score and knowing they managed to improve on a lot since the Sussex game.

The game MVPs were; Marc Selby for his performance on special teams, Tyrell Berry for playing his part in Conquerors history with the first touchdown, Samuel Eldridge for a solid performance on defence, and Sam Cross for stepping up and playing on both offence and defence and giving the guys a good motivational speech at half-time.

The Conquerors face the Bournemouth Bobcats on the 24th and the Portsmouth Dreadnoughts on the 31st at home before a well-deserved week off.

Photos can be found here: https://goo.gl/TSvmDC