Pirates keep their playoff hopes alive with win over Jets

 

Game Report by Bill Campbell

 

 

Coventry Jets 20 - East Kilbride Pirates 35

 

The longest road trip of the league season saw East Kilbride return home with a win in the bag that keeps their play-off hopes alive. A shock defeat for title rivals Tamworth at the hands of Sheffield Predators also means that if the Pirates win their four remaining games, including defeating Tamworth by 6 or more points and Lancashire by 4 or more, they will retain home field advantage in the play-offs as well as their Divisional crown.

On Saturday, the home side kicked off and the Pirates quickly got into their stride. Eight plays saw them move the ball to the Coventry 14-yard line from where QB Neil Baptie passed to Jamie McLaughlin for the opening score. Craig Black’s conversion attempt was wide, but his ensuing restart brought an unexpected bonus. Seemingly still stunned at losing an early TD, Coventry’s players failed to react when the kick off landed at their 25-yard line and Joe MacMillan was only too happy to recover for the Pirates instead. East Kilbride however could not capitalise and the Jets did get hold of the ball when they intercepted a Baptie pass on their own goal line. Both sides then had to punt, but Dean Jardine’s kick as the first quarter expired pinned Coventry at their own 2-yard line.

After losing a yard on the first play, the Jets running back was tackled in the endzone by Tom Lachendro for a safety. It went from bad to worse for Coventry as the resultant restart saw the kick fielded by McLaughlin who returned it 70 yards for his second TD of the game. Black duly converted to stretch the lead to 15-0. Coventry’s next drive was ended by a Rob Worboys interception, but the Pirates had to settle for a 32-yard field goal attempt by Black which drifted wide of the left hand upright. The next score wasn’t long in arriving though. Again Coventry turned the ball over, but this time the interception was returned 55 yards for the TD by Jimmy McIntosh and successfully converted by Black. In the dying moments of the half Baptie once more found a receiver in the endzone. This time it was Andrew Meechan on the end of the 14-yard pass, and although the attempted 2-point conversion failed, East Kilbride led 28-0 at the interval.

 

Coventry introduced rookie QB Will Brown at the beginning of the second half and this brought about a change in fortunes for the home side. A good return of a short kick off gave the Jets a starting point in EK territory. Despite this, they quickly found themselves in a 4^th-and-8 situation. Brown then managed to scramble not only for the First Down, but made it all of the 26 yards to the endzone for an unconverted TD. The Pirates had to punt on their next possession but soon got the ball back when McIntosh recovered a Jets’ fumble. Trying to keep their drive alive, East Kilbride went for it on 4^th down, but the ball went to ground, and although covered up, lost yardage. The Jets couldn’t make sufficient progress though and were forced to punt again, giving their opponents the ball as the game moved into the final quarter.

 

 

That drive concluded with another Baptie-McLaughlin combination, with the big receiver finding himself unmarked to score from 44 yards, and Black’s extra point then made the score 35-6 in the visitors’ favour. Not to be outdone, Brown immediately responded with a TD of his own. An inch-perfect pass over the outstretched fingers of the defensive back found receiver Dominic Olney who then had the pace to run away from the covering defenders to score from 79 yards. The 2-point conversion was unsuccessful and when McLaughlin returned the kick off to the Coventry 29 yard line, a response from EK looked imminent. However, despite a 1^st-and-goal from the 4 yard line, they couldn’t force the ball home. Coventry had to punt on their next possession, but on the first play of the Pirates’ drive, Josh Cooper picked off a Baptie pass and returned it 46 yards to score. Brown ran in the 2-point conversion to conclude the scoring. East Kilbride recovered the attempted onside kick, and with the Jets having used all their time-outs, indicated their intention to kneel out the game and allowed the officials to call a halt to proceedings

 

The Pirates are back on the road this Sunday (5^th) when they travel to Leeds to face the Yorkshire Rams. Kick off at Leeds Corinthians Rugby Club is 14:30.