London Blitzed by Rampant Saints

Report by Bury Saints

Photos courtesy of William G Watson

Bury Saints 42 – 6 London Blitz

The Bury Saints exploded for 36 unanswered points in the first quarter to secure a 42-6 win over the London Blitz on Sunday.

London won the toss and elected to kick to Bury. A good return by WR Evin Reese moved the ball to the Blitz 33yd line from where QB Fred Boyle threw deep to WR Brandon Faison for the opening score on the very first play of the game. Boyle found Faison for the extra points and the Saints had an early lead.

 

The Defence, led by LB’s Jesse Carlos and Jack Hewett, stopped London on their first drive and two plays later the Offence had scored again. RB Derek White followed a short run with a tackle breaking 53yd sprint down the right sideline for his fifth touchdown of the season. White added the extra points for a 16-0 lead.

 

Once again the Defence forced London into Punt formation. But a fumbled snap gifted Bury the ball at the Blitz 29yd line and on the very next play the Offence scored its third touchdown in just four plays when QB Boyle hit RB Chris May with a perfect pass. The extra point attempt failed but Bury had sped out to a 22-0 lead.

 

The Defence scored the next two touchdowns as first DB Will Sloan picked off a tipped pass and returned it 41yds for a score and then Chris Smith, playing Safety for the first time this season, intercepted another pass and returned it 66yds to paydirt.

Alex Clarke, assisted by excellent ball handling by Holder Ainsley Richards, kicked the extra point attempts after both ‘Pick Six’ scores and the quarter ended with Saints ahead 36-0.

 

Midway through the 2nd Quarter RB Jake Swisher swept left, broke through a tackle, and out ran the London Defence for a 67yd touchdown. This time the extra point attempt failed but the Saints led 42-0. The Blitz finally generated some Offence of their own and despite the close attention of two Bury Defenders scored on an excellent 25yd pass and the half ended with the Green and Gold up 42-6.

 

Despite their terrible start the Blitz dominated the Third Quarter with one drive the length of pitch. After 15 gruelling plays, that included converting a 4th & 20 situation, the Blitz found themselves with 1st & Goal at the Saints 2 yd line. DL Shaz Begg and LB Hewett stopped the London QB just short of the Goal Line on 1st down. On the next play LB Carlos and Safety Smith combined to stuff a run up the middle for a loss of 1yd and pressure by DL Spencer Renfro forced an incomplete pass on 3rd down. With nothing to lose the Blitz went for the touchdown on 4th & Goal but the pass fell short to complete a superb Goal Line stand by the Saints Defence.

London’s long time consuming drive, along with the running clock which was implemented from the kick off because of the score line, meant that the Bury Offence only managed to execute three plays in the whole 3rd Quarter.

 

With the Saints rotating players into the game so that everybody on the roster got a chance to play, and spirited play by London, there was no further scores in the 4th Quarter and Bury moved to a 9-0 record for the season.

Saints Head Coach, Chris Wallis, said “We prepared really well before the game and that clearly paid off in the 1st Quarter. At one point we had run just four offensive plays but scored five touchdowns!

It was a little frustrating in the second half, but you can’t take anything away from the Blitz players who put in a spirited performance. We travelled with a large roster and everybody got a chance to play which could be important later in the season.

I’m pleased with the way we handled the nasty weather conditions but it’s just a shame that once again the players of both teams were robbed of playing time because of the new ill-considered Mercy Rule which has been introduced this season.”

 

After the game news filtered through that Suffolk rivals the Ipswich Cardinals, who the Saints travel to play on the 9th August, had won their first game of the season beating the Essex Spartans 21-14.

Wallis added “It’s a great result for the Cardinals. We would never be complacent and it’s the perfect result to give us a timely reminder not to take anything for granted. Ipswich are going to be on a high and we are going to need to knuckle down and work even harder if we want to finish the season unbeaten.”