Report by Nick Foxley - Colchester
Photos courtesy of John Singer
The Colchester Gladiators' seven game winning streak came to an abrupt
halt on Sunday when they were convincingly beaten by the former European
Champions Farnham Knights.
Billed as a title showdown, the Knights firmly put the Gladiators
in their place, wrapping up the Southern Football Conference Division One title
and confirming home field advantage in the playoffs. The loss condemned the
Gladiators to a 7-3 record, good enough for third place and another trip to
Southampton to take on the Solent Thrashers.
After the Gladiators' opening
possession that saw them drive 64 yards in 13 plays, only to come away with
nothing, the Knights completely dominated, scoring on just their second play
when a half back option pass went 72 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was
good and the Knights led 7-0.
The Gladiators could not repeat their
promising opening drive and went three and out and the lead was soon doubled
when the Knights ran in from five yards out. Another PAT took the score to
14-0.
Colchester briefly threatened to make
it into a shootout when Joe Parsons caught an eight yard touchdown pass from
Curtis Bourke at the start of the second quarter and Nathan Brown's extra point
halved the deficit, but the Knights responded immediately, slicing through the
home defence, eventually forcing the ball over from a yard out for their third
score of the day.
Bourke then found Vic Williams for 20
yards and Parsons again for 16, and completed the drive, arching a pin point
pass to Williams in the corner of the endzone from 28 yards out for six points.
Brown's kick was again perfect to bring the Gladiators within seven at 21-14
but that was as good as it got for the Essex team.
Farnham restored their two score
advantage with another long drive capped by a short run to lead 27-14 before
time ran out in the half with the Gladiators driving downfield.
The Knights carried on where they left
off in the second half, seemingly driving at will down the field through a
strong running game and some suspect defending. An early 23 yard touchdown run
extended their lead to 35-14 and after a turn over on downs, a 74 yard run put
the game out of reach at 41-14.
Josh Milgate saved further
embarrassment by thwarting a reverse play on fourth down after the Knights had
moved from their own 18 to the Gladiators' 12 but Colchester's offence was
struggling, failing to convert fourth downs on consecutive drives.
Interceptions on the Gladiators' final
two drives completed the process and the Knights ran the clock out to underline
their convincing win.
The Gladiators finished with over 300
yards of offence, led by Joe Parsons' eight catches for 104 yards and a score,
and despite valiant efforts by James Birch (13 tackles) and Garry Shuttleworth
(nine), the Colchester defence had no answer to the physicality of the Knights'
offensive line that opened the gaps for over 400 yards rushing. After topping
the division, they will be firm favourites to take the southern title.
The provisional date for
the Gladiators' away trip to Southampton is Sunday 23rd August. Full details can be found through the Gladiators’ website at www.colchestergladiators.com.
Report by Farnham Knights
There were
several key issues going into this game:-
A Knights win
confirmed them as Division Champions and number one seed in the play offs - a
Gladiator win would see them take both accolades from the Knights.
The Knights
were without their starting Quarterback Oli De Ruyter who got married the day
before the game (Congratulations Sam and Oli!) and were also missing other key
personnel for example Wide Receiver Michael Bradley-Banszki - how would that
affect the league leaders?
Gareth Davies
needed just 3 yards to break the 1000yd milestone for the season - how long
would it take him to achieve it?
A great
performance from the Knights on both Offense and Defense answered all of those questions positively as they stormed
to the league title with a convincing away win.
Colchester
received the opening kick off a deep high kick from John "Legatron"
Symons which allowed Simon Burnell time to get downfield to disrupt the Gladiators
return plans.
The home side
drove the ball confidently with strong running from #44 Casey Campbell but a
long drive led to frustration as the Knights Defense led by Ash-Lee James and
Jonathan Vince shut them down at the Knights 20yd line.
The Knights
took over and Nick Roope ran for 8yds on the first play - he got the ball again
on the second play but this time launched a pass to the wide open Stealey-J
Wills who took it the rest of the distance for a 72yd go ahead score. John
Symons added the extra point kick and the Knights led 0-7.
The Knights
Defense made short work of the next Gladiator drive and then Gareth Davies
needing 3yds to complete his 1,000yd season took the ball 35yds on his first
carry to the Gladiator 20yd line. Salim Ben-Romdhane moved it closer and the
Paul Wakeford completed the drive with a 5yd scoring run - Knights led 0-14
after John Symons kick.
The Gladiators
returned the kick off to the halfway line and were driving as the 1st quarter
ended 0-14. As the 2nd quarter started the home team struck with a long pass
from former GB Lions Junior Quarterback Curtis Bourke to #85 Joe Parsons. The
extra point kick was good 7-14.
With Gareth
Davies burning up the yards with the running game and Stealey-J Wills and
Stephen Godfrey making the most of short passes from QB Ally Reid the Knights
were soon back in scoring range and this time it was Salim Ben-Romdhane who
sprinted into the endzone from 1yd out. Symons again added the extra point and
the Knights lead was back to two scores at 7- 21.
The Gladiators
were aware than the game was on the line and again came back strongly with both
the run and the pass - Richard Baldersons sack put them in deep trouble but
Quarterback Bourke had other thoughts as he fired a long pass down the sideline
- a great finger tip catch was reeled in by his receiver and the Gladiators
closed the gap again at 14-21.
Nick Roope
returned the kick off back to the halfway line and the Knights were driving
again. Salim Ben-Romdhane carried the rushing load as the Knights moved into
range to stretch their lead again - it was Nick Roope this time in Running Back
mode who took the ball into the endzone from 2yds out behind tremendous
blocking from his team-mates. The Knights 2 point conversion failed and the
Knights led 14-27.
There was still
time for the Gladiators to strike back and they made every effort to do so. The
Knights Defense however had started to get on top of the battle and although
the home team threatened to score through the air great work from Ash-Lee
James, Matt Marriott, Joe Criddle and others saw them come up short - the
half-time score stood at 14-27.
In the home
fixture against Colchester the Knights had been shut out in the 3rd quarter
with the Gladiators scoring three times to bring the game to a narrow one score
victory. The Knights knew that they could not afford a repeat of that
performance.
The Farnham
Offense had the ball first in the second half and they made a clear statement
of the teams intent. Gareth Davies got things going on the ground and then QB
Reid found Nick Roope - this time in his Wide Receiver mode - for a 23yd catch
and run touchdown. Roope then ran in the 2point conversion and the Knights led
14-35.
The Gladiators
stuck to the task and fought hard on their next drive - aided by penalties from
the Knights they moved into the visitors half - but great defensive work from
the visitors turned the ball over at the Knights 26yd line.
One play from
Gareth Davies and the Knights blockers was all it took to effectively finish
the game as the Knights speedster raced
74yds untouched to score and complete his 210yd day. The extra point
kick missed wide left and the score stood at 14-41.
The remainder
of the game saw plenty of offense but with both defenses coming out on top.
Jack Truelove recorded two interceptions and Thomas "Pie Boy" Roberts
and Raymond George added to the seasons sack total.
As the game
came to a close the Knights were able to use the full extent of their squad on
both sides of the ball and then celebrated the Divisional Championship.
Knights Head
Coach Steve Rains said " This is a tremendous result and full credit to
our players and my coaching staff for their hard work throughout what we always
knew would be a testing regular season.
We now have the
Division Championship and the #1 seed for the play offs and we start a new
season with the Semi-Final at home to Ouse Valley on the 23rd of August at
2-30pm at Farnham Rugby Club.
The Eagles will
be looking to avenge our win at their home ground earlier in the season but now
its sudden death - we hope to see a good crowd for what should be an excellent
game. I would also like to thank our supporters and sponsors for making this
all possible - the crowd we took to Colchester was a great boost to the
team"
The Knights
organisation are on a high with the Senior and Youth teams already in the play
offs and the Junior team needing a win in South London this weekend to make it
a complete programme in the post season.
Also in the
news the Knights female offensive lineman Laura Hill played a full part in Team
GB's Women’s European Championship win over Germany in Spain - these are good
times for the Knights.
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