Sandwell keep momentum going with Quarter-Final win over Leicester

Report by Leigh French

The Sandwell Steelers booked their place in the NFC2 Semi-Finals with a 21-6 win over division rivals the Leicester Falcons. The two sides had met 4 weeks earlier in a close affair that the Steelers won in the last minute to ensure that they won the division and the right to host the playoffs, but Leicester had rebounded to win their last game and ensure that they too made the post season. Falcons were now looking to capatalise on the chance to gain revenge on the Black Country men by defeating them in the knockout stages. With all four previous meetings having been decided by less than a touchdown, another tense affair was expected. Whilst the first half was a closely contested battle of field position, the Steelers pulled away in the second half, eventually securing a comfortable winning margin on the back of three passing touchdowns from Quarterback Jonny Glover.

Early on the game was contested in the trenches with each team's power running attack, as both offenses tried to impose their physical will on the game. Although both teams did move the ball with moderate success, ultimately both defenses proved to be up to the challenge, and were able to prevent any points from being scored. The visitors actually came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first quarter with a scoring run that was ruled out for a holding penalty. Sandwell's attack was also hampered by a number of poorly timed penalties, which time and again left them needing to make more than just 10 yards to get a first down and stay on the pitch. As the half wore on though, the Steelers slowly turned the territorial battle in their favour, thanks to combination of hard running from Leigh French on offense, fine tackling from Shane Green and Jake Hill on defense and excellent positional punting from Greg Freeman. On the stroke of half time, Sandwell finally made the field position pay: with five seconds to go before the break, Glover fired a long pass downfield to Steve Kinnersley, who leapt up to make the catch, and managed to fight off two Falcons defenders to narrowly break the goal line as time expired. Liam Duncan converted the score to give the Steelers a 7-0 halftime lead.

The Steelers were buoyed by the late score, and capitalised on the momentum change early in the second half, as Glover found favourite target Drew Newiss on a long bomb downfield. Newiss caught the ball in stride and raced away from the Leicester defense to go 70 yards for the score, extending his own personal run of 11 consecutive games with a touchdown. Duncan again converted to extend Sandwell's lead to 14-0. The defense were fired up by the score, and set about shutting down the Falcon offence, with James Beckett clogging up Leicester's runs up the middle, and Dan Hampton cleaning up anything that came around the edges. The Steeler offense was now in full swing, as French and Dan James made yards behind a solid Steeler O Line, whilst Glover connected several times with Newiss and Andrew Morgan to keep the chains moving. Early in the fourth quarter, Glover found Newiss again for another long TD, and the reliable Duncan once more tacked on the extras to put the home side up 21-0. The proud Falcons continued to play tough, and capitalised on a blocked punt to grab a score that gave them hope of a comeback with five minutes to go, but after Dan Hampton recovered the ensuing onside kick, the Steelers' offense ensured that the visitors never got the ball back, and ran out the clock to bring up a 21-6 final score line.

Head Coach Jay Alexander was delighted with the performance: "This was a quality showing under the circumstances today. We know Leicester are the best team we've played up to this point, and the conditions made it awkward for either side to showcase their attacking talents early on. I think the difference was that we stayed committed to passing the ball even in the poor weather, and were able to hit the big plays when it counted. Steve made a great play to break the deadlock just before half time, & Drew has shown all season what great playmaking ability he has and added a couple more to his highlight real this season. But massive credit must be given to our offensive coordinator Dave Butler for sticking with the game plan and refusing to panic- I don't think many people would have expected to see three long passing touchdowns in this weather today, but Dave has always tried to run a balanced offense, and the weather wasn't going to change that. His confidence in the players was rewarded today."

Alexander was also highly complementary of the defense: "I thought the guys on D really stepped up their physicality today. In the last game our usual flow to the ball wasn't there and the last time we played Leicester we had a hard time stopping their power running, but today we dealt with it much better, which played a big part in us eventually winning the field position battle in the first half and nicking a score just before halftime. Dan and Shane have been outstanding all season, and each of them had another big game today. James has really made that interior Linebacker spot his own over the course of the season, whilst Jake has moved up from safety to join the Linebacker corps, and that transition is really starting to come to fruition, culminating in the type of performance he put in today."

The Steelers next challenge comes in the form of the fourth seeded Newcastle Vikings, who finished the season with an 8-2 record, and earned their semi final place with a 23-14 victory over the Staffordshire Surge. If the Steelers can win they will not only receive a spot in the NFC2 Final, but will also secure promotion to the NFC1 League for 2016, capping off an amazing turnaround for a team that just 12 months prior had only 2 wins all season.