AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Kent Exiles 6 Ipswich Cardinals 49. THE Ipswich Cardinals bounced back from their defeat at Oxford last week by trouncing the Kent Exiles at Orpington on Sunday.
KENT EXILES 6 IPSWICH CARDINALS 49
The Ipswich Cardinals bounced back from their defeat at Oxford last week by
trouncing the Kent Exiles at Orpington on Sunday.
The overwhelming 49 points to 6 victory ensures the Cardinals a position in
the post season play-offs and a chance to go one better than losing finalists
like last year.
The travelling squad was slightly larger than the previous week's which
helped enormously as players had more chance of a breather between series.
Having said that, the eleven starters on the Exiles offence still managed to
catch out the starting eleven of the Cardinals defence with a touchdown on
their opening drive!
Having punted away possession on their first series, the Cardinals offence
were discussing tactics on the sidelines when jubilant cheers rang out from
the Kent benches as running back Roy Hall caught the pitch back from
quarterback Andy Mountain and then passed it downfield to a wide open
receiver!
Regaining their composure somewhat, the defence managed to snuff out the
Exiles two point conversion attempt but the home side had chalked up the
first score in fine style.
As expected though, the Cardinals' superiority began to show as the game
progressed. The speed of Ipswich running back Mark Wallace was just too much
for the hosts to handle and with Paul Borstell blasting through the line of
scrimmage regularly the Kent cracks were soon exposed.
Defensively, each time the Exiles offence appeared it seemed as if the
Ipswich tacklers had personal vendetta's against every man in a black shirt.
Tackles flew in from all angles, bruising hit's knocked people backwards in
an awesome display that overwhelmed the hapless Kent players.
Now playing with the confident knowledge that no more points would be
conceded, the offence set about turning possession into points.
By powering up the middle one play, then speeding around the defenders the
next, along with some short pass plays as well, the visitors racked up three
touchdowns before halftime, leaving the hosts scratching their heads in
wonder as to how to stop the Cardinals momentum.
The second half turned into an even bigger rout as four more touchdowns were
added to the scoreline. Wallace grabbed 4 on the day, the other 3 going to
Borstell, although the offensive line of the Ipswich team must take just as
much, if not more, credit for blasting the holes the running backs ran
through.
Coaches Chris Cantrill and James Mitchell were delighted with the
performance, especially after the dissappointment of the previous week and
Coach Mitchell didn't mind one bit when he received the" Gatorade shower"
from defensive tackle Shaun Rapley at the final whistle.
There's one week off before the final league fixture, the home game on the
22nd July against the Chiltern Cheetah's, and with more player's returning
from injury and vacations, and a play-off berth now secure, it look's like
being another memorable year for the high flying Ipswich Cardinals!
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