MATCH REPORT: BAFA DIVISION 2 EAST. GAME 4. NORWICH DEVILS @ COLCHESTER GLADIATORS

 

The much-anticipated return game between the Colchester Gladiators and the Norwich Devils would doubtless tell the league who the true contenders were in the East. The surprise competitiveness between the other teams had meant that they had each knocked each other off and Ipswich were playing second place Ouse on the same day as this clash. A win by Norwich, alongside a win by Ipswich, would leave the Devils in sole possession of first place with a buffer. The scene was set. The adjustments had been relayed to the positional groups and coaches. The game plan was locked in. The only thing that could throw a spanner in the works now was the weather. Cue the summer rain.

 

The Gladiators received the kick and sent their offence out onto the field. It was a familiar dose of inside run and they had early success. Unfortunately, a penalty set them back and the Devils regrouped and stiffened. The drive stalled at the 38 and the Gladiators set up to punt. A muffed catch from the punter led to him diving on the ball back at his own 20 and the Devils offence took over. 1 play later, Francisco Santana was celebrating his 3^rd TD of the season and the Devils were 6 points up. The 2 point conversion from Crawl to Wheatley was good. 8-0 Devils.

 

Devils Safety Ricky Darrell picks off Rob Turner

Things then went from bad to worse for Colchester when they attempted their PA pop pass to their TE. The ball from Rob Turner was slightly too high and Aaron Brooke-Martin tipped it up in the air and straight to Devils’ safety Ricky Darrall. By now, the rain had started to get heavier so the ball had gone from tacky to fairly slippery. Successive attempts to get the ball into the end zone, on a short field, failed due to WR drops from Javaris Samuels and Aaron Wheatley. This, on top of a fumble and self-recovery from Jay Crawl, kept the Devils out of the end zone and resulted in a turnover on downs at the 26.

 

Colchester stuck to their ground game and play action but couldn’t move the ball and punted soon after. Norwich didn’t fare much better in the wet and the game remained deadlocked until Colchester ran a sweep to their right and Devils’ CB Daniel Hewitt shed the block from the Gladiator WR, rounded the corner, hit the back and stripped the ball. He then chased it down, scooped and scored. The 2 point attempt throw sailed agonising over Adam Jones’ head and the Devils settled for a 14-0 lead.

 

On the next Colchester possession, they suffered from the weather and some dubious officiating and eventually had to punt. The Devils couldn’t move the ball but were too close to punt and too far to try a field goal. Head coach, Stuart Theobald, decided to go for it but the boot play failed and the Gladiators took over. Their success was short lived, however, when Daniel Hewitt got his second turnover of the game when he intercepted Rob Turner and ran it all the way back to within a few yards of the end zone. Unfortunately, Lewis Norton was called for a block in the back and the Devils offence started from the 50 instead.

 

QB Jaw Crawl steps into the pocket.

By now, the rain was pelting down, and the ball had gone from slippery to almost unplayable. The drive failed with another drop in the end zone. This time, Santana streaked over the goal line, on a post, but dropped the ball. The Gladiators took over on the 24 but couldn’t do anything with it and gave it back to Norwich on a punt.

 

On Norwich’s first play, The quarterback running back mesh went wrong and the ball sat motionless on the ground. Colchester’s #3 dropped on the ball giving them great field position at the 33. They put together a short drive and ran the ball in to make the score  16-6. The PAT was no good.

 

The Devils tried to put a drive together at the end of the quarter but time expired. Colchester had taken the momentum at the end of the first half. They had recovered the fumble, scored, and then stayed firm enough to stop the 2 minute drill until the whistle. They would kick-off to start the second half.

 

Returner Tay Green splits the Colchester defenders.

Colchester’s kicker boomed the ball down the left-hand side of the field to CB and returner Tay Green. He ran straight up the middle, and into the melee, it looked like he was going to be chased down but managed to find another gear around midfield. He turned on the jets and sailed past the Colchester defenders on his way to an 84 yard touchdown. The 2 point conversion was no good. 22-6 Norwich.

 

The next few possessions showed that the pass game would be difficult for both sides. Colchester had moved to Wildcat because of injury and Norwich were having ball handling issues. The ground game was in full effect and the rain was coming down in stair rods.

 

Running back Joe Jacobs powers through.

Norwich eventually broke the deadlock late in the 3^rd quarter with strong runs from Joe Jacobs and Jay Crawl. During this drive, Santana had a 52 yard TD run called back for block in the back but it was only delaying the inevitable. 2 plays later, he ran off the left-hand side for a 38 yard TD. Tim Johnson performed an impromptu magic trick by sneaking in the 2 point conversion and this put the Devils up by a score of 28-6.

 

Quarterback El Foley runs for yardage late on.

Norwich and Colchester then exchanged possessions for the rest of the game as Colchester tried to make the best of their personnel issues and Norwich tried to close the game out with a heavy dose of run from their bangers. The Devils offensive line continued to move the talented Colchester defensive line and runs from El Foley, Joe Jacobs, and Tim Johnson kept drives alive while the Devils' defence kept the Gladiators final drives to no more than 4 plays. The weather kept pouring rain down on all and sundry and the clock kept ticking away toward the inescapable final whistle. The Devils returned to Norwich with a 28-6 win and a 4-0 record.

Photos by Big Red Photography