Imperial Immortals take the sting out of Surrey

American Football

Imperial Immortals – 46

Surrey Stingers – 7

The Imperial American Football team had a convincing victory last Sunday in its first game of the season; crushing the Surrey Stingers 46-6. This result has put the Immortals at the top of the Thames Valley league table for the first time in their history, ahead of more established teams such as Portsmouth.

The game started well, the Immortals winning the toss and choosing to return the ball. From their own 15-yard line the starting offense drove the ball up the field. Using a combination of running and the first pass-play of the game the Immortals forced the ball into the Stinger’s red-zone, finishing off the drive with a powerful run by Tino Millar to score the first touchdown of the game. Rookie player Max Stubenvoll stepped forward to score the field goal conversion to take the Immortals into a 7-0 lead.

The Immortals Defense then took the field and dominated the Surrey Offence; making tackle after tackle in the backfield and forcing the Stingers to punt. This allowed the offense back on the field who took the ball back into the Surrey red-zone for the start of the second quarter. This was where the Immortals really took control of the game, with Rob Wolstenhome and Tino Millar scoring a touchdown each with the aid of some impressive power-blocks by O-linemen: Jordan Douglas and Joe Downey dominating the Surrey nose-tackle. Unfortunately both touchdowns failed to convert thanks to strong play by the Surrey defense, but the Immortals Defense kept Surrey out of the game. The stingers almost earned themselves some points when a running back was free to make 40 yards; but an incredible show of pace and tackling skill by Dexter Valencia stopped the run. Meaning, at the end of the half the score was a punishing 19-0.

The second half started well; the Immortals Kick-off team having a spectacular game managed to consistently make big hits and meant that Surrey were always starting with poor field position. Combined with a defense which was making mincemeat of the Surrey offense, Imperial soon had the ball back in their possession.

With the lead established it was up to the Rookie players to show what they could do; and they proved themselves true Immortals. Fantastic first game performances in offense by Lawrence Wild, superb tackling by Matt Connell and a fantastic 10 yards diving catch by Wide Receiver Max all lead to the first rookie touchdown of the season with a weaving run by Deebo Ogunbanjo.

The defense showed some powerful players throughout; Temi Ladega and Maciej Kurek showing speed and power to sack the Surrey Quarterback multiple times, while great coverage of both run and pass plays by the Linebackers meant the Surrey offense struggled to make first down. Third down finished with 20 points having been scored; special mentions to QB Rob who showed some excellent pace and strength to run the ball repeatedly for first downs. Unfortunately despite having an impressive running and passing game until then, Veteran QB Rob Wolstenhome threw an ill-conceived pass in the 4th Quarter which was fantastically intercepted by a Surrey player and returned for a touchdown. After conversion, the Offense took the field and had the final word; with Tino Millar running a 60 yard touchdown on the first play to finish the game with a devastating 46-7 win to the Imperial Immortals.