Immortal no more: Lions take the glory
Immortals lacked fresh faces on the field and were unable to make big differences in the second quarter
After a successful scrimmage last Saturday, the Immortals travelled up to Birmingham for their season opener against the University of Birmingham Lions.
After the disappointing loss from last year against the 5-time national champions, we were unable to turn the tables around and were beaten by 47-0. The first quarter started out poorly for both defence and offense, with the defensive team conceding early on in the game and the offense struggling to create chances to rush down field or complete passes.
Having many starters either injured or unable to play, the Immortals lacked fresh faces on the field and were unable to make big differences in the second quarter ending the first half with the score of 41-0 to the Lions.
There was a lot of frustration during half time, however with the experience of the returning veterans and our new head coach, the team’s morale was lifted at the end of the break and the players came out to start the second half strongly. Defence overall were looking much more solid relative to the first half, with the defensive line and the linebackers reducing the Lion’s offensive advancement compared to the previous half and the defensive backs improved on coverage and with Aidan ‘The Hulk’ Bohill having a chance to intercept the ball.
Offensively, the Immortal’s o-line had much more success with pass protection; opening up many more chances for our Quarterback to complete passes. The second half ended with the Immortals conceding once in the final seconds of the match adding 6 more points closing the game.
Despite a disappointing result, there were many positives to take into account especially in the second half.
Our defensive MVPs this week are: Matt ‘has had enough’ Blackett – defensive rookie MVP for fighting throughout the game making essential tackles and all defensive linemen – overall defensive MVP for holding their ground causing trouble for the opposing running backs.
Our offensive MVPs are the following: Handsome Dan Grumberg – offensive rookie MVP for showing a consistently strong performance throughout the match and Marcus ‘MSH big bush’ Stead-Hall – overall offensive MVP for many great plays, most notably taking the ball on a fall back dive and generally, throwing out many great cut blocks.
The overall MVP was Markus ‘the gigantic-headed’ Mohr for making more than a few above average plays and for playing his heart out on both defence and offense.
Lastly, Nigvi ‘Rufio’ Tam received the new iron man award for playing restlessly both ways. The Immortals now take these experiences forward to their training sessions during the 3-week break in the hopes of improving as a team before facing the Bath Killer Bees on Sunday the 22nd of November.
