Immortals squeeze past the Pythons
American Football take an injury-affected squad to Cambridge, but still manage to come out on top
The Immortals reignited their season in a thrilling contest at Cambridge that went to double-overtime, condemning their hosts to a fourth straight defeat.
In a sport where rosters frequently have 30+ players at university level, an injury-ravaged Imperial took a squad of 19 to Cambridge, soon reduced to 18 with an unfortunate injury in warmups. Unfazed by being outnumbered, Imperial dominated on both sides of the ball in the opening half. The Immortals defense stifled the Python’s running game, with Jacob “more MVPs than socials” Lamb and Dom “have you heard my mixtape?” DeSilva giving the opposing running backs no room to breathe.
The revamped offense also took the game to Cambridge, with Ben “skips first and goes for the home run” O’Brien, Harry “NaCl” Lawrence and Tom “Mr chripse your ex” Smith consistently carving through. Lawrence would find the end zone with a scramble for a 6-0 lead, and only uncharacteristic errors would stop the Immortals from going into halftime winning by a greater margin.
The offensive and defensive line were winning the battle in the trenches, with veteran Daniel “4 more years” Grumberg leading the way.
“The revamped offense took the game to Cambridge”
The second half saw the Pythons bite back, however. An error on special teams lead to excellent field position for Cambridge for the opening drive of the third quarter, who duly converted it into a touchdown of their own to tie the game at 6-6.
The Immortals would reply with a big drive of their own, driving the ball to the Pythons’ goal line. To their credit, Cambridge stepped up their game, and a big goal line stand would keep the scores even as the Imperial offense failed to punch it in.
Inexperience and a lack of numbers began to take its toll on Imperial as the game wore on, however the desire to win was still there as the Immortals continued to make big plays. One highlight was Anuj “loses to green boi” Mehra putting a crunching hit on their key player, a move that rejuvenated the whole Immortals squad.
And it was in double-overtime where the Immortals would strike. Lawrence connecting with Lukas “nickname not appropriate for Felix” Hann to send the Imperial side line into rapture. The teams will meet again at Harlington in two weeks’ time.
Become Immortal today and come play American Football for the best university team in London. Contact Immortals at american.football@ic.ac.uk
