Immortals Fight Back Against QMUL Vipers
For the first time this season we faced a new opponent, the Queen Mary Vipers. Our squad was much improved from last week, due to an addition of new recruits, and the return of our starting running back Jonas “Vegan Bull” Eschenfelder, coming back from a hand injury.
With the Queen Mary grounds being so close to London, Jacob our Gameday Manager, decided to book a “Gatis Special” coach, which reached full capacity for the first time this season, leading to some close encounters. The additional numbers were welcome, but we are still looking to recruit.
After a bit of special team tactical adjustments and an extended warm-up featuring everyone’s favourite Zip-Drill punctuated by Frans’ usual moans about his shoulder. Both teams were ready to take the field. Unfortunately, due to a flag on the field for delay of medics the game started late. The Vipers hit us hard on their first drive, mostly due to their girth-y statures, and finished with a touchdown. However, we responded with a 60-yard drive of our own that unfortunately was cut short at the foot of the end-zone due to a holding penalty on one of our players. On defence, we reacted with an excellent fumble recovery by Nikolai “Smice” Smirnov to set the offence up on Queen Mary’s 40-yard line, and hoping to pound the ball into close vicinity of the end-zone. Unfortunately, a couple of drops in the red zone meant we were unable to capitalise. At the end of the half our defence suffered two lapses which lead to two Viper TDs in the last minute of the half, putting the score at 24-0. Undeterred, we came back out and scored a touchdown of our own, with a catch by Daniel “Old Windsorian” Loughran, who redeemed himself after a particularly pathetic false start on the previous play. On the following QMBL drive, Ed “Ballhawk” Martin produced an insane pick 6 that included five shed tackles, making the score 24-14 halfway through the third quarter. For the rest of the game the defences reigned supreme, apart from an amazing one-minute drill down that went for 80 yards and ran out of time at the 5-yard line. This last minute effort included a 35-yard scramble by our QB Ben O’Brien, and deep contested catch by “Magic” Mike Corio. Unfortunately, this still meant a defeat for us. However, there were plenty of positives to be taken away from the game, with our offence having made more yards than the Vipers and our defence looking very robust apart from right before half-time. A special shout-out goes to Thomas “Flipper” Smith for fulling transitioning to his new offensive lineman role.
With a bye-week in our sights, we are looking at improving even more and creating an upset against Kent in mother Harlington before the mid-season break. If you want to join a young energetic American Football team get in touch on Facebook. #BecomeImmortal
