Easter Bowl I - Game Report

The Leicester Eagles won the Easter Bowl on Sunday with a perfect 4-0 record after a gruelling day's play in Birmingham. Leicester and the Chichester Sharks both emerged from their groups unbeaten, but it was the Eagles who won the Championship game with a 16-7 victory.

The Chichester Sharks started 2003 where they left off last season with a string of dominated performances to finish with a 3-1 record and 2nd place on Sunday at the BSFL’s opening tournament in Birmingham.

Chichester 13 - 0 Topgun Miramar

A solid offensive performance, combined with a totally dominating defense, enabled the Sharks to control the game from start to finish. Sharks Quarterback, Nick Watson, threw two touchdown passes, to Pete Steel and Neil Henderson, who also caught a two-point conversion. However, it was the ‘Shark Attack’ Defense who dictated the game and made the victory possible against the spirited Welsh University side.

Constant pressure by defensive end Adam Linley (including one sack), combined with intense tackling by defensive captain Justin Handley and rookies, Dan XXX and Gregg McGrath proved priceless. The best effort however, came from veteran Andy Ifould, whose two interceptions stopped promising Aberystwyth drives and earned him Most Valuable Player honours.

Chichester 14 - 6 Bournemouth

Bragging rights to be the No. 1 team on the South Coast once again belong to the Sharks who downed the Raiders for the second consecutive tournament.

In what is always a close contest, a single score was all that separated the two teams on the day. Again, a superb defensive effort and effective offense saw Chichester prevail. Nick Watson again threw two touchdowns, this time to Jason Davies and Pete Steel, with Neil Henderson snaring a ‘bullet-like’ strike to convert a two-pointer.

For Bournemouth Heasman hit Nehorai on a short pass, and he brought several tackles to score their only points of the game. The defense continued to impress with Adam Linley notching up two sacks of the Bournemouth QB, taking his total to three for the day. Not to be outdone by his teammate, Andy Ifould followed up his previous two-interception game with strong defending of several key passes.

Two games into 2003 and so far the Sharks were unbeaten, needing one more win to guarantee them a place in the final. Next up, Derby Extreme – a team containing several Team England squad members.

Chichester 6 - 0 Team Extreme

In arguably the Sharks’ best game, the result came right down to the wire. On the final play of the game, Julian Simms broke up Derby’s last gasp ‘Hail Mary’ pass in the endzone, preserving the win.

Despite featuring a number of players appearing in their first tournament and carrying a few injuries, the defence continued to dominate. Jon Steele-Mills, playing with a broken finger, managed to break up a long pass from the Derby QB to keep the opposition out of the Shark endzone.

In an impressive 2nd half drive, Nick Watson moved the ball the length of the field completing passes to all of his receivers, before connecting with Neil Henderson, who weaved his way into the endzone for the score.

So with three games gone, the Sharks were undefeated at 3-0 and in the final of the Easter Bowl. Their opponents, the Leicester Eagles, the 2002 league champions.

Topgun 6 - 12 Team Extreme

The previous games excellent defence was undone within the opening minutes as Extreme opened the scoring with a long bomb. The Topgun offence responded on the next drive with a 60 yard reverse from Krystian "Hollywood" Sordyl. The attempt 1 PAT was unsuccesful. After both defences stepped up, forcing both offences to go 4 and out fot the majority of the game with Ryan Lazenby recording his first sack. In the final minutes of the game, Derby Extreme set up a drive that ended on a deep pass into the end zone. The resulting PAT was intercepted by Richard "Ickle" Colin, however despite an impressive offensive attack with a 30 yd pass to Alan Blake and a trick play involving Thomas "Uter" Blow and Michael "GG" Paling, Topgun was unable to capitolise as the clock expired leaving Derby with the victory.

Topgun 0 - 18 Bournemouth Raiders

An interesting battle was to arise with former team mates facing each other on the gridiron. Topguns offence put up big yards but was unable to move the ball in the red zone. Bournemouth's excellent defence forced Topgun to abandon their previously succesful rushing game. This meant that Topgun relied heavily on their passing game, resulting in several dropped passes (including one inside the end zone by Krystian Sordyll) and an interception thrown by QB Alex Wilson. Meanwhile the Raiders were able to benefit from some unusually generous defence resulting in 3 conceeded TDs.Towards the end of the game Michael "GG" Paling took over the QB role with limited but encouraging success, giving new options at WR and RB with Alexander "Viper" Wilson. For the Raiders 3 TD passes from Matt Heasman (2 to Daniel Nehorai and 1 to Vincent Gurrea) did the job.

7th/8th place playoff - Topgun 20 - 22 Birmingham Raiders

Large rushing and receiving yards from new RB Alexander Wilson and large receiving yards from all receivers notably Krystian Sordyll, Conley Browne and Thomas Blow. New QB Michael Paling threw 3TDs all to Krystian "Hollywood" Sordyll who gained a Topgun record. The rushing game was at its most succesful for several games and the Brimingham defence was stretched allowing Krystian Sordyll both time and space to impress onlookers as he danced his way into the end zone again and again. However after each score, Birmingham were able to respond, in the end the result was decided by extra points and a debateable line decision on a long rushing touchdown for the Raiders. A last minute TD resulted in a game deciding 2 point conversion attempt, however this was stopped a hair's breadth away as Alex Wilson was tackled by an impressive last ditch tackle.

Easter Bowl 2003 Championship Game

Chichester 7 - 16 Leicester

Whilst the solid defensive play continued for the Sharks, the good fortune left them at the final hurdle. The Leicester team, who have built their reputation on being a well organised, strong running team, controlled the clock and harassed Nick Watson all game. To combat the intense pass rush, the Sharks tried to move the ball with a combination of running and passing plays but unfortunately failed to break the goal line early on.

A Chris Wild pass to Martin Gwilliam put the Eagles 7-0 up, and then a Mike Turner run and Tom Gill conversion gave the Eagles a 16-0 lead. Down two scores late in the game and with little time left on the clock, the Sharks were playing for pride and keen to leave the tournament on a high note and with a score on the board. In their best drive of the game, the Sharks drove down the field, before Nick Watson rifled the ball to receiver Gary Robinson who outraced the Derby defenders to the endzone for the Sharks final score of the day.