BAFL: The Gladiators Host Blue Raiders

I spent the sunny Bank Holiday Monday in Colchester, watching the Gladiators host the Bedfordshire Blue Raiders.

The Gladiators were in confident mood after finishing the season undefeated which included two victories over the Blue Raiders. In the two games this season the Blue Raiders had been unable to score a single point, so I much improved performance was required for victory.

Watching the game with me was London Blitz Assistant Head Coach Mike Callan, who was watching his first BAFL 2 game.

The Gladiators kicked off the game and the Blue Raiders first offensive attempted was running play. However on this opening series the Blue Raiders were unable to get anything going and stalled without making much of an impact on the game.

With the ball in the Gladiators hands things started to get interesting, with a man in motion on most plays the offence looked like making something happen. This happened when running back #3 Matthew Excell broke free to almost score from his own half. #3 Excell was stopped by Blue Raiders defensive back #15 Elliott Viechweg who got back to make a good tackle.

#3 Excell was in no mood to have points taken away from him and not long after he got his hands on the ball again and ran the ball into the endzone for the first score of the game. Kicker #8 Richard Thomas added the extra point to put Colchester up 7-0.

With the Colchester defence showing cover 2 the Blue Raiders finally took advantage when quarterback #7 Nigel Mansfield picked out his tight end #8 Liam Cooke up the middle for a solid gain and the 1st down. The Blue Raiders however were unable to make this drive count on the scoreboard and returned the ball to the Gladiators.

It was at this point when Coach Callan's spectator head came off and he turned into a Coach. He was offering plenty of good advice for both team, unfortunately it was only to me.

The Gladiators' running back were #8 Richard Thomas was finding holes in the Blue Raiders defence and put in a good run, however the Gladiators stalled close to the Blue Raiders endzone but failed to add to there score when they missed a field goal from around 22 yards.

The Blue Raiders offence was looking for someone to step up and that came when quarterback #7 Mansfield broke a tackle in the back field and ran for 25 yard before being knocked out of bounds. You would think that the Gladiators defence would start worrying. That was not going to happen, first defensive lineman #96 Christian Steward just missed an interception with the field open for him (he did stop the play though). The Blue Raiders then made two errors on back to back plays. The first a fumbled snap but they held on to the ball and even worst was to come as the Blue Raiders fumbled the field goal attempt.

The Gladiators must have felt like they got away with that defensive series and went about adding to the score. They did this with #8 Thomas breaking 4 or 5 tackles, then running 50+ yards to score. With Thomas then adding the extra point Colchester were now leading the game 14-0.

The half ended with the Gladiators leading 14-0, but they would need to stay focused in the second half if they wanted to get to the semi finals.

The game now seemed to pause as both sides played as well and then bad as each other. The problem for the Blue Raiders was that the Gladiators looked comfortable and they just could not get into the game. The Blue Raiders started making the game even harder for themselves when they touched the ball on a Gladiators punt and allowed Colchester to jump on the ball in there redzone.

The defence needed a big play and they got one from defensive lineman #55 Paul Settle. #55 Settle blow up the line and sacked the quarterback, causing a fumble. The Gladiators held onto the ball but were taken well out of the redzone and the drive came to nothing.

Then the game opened up, first with Colchester increasing there lead when running back #14 Alex Robinson ran the ball in. The Colchester defence had given the offence the ball after pick off #7 Mansfield. The extra point again came from the boot of #8 Thomas.

I believed that that score would put the game to bed, however the Blue Raiders had other idea's with touchdown thrown to tight end #8 Liam Cooke. This was a smart play as quarterback #7 Mansfield faked the hand off left and passed to the right. Bedfordshire converted a 2 point conversation making the score 21-8. Was this the start of something or could Colchester strike back?

Unfortunately for the Blue Raiders it was the latter as running back #14 Robinson ran in the touchdown from around 80 yards. Yet again the trustworthy boot of #8 Thomas scored the extra point making the score 28-8.

The Blue Raiders came out for the next series with a purpose, successfully making 4 first downs on the bounce. The drive ended with the Blue Raiders running the ball in for the score and again converting a 2 point conversation 28-16.

Looking for more points the Blue Raiders tried an onside kick which was picked up by defensive back #87 Nick Foxley. While I'm talking about #87 I have to add that he was my pick of the Gladiators defence. He made open field tackles all game, stopping the Blue Raiders from breaking big plays.

The Gladiators now smelled the semi finals and went for the kill. First #14 Robinson scored again and then running back #38 Leo Beckford got in on the act.

The game ending with the Gladiators winning 42-16 and sending the crowd home happy.

This was a game which could have been closer but for a number big plays from the Gladiators.

I'll finish this post up with the funniest play I've seen (maybe ever). I'll not say a name and number (because you know who you are) of the player but as the Gladiators punted, the ball bounced and rolled towards the Blue Raiders endzone. Everyone expected the Gladiator player to stop the ball inches away from the endzone (giving his team the greatest defensive field position possible) he calmly walked away allowing the ball in cross the endzone line and giving the Blue Raiders the ball on their own 20 yard line instead. The player was made aware of his error as Coach Stephenson asking him why he'd walked away. If I said that Coach Stephenson was calm as he explained I'd be lying.

Well done to the Gladiators as they move on to the semi finals after this strong but not complete performance.

The Blue Raiders can now have sometime off and look forward to 2010.

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